Where Real Estate Gets Its Dirt

CMLS 2011 Recap – Killer Clowns and Killer Content.

CMLS 2011 – What a week!

It’s taking me a little longer to recover from CMLS last week. I think it mostly had to do with one of the best lobby bars I been to in recent blurry memory (open till 2AM!). You have all heard by now that is was the largest CMLS ever with over 500 people in attendance. Which is very impressive since it was a bit of the beaten path. Wes Wiggins had originally committed to hosting the conference prior to him taking the top spot at RMLS- Florida. Phil Tedesco is a class act and he and his team did an excellent job of putting together a great conference along with Sarah Carlton and the CMLS board of directors.

A few highlights:

I enjoyed the “What keeps me awake at night” segments. The lights dimmed, and a single spotlight shown upon the speaker. My favs were Curt Beardsley and Mark Lesswing. If anyone has video of either please forward to me so I can post. Just great stuff.

The send off of Peter Shuttleworth (who is retiring) was also fun and Peter is a good sport.

Congrats to Jim Harrison who was elected in to the CMLS Board of Directors.

I also enjoyed the videos shot of non-industry people who were asked questions like “What is an MLS?”

Brian Boero , of 1000watt Consulting gave a talk about implementing what he called an MLS “data socket”. This concept has been talked about before, but Brian put the idea in to focus.

The booth placement for vendors made for lively conversations and a few bumps as people made the gauntlet down “vendor alley”. Which brings me to my announcement of “Best Booth of CMLS 2011”. The honor goes to 10K Research. Great signage, marketing materials and spot on messaging made it my favorite. Great job to the 10K team!

10K Research-Best Booth of CMLS 2011
10K Research-Best Booth of CMLS 2011

I wasn’t too thrilled at the Old Tucson Studios “Hootenanny'”. After a 50 minutes bus ride you were treated to a park full of “killer clowns with chainsaws” sneaking up on you. But I digess…

The last session was also fun. Executive Trainer Brian Taylor asked for a “Lone Nut” to come up on stage and ask the audience to follow him on a big bold idea. It was no big surprise when Russ Bergeron stood up to applause and took the stage committing to supporting RESO‘s effort for real estate data standards. He then asked everyone to join him in this pledge. I have a video of what happened next below (sorry for the screen orientation issues):

You should also check out Matt Cohen’s blog post on the event here.

I’ve lost count on how many CMLS conferences I’ve attended ( I think it’s 12) and they just keep getting better. It’s the perfect blend of education, networking and a good time.

I took a few photos which you can check out at the Vendor Alley Flickr Photostream by clicking this link

Next stop Boston, where MLSPIN will be our host of CMLS 2012. See you there!

Inman Anticipation…

Like many of you I’m heading up to San Francisco next week for the Data Summit and Real Estate Connect conference, both hosted by Inman News. So here’s a prelude to some of the things I’m looking forward to and thinking about:

I will be attending Inman’s Data Summit. The event will be hosted by Gahlord DeWald and Rob Hahn. I always enjoy getting together with Gahlord, he is a smart guy and I always learn something so it will be interesting to hear he perspective on the data issues plaguing the MLS/Real Estate Industry. Rob Hahn, aka “The Bard of the Long Form Post”, will be hosting too. Rob is always good at making me re-think my current assumptions or at least giving an interesting perspective.

Dan Woolley will be moderating the “Connect Tech” session once again this year and I’m sure he won’t disappoint. Traditionally a geek fest Dan always seems to bring together great minds for interesting conversation about XML and whatnot. The Connect Tech sessions are scheduled for Wednesday, July 27 and start at 8:30AM and end at 12:00PM.

This year Mike Wurzer takes a break from moderating The MLS Innovation Track (Brian Boero will ably take on the task) on Thursday July 28th, starting at 2:00PM. I’ll be on a panel entitled “Managing Your Distribution Channel and Vendor Relationships Profitably and Responsibly”. On the panel with me will be Curt Beardsley of Move, Inc. So please join me as I try not to look stupid sitting next to Curt.

I’m also a big fan of Brad Inman‘s Welcome Address. This year he will be speaking of “The Post-PC World”. But a lot of the hosting duties appear to be taken over by Chris Smith, Inman’s newly hired “Chief Evangelist”. I’ve seen Chris speak at an Agent Reboot Conference and just sat in on a webinar he hosted yesterday. Chris is the real deal, and a very talented speaker who really knows his stuff. The question remains can he go deeper to the the larger issues involving the real estate industry and not just do a presentation on “The Top 10…..”, I think he can, but as an “evangelist” does he even have to?

