Inman RE Connect Conference, open for business

I’m still buzzing from Inman’s Connect Conference last week. I’ve got a lot of take aways that I’ll be writing about but, I did want to comment on a common thread I heard from a lot of vendors.  The conversation goes something like this…

Me: How did you like the conference this year?

V: Great, but I didn’t get to see hardly any of the sessions.

Me: Why?

V: Too damn busy with all the meetings I booked!

This doesn’t mean nobody attended the sessions.  Quite the contrary, every time I tried get in to the General Session it was standing room only.

It seems to me that Inman has turned the corner and has become more than an industry “networking event”, and now is a great place to meet and clients and get some business done.

This trend is far from new, but what many vendors are beginning to realize is that it’s far easier to conduct business at an event like Inman Connect than it is at NAR Midyear.  I’ve written about this before, but it seems like NAR puts up so many barriers to vendors to actually conduct business at their events.   For example:  You must have a booth to get a Suite,  if you want a Suite in the hotel or a good booth location you have to have spent money with NAR for the past 20 years or so.  And if you don’t follow these rules you’ll get thrown out of the hotel/event.

Will there be a day when vendors stop playing NAR’s “reindeer games” and take their ball somewhere else to play?

Is July the new May?  Is San Francisco the new Washington D.C.?  Only time will tell.