RE BarCamp Australia

The REBarCamp experience is headed to Brisbane… and you’re invited!

Peter Brewer — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 05:17:48 +0000

What is an REBarCamp I hear you ask?

Well, its often referred to as an ‘Unconference’… where:

· YOU (not the organisers) get to set the agenda.
· You get to join in the sessions that suit you.
· You’re actively encouraged to leave sessions that don’t suit you.
· You can actually facilitate a session on a topic that really appeals to you, if you like.

It sounds interesting. Tell me more.

REBarcamps are a great networking experience, but most of all they’ve been a great learning and sharing experience.

Born in the USA 4 years ago the REBarCamp movement has been a massive success giving real estate agents an opportunity in a brand agnostic environment to openly and honestly discuss the things that interest them most in business today.

OK, it sounds interesting. But just because it’s from America doesn’t make it right for Australia. Has it been done here?

Absolutely! Australia has hosted 2 REBarCamps so far this year, in Sydney in May, and October in Perth.

Both events have been resounding successes with great feedback from attendees…

David Willis – Remax. REBarCamp was a tremendous experience. The learnings, the new connections that I made and the friends I reconnected with were so valuable that dollars can’t pay for them…..

John Mason – I thought the barfest thingy was top notch. I gleaned some useful info from it, picked up a few pointers. All in all the craic was good.

Greg Vincent - Trainer – Mentor. It was great to see people with a common question or goal, regardless of their brand, openly sharing their ideas and stories with each other. Could this be the future of new conference sharing in Australia?
The organizers are like-minded real estate people in the field and in offices just like you, and from various real estate brands or organisations. None of them are paid. They do it because of their love for the business and learning.

No-one will be asked to buy anything. And in fact if we find anyone trying to sell you anything we’ll personally throw them out the door. Sure, we happily take selected sponsors money to assist in paying for the venue, coffee, some A/V supplies, some marketing support to promote the event and even a few beers and wines at the end of the day, but those sponsors are chosen for their agreement to not sell at your REBarCamp event.

OK, I’m still interested. What sort of topics will be discussed at REBarCamp Brisbane?

Well, the answer is: Whatever you’d like to chat or learn about! Its entirely your choice!

Typically though the type of topics in the first 2 Australian REBarcamp’s have included.

· ‘Does social media have a place in my business future and why and how’
· ‘Getting the most out of video’.
· ‘Managing my digital footprint and online reputation’
· ‘I have a CRM system. What next?’
· ‘Marketing real estate on a modest budget’
· ‘Working with PA’s. What about Virtual PA’s?’
· ‘Wordpress. An opportunity to create and manage my own website’
· ‘What are the best Apps for productivity in Real Estate’

* IPad and iPhone or Samsung and Something else?’

That’s not a bad mix of topics hey! And typically the discussion groups are of a maximum 30 people. So there’s plenty of opportunity to get involved.

How cool to learn and share with your peers that are faced with the same challenges. They say 2 heads are better than 1… Well, try it with 200. It’s AWESOME!

OK, I’m even more interested. What does it cost to come and who’s behind it? How can I be sure it’s not a ‘front’ for a rogue Tupperware syndicate?

It’s absolutely free to attend an REBarCamp. You might need to buy your own lunch, or you can bring a sandwich. There is no charge! It’s an unconference. There is no profit motive, no sales pitch, no single sponsor… just a day of learning, sharing and networking!

OK, you’ve got me. I’m in. It sounds like a great day. How do I register?

REBarCamp Brisbane is on November 30. It’s a Wednesday. It’s at the Pineapple Hotel on Main Street, Kangaroo Point/East Brisbane.

Register while there are still spots by going to www.facebook.com/REBarCampBrisbane and hit the ‘Like’ button and then click through to the ‘Tickets’ tab.

Oh and YES, we’d love you to bring a friend. Just get them to register as well.

Meh. I’m not totally convinced. I think I’ll pass.

That’s cool. We only want you to join us if you’re totally committed to advancing your career and sharing great information with other great people who want to do the same. It’s not an event for everyone. Not that we’ve met anyone who didn’t have a blast at their REBarCamp experience.

———————————————————————————————————
Need more info? Sure. Feel free to contact any of the organising team via the facebook page.