I’m also look forward to hearing from Joe Bebbia of Airbnb, which for some reason really fascinates me. It will be good to get Ron Conway’s perspective on things and I think David Pogue will be a good draw as well.

But the “Belle of the Ball” might just be Zillow. After a being valued at just about a Billion dollars these guys have to be pumped, and what a perfect conference to strut their stuff. But don’t think the other guys will be sitting still, word on the street is that there will be at least 1 big announcement next week ( I know, I’m a big tease).

Plus doesn’t it seem like there is a lot more parties this year? Almost every night there are one or two parties to go to. I sure hope my liver is ready.

Parties aside to me the next big issue, which we are already having to face, is the advent of these patent lawsuits. As an independent software developer I can tell you that its a big issue that I’m afraid is only going to get worse. It’s not just a real estate issue, this post by Craig Hockenberry spells it out best.

I arrive Sunday evening. I hope to catch up with everyone. And remember Vendor Alley’s first rule of conferences….Never, And I Mean Never, Go Big On The First Night!

See you there!!

MLS Cloud Conference 2011 Recap

I wanted to put down a few thoughts and observations about last week’s MLS Cloud Conference hosted by Bob Hale and the Houston Association of REALTORS.

Additionally I uploaded a bunch of photos from the event. You can see them at the Vendor Alley Flickr Photo Stream

When I first got there I did hear a few of the attendees muttering if they would gain anything by attending a conference held so closely to NAR Midyear meetings in Washington D.C. That combined with it being held the week after Memorial Day seemed to heighten the crowds expectations. But from what I could tell those expectations were soon met.

NAMLS
Bob Hale came up first to set the tone. Bob does a great job of honing in on the important issues and serving up some plausible solutions to these issues. He spoke about giving consumers what they want and about how the MLS needs to engage with NAR and others. But I can’t confirm or deny I heard him speak about forming a “National Association of MLS.” : )
To me a key measurement of a good speaker is how many other speakers reference them in future talks and in the hallways of the ballrooms. By that measure Bob was king.

This business would be great if it weren’t for the damn customers.

Brad Inman was the first keynote and talked about the “post PC” world we are living in. He told us to all get an iPad and kiss our towers and notebook computers goodbye. He had some interesting observations about the employees of his new company, Vook. Apparently nobody at his company likes to sit at a desk anymore, they like to stand, and not eat meat apparently. Although I thought one of the funniest moments (unintentionally) was when Brad made a remark of how he didn’t like the way that some NAR staff talked down about their membership. To me was pretty ironic since MLS execs (and vendors) behave in the same way, if not worse!

I D Mess

I think a lot of people thought the conference would only focus on MLS public facing websites but the topics were much broader in scope. I was kind of hoping for a throwdown between Alex Perriello, CEO of Realogy and Joe Horring of Realty Alliance. Joe was more bombastic but sadly no pile drivers or fisticuffs.

Vendor Love

Another thing that I enjoyed was that they had a lot of vendor love going on. Bob freely put up a lot of vendors to showcase their products and services. Some of the vendors did a great job of talking about a broader message and weaving their products in to that message, but sadly most were just doing a 15 minute long commercial.

Schmooze and booze

On the hospitality side things were great. The hotel was centrally located so you could walk to a lot of restaruants. The HAR staff was very helpful and any hosted bar that serves Tanqueray Ten is number one in my book! Here’s a quick tip if the event is held at the same hotel next year. Mo’s, walking distance from the hotel, has bar doesn’t close until 1AM. Just sayin….

Errol’s Comet

Other highlights were presentations by Errol Samuelson and Curt Beardsley from MOVE. Really great presenters. Errol used this insane picture of a view from a beach with fireworks, a comet and lightning storm to symbolize the state of the industry (You had to be there.) I heard more than one comment on John Heithaus’s presentation and his ability to use a Glengarry Glen Ross clip without swear words.

Lust

Some other random stuff I thought was cool. Channing Dawson of HGTV used the term “Home Lust” or “House Lust” a lot (can’t remember which one of these terms he used). A really great piece of jargon I had never heard before. It appears that someone else was paying attention because Robert Drummer of iMapp when he heard the term immediately went online to check to see if the domain was available. It was. And now HomeLust.com belongs to him! Classic.

Best Audience Question

The best question asked at the conference came from David Charron during Ann Bailey’s update on the CIVIX settlement.

David Charron: Is RPR going to help pay for the CIVIX settlement?

Ann Bailey: MLS providers should contact their RPR reps directly to work out details.

and so without further delay…
Vendor Alley Public Service Announcement

I think its great that RPR is willing to help out with this effort so in the interest of public service here are the names and contact information of all RPR reps that MLS providers should call and request cash assistance with CIVIX:

Ohan Antebian
Email: ohan@narrpr.com
 Phone: 949.910.6285

Ernie Bottom -East
Email: ernie@narrpr.com
 Phone: 262.785.0633

Kristen Carr – Southeast
Email: kcarr@narrpr.com
 Phone: 561.441.9494

Ron France
Email: ron@narrpr.com 
Phone 315.559.5238

Kristen Hernandez – West
Email: kristen@narrpr.com
Phone: 214.471.3795

A full list can be found at http://blog.narrpr.com/about/industry-relations. You’re welcome.

Compelling content, great speakers make this event a must attend. My congrats to Bob Hale and his team plus a special thanks goes out to Sam Scott, Rene Galvan and Shawn Dauphine for their wonderful Texas hospitality See you next year!

[Cupcake Photo Credit: Lisa Herrin]

Clareity 2011 MLS Executive Workshop Recap

Gregg Larson and crew have certainly come up with a winning formula for Clareity’s annual MLS Executive Workshop.  Last week was Clareity’s 10th anniversary for holding the event and it was sold out almost as quickly as the announcement was made.  I’m sure they have 10 more years ahead, here’s why:

1.  Location.  While most of the country is freezing, the event is held in Scottsdale and the weather was absolutely perfect this past week, just beautiful.

2.  Don’t skimp.  They are great hosts.  Premium booze.  No drink tickets, and good food.  ‘Nuff said.

3.  Prizes.  Gregg is very generous with the prizes too.  I don’t think you will ever find an event where so many high tech prizes are given away.

4.  Inclusion.  Vendors and MLS executives are both featured in panels.

5.  Good content.  Matt Cohen keeps the sessions relevanat and topical to today’s issues.

6.  Audience participation.  Seems like you get more Q&A than other meetings I’ve attended.

7.  MLS Satisfaction Survey.  They announce the results at this event.  Pure genius.

Highlights for me include the listing syndication discussions.  Feels like there is a change in the air on this topic.  Also every year it seems like Gregg puts two industry vets on stage who may be on opposite ends of a topic.  This year it was Sami Inkinen from Trulia and Errol Samuelson from MOVE.  It’s great theatre to watch both participants answer questions and be cordial to one another.  Even though you might sense they would rather the other one not exist.

The theme of the event was innovation.  Two of my favorite presentation were the one given by Mike Wurzer, CEO of FBS and another by John Heithaus of MRIS.  Mike has been talking a lot about the concept of an “MLS App Store” and the possibilities are very exciting to a 3rd party vendor like myself.  John Heithaus is relatively new to this crowd but not real estate, his fun quirky presentation was informative, provoking and entertaining.  Tough mix.

But my favorite presentation was by Art Carter.  Art spoke of the need for standards and how everyone in the room was responsible for helping this effort.  Yes I know this is a old topic, but somehow Art made it fresh.  Part of it was the message he was delivering, most of it was the fact that he was something to you don’t see a lot of nowadays; Genuine.

My thanks to Gregg and Matt and the rest of the Clareity crew for a truly awesome event.  See you next year!

Check out the Vendor Alley Flickr Photostream for photos from the event:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vendoralley/sets/72157626202301528/

Inman RE Connect NYC-Top 5 sessions I’m looking forward to.

I was taking a look at this years agenda for Inman’s Real Estate Connect in New York City and I must say this year has a lot of great sessions. But with so many sessions I thought I would put together my Top 5.

1. ConnectTech Wednesday, January 12. 8:30AM to 12:25PM
Moderated by Dan Woolley.
Interested in APIs? Will Flash make it? Tablets? UX/UI? Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Dan and Joel have put together some of the best tech minds in one place. If you are interested in real estate technology than this is the place to be.

2. Welcome Address from Brad Inman. Wednesday, January 12 at 2:15 to 2:40PM
I’m a sucker for these. I’m always curious to see what’s Brad and his team come up with, it sets the vibe of the conference for me.

3. New kids on the block: Meet six new companies you may not have heard of – but should know. Thursday 9:30AM to 10:00AM.
I’m a sucker for these too! Great to see what fresh ideas and faces are coming in to the industry.

4. Innovation Track: The MLS. Moderated by Mike Wurzer 2:00PM to 5:00PM
Gahlord Dewald is moderating the media and technology track at the same time but since I’m an MLS geek I’m going to the The MLS session. Mike Wurzer does such a good job moderating these sessions its a hard one to miss. One session that really has me intrigued is the “Trends in media and technology with Curt Beardsley from Realtor.com. Curt always has a an interesting take on things.

5. Data, traffic and profits. Friday, January 14, 2011 9:25AM to 10:00AM
Ever since we launched Dwellicious I’ve been keeping track of all the major portals. This session has some big names, Pete Flint, Ian Morris (good to see him back in the mix), Spencer Rascoff and Errol Samuelson.

There’s lots and lots and lots of sessions. You can see the full agenda here. The conference starts on Wednesday the 12th, so come to New York and buy me a drink!

A tale of three parties

Over the years the N.A.R. Annual Conference has a been THE place for holding parties for their customers and prospects. This year one company held their first, another is starting to hit their stride, and the other was still going strong.

Jake?First up is Tarasoft. This year Tarasoft held their party at the House of Blues. The place was jumping! In fact I mistook John Mosey for one of the Blues Brothers (which one I’m not at liberty to say). Looks like John and many others were taking advantage of the open bar of beer, wine and anything else. Who could forget last years Tarasoft party and the long walk up the stairs escorted by some of what California is most famous for. Not to disappoint this year many Louisiana gals dressed up in Marti Gras gear floating around the party and took pictures with guests. The vibe of this party was “inclusive”. I saw MLS providers, MLS vendors (even “competitors”), software companies, leadership, you name it everyone together having a good time. Nice way to start a Saturday night!

The first thing you need to know about Marketlinx, is they know how to throw a party. Kim McLean did not disappoint this year as well. The vibe was great and the music fun. But unlike the Tarasoft party this party was decidedly “exclusive”. Which is fine, why should you pay for drinks for anyone else but customers and prospects? But since I only had one ticket I didn’t stay very long because I was with a larger group who did not have any tickets to get in. I heard this from others but I’m sure as hell their customers had a great time!

Nick at the keysNext up is Rapattoni. Rapattoni you say?? They never throw a party! Well this year was decidedly different as they celebrated their 40 years in business. I was lucky enough to be invited. Dan and I were greeted by the very gracious Niki Rapattoni at the door. They had a live piano player playing some jazz and a few standards. After we got a drink at the open bar I noticed that I recognized the piano player, it was Nick Rapattoni himself! That was a first, how many parties have you gone to where the president of the company is also the entertainment!

Thanks for the invites! Good to see everyone!

A gentle reminder…

On the cusp of NAR EXPO New Orleans aka “NARDIGras” I caution you with this gentle reminder…

Never, and I mean NEVER, go big on the first night!

Don't let this be you!

We land tomorrow, see you on Bourbon Street!

C.A.R. Expo Recap

I wanted to share a few thoughts and observations about the C.A.R. Expo held at the Anaheim Convention Center last week. The event was fantastic. Good attendance and, at least from my experience, real estate agents were buying.

I barely had time to recover from CMLS 2010 in Chicago when we rolled in and set up our booth on Tuesday. There was a lot of “haven’t seen you in a long time” sarcasm from a lot of the vendors.

Opening day they billed as “Tech Tuesday” and the show floor was open from 5PM to 8PM. Of the 70 orders we took during the show we did over 10 on Tuesday so I was a nice start.

Simon Baker

We then proceeded to crash a party at the House of Blues where we tried to cop as many free drink tickets as we could munster. Then we ended up having dinner with the well-traveled Simon Baker and John Hart from ListGlobally, which bills itself as “a new and innovative global marketing tool for agents and developers” (think global syndication service). We went out for drinks with them the next night since I discovered that Australians are the only ones that can keep up with me. : )

Now back to the show….

Although I’ve seen the C.A.R. shows have lots more exhibitors the overall attendance was good. The Orange County Register had an article about the show you can read here, 1 and includes lots of photos.

I saw some interesting booths and products. One of the clever things I saw was at the Discover MLS booth. They were using a special display overlay device on an iMac to demo their MLS product. I took out my iPhone and shot this quick video.

I went to the MLS committee meeting hoping to catch the calREDD update. But had to leave early since the other topics took up a lot of time. But it doesn’t sound like I missed much. From what I was told Art Carter‘s update was less than 5 minutes.

Oh what a difference a year makes!

News from CMLS keeps getting better, Brian Boero added to line up.

It’s no secret we are big fans of 1000watt Consulting. Looking forward to hearing what Brian has to say. Full Press Release below.

Extra Credit: What do you think of MRED’s new logo?
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Sep 13, 2010 14:16 ET
1000watt Consulting’s Brian Boero Speaking at CMLS 2010 Conference
LISLE, IL–(Marketwire – September 13, 2010) – We all look forward to hearing from the speaker who shows us something we have never seen before or do not know about, but should. This year’s CMLS 2010 Conference, hosted by Midwest Real Estate Data, includes a presentation delivered by 1000watt Consulting’s Brian Boero, someone who, coincidentally, is an industry expert in Internet sites we have never seen before or do not know about, but should.
Taking place September 29th through October 1st at the Westin River North in Chicago, CMLS 2010 will be the Multiple Listing Service meeting of the year, with representatives from around the country descending on the Windy City for an agenda packed with the latest industry information. On Friday, September 30th, attendees will be treated to Brian’s presentation, titled “Sites That You Have Never Heard Of, But . . .”
Brian is well qualified to discuss this subject at the Conference. He is a technology evangelist and Internet expert, having spent eight years working at Inman News, where he served as executive producer of ten Real Estate Connect conferences and managed their editorial staff. He was also part of a team that launched Inman’s ClientDirect™ e-Newsletter product. After Inman, he was CEO of VREO, Inc., where he created and marketed Real Estate Dashboard®, a software application that addresses paperless, mobile real estate.
We would like to give a detailed preview of Brian’s presentation, but we do not know about any of the sites he will be talking about — yet. To find out, you will need to attend the CMLS 2010 Conference. Those interested in more information about CMLS 2010 are directed to www.cmls2010.com or to Gayle Ludemann at gayle.ludemann@mredllc.com or 630-955-2768.
Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) is the premier forum and resource for Multiple Listing Service associations.
Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is a real estate data aggregator and distributor that provides the largest multiple listing service in the country (by listing volume) to over 40,000 customers, with property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.

It’s official, this will be the largest CMLS Conference ever produced.

I’m not sure my liver will be able to handled this…

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CMLS 2010 – THE Multiple Listing Service Conference of the Year

LISLE (August 19, 2010) – When the Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) scheduled its annual conference for this fall, they had no idea how big a conference it would turn out to be.

A little background first. Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is this year’s host, and CMLS 2010 is being held at the Westin River North in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

Whether it is the attraction of a great city, the central US location, or the number of hot issues in the industry today, registration and sponsor/exhibitor participation has gone through the roof! This will be the largest attended multiple listing service organization conference of the year, and the largest CMLS conference ever.

CMLS 2010 will be held Wednesday, September 29th through Friday, October 1st. Registrations are still being taken, and additional hotel rooms have been blocked. Sponsors and exhibitors stepped up so early that by the end of July all the available slots had been filled.

Headlining the event will be noted speakers such as futurist and prolific real estate trends author Stefan Swanepoel, technology evangelist Brian Boero of 100watt Consulting and Rob Hahn aka blogger extraordinaire Notorious R.O.B. Interspersed throughout the conference will be interactive panels and cutting edge information sharing sure to make the trip to Chicago well worth anybody’s time.

Those interested in more information about CMLS 2010, including registration, are directed to www.cmls2010.com, or please contact Gayle at 630-955-2768.

Council of Multiple Listing Services (CMLS) is the premier forum and resource for Multiple Listing Service associations.

Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) is a real estate data aggregator and distributor that provides the largest multiple listing service in the country (by listing volume) to over 40,000 customers, with property information encompassing northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and northwest Indiana.

Sponsored By MLS Reset