Visit www.facebook.com/REBarCampBrisbane

(We’ve been blessed in the past with wonderful support from great people like TRET.com.au (the organisers of AREC), MyDesktop and REUNCUT. And we’re on the look out for small sponsorships for this event too. Typically $250.00 is all we’d like to see in case you know someone who loves the industry as much as we do. I’m always happy to chat with sponsors on 0417 630 962)

: Peter Brewer REBarcamp Brisbane

RE BarCamp soon to be a reality in WA

peterfletcher — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 08:39:39 +0000

The Wardroom at the South of Perth Yacht Club

BarCamp Perth is fast becoming a reality. Today we received word that REIWA are throwing their support behind the event by promoting RE BarCamp in their annual conference brochure. It’s fantastic to have the backing of the peak real estate body in WA.

A new logo has been prepared. It looks great with the flames of the RE BarCamp retained but including the stars of the Southern Cross and a Swan from our famous Swan River here in Perth. The graphic design work was provided by Charlie Gunningham and his team of designers at REIWA.

The original date for RE BarCamp Perth was October 6 but REIWA were forced to change the date of their conference to that date. BarCamp is now planned for Friday, October 7.

Our organising committee is in full swing. Tom Esze mamaged to secure the fantastic upstairs Wardroom at the South of Perth Yacht Club. It’s a great location with stunning, uninterrupted views across Melville Water through to Perth city in the North. We refuse to be outdone by Sydney with their fancy Sydney Harbour views!

Thanks to Bill Atkinson, Professionals WA/NT have offered a generous sponsorship of the room hire and bar tab.

Further sponsorship offers have already been received from Thehomepage, Inline Media Biz, RE/MAX, My Desktop and REIWA. As was the case in Sydney we’re expecting to have more sponsors than expenses. RE BarCamps are proudly and passionately not-for-profit and brand agnostic so it’s great to see businesses getting on board to help make a difference.

Unlike many ‘free’ events that lure people to a place where they’re sold to, RE BarCamps don’t tolerate sales messages of any kind. You won’t find a naming rights sponsors banner and there are no keynote sales pitch from the main sponsor. In fact all participants are actively encouraged to use the Rule of Two Feet. If someone starts selling or pushing a personal agenda, stand up and walk to another conversation. It’s jus that simple.

That gets everyone focussed on supporting one another’s success through sharing and contribution.

It’s a great recipe that’s worked in the US, it worked in Sydney and I know will work here in Perth.

Our newest addition to the organising team is Nicole Lefebvre. Nicky is a sales coordinator for Peard Real Estate and is a gun on Twitter. I’m thinking that Nicky is going to be a big help spreading the RE BarCamp message through social media.

At this stage our organising team is:

Bill Atkinson, Professionals

Janelle Aylmer, Accom Property

Geoff Baldwin, RE/MAX WA

Dean Bradley, Realmark Real Estate

Tom Esze, Tom Esze Auctions

Charlie Gunningham, REIWA

Nicole Lefebvre, Peard Real Estate

David Willis, RE/MAX Real Estate, Bunbury

All of the committee are passionate real estate professionals. All want to see meaningful changes in the industry and all are keen to give of their time and expertise to make RE BarCamp a reality in Perth.

Well, that was Sydney. Where to next?…

Peter Brewer — Sun, 29 May 2011 06:08:53 +0000

After much fan fare and a bucket load of work I was 1 of 140 registrants for the inaugural #rebcsyd which was held in Sydney on May 24. Although we didn’t match our numbers of registrants with the number of attendees I reckon we had certainly cracked the magic ton. **

REBarcamps have a great following in the USA with over 70 of these events having now been run with great success. The challenge for the Aussie organisers was whether there would be a transference of the energy and openness of the US events through to the Aussie market. Fortunately there was a wonderful spirit in the room and after a brief opening by the organising team a request was put to the floor to *nominate 8 topics that they’d like to discuss in the first 8 sessions of the day.

Now, If you’ve ever experienced an REBarcamp before you’ll understand that the format is that of an ‘unconference’.

What’s an REBarcamp? and how can it be free?

: thatpeterbrewer was there

Its an event where the attendees get to choose the topics and drive the debate with the support of a facilitator or subject matter expert in a brand agnostic environment. Its certainly a ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ event where as one of the organisers you are relying solely on the desire of the attendees to raise their hands and nominate topics and issues.

So, after 30 seconds of stoney silence the first ‘bid’ came from the floor to suggest a discussion on Mobile technology, then another onWordpress, another on the issue of outsourcing of social media, then, using LinkedIn for business, another suggestion about the importance of video to real estate agents, then old fashioned new world real estatewas suggested and within less than 3 minutes we had 8 excellent topics, 10 facilitators, and a crowd with a thirst for a series of 8 great discussions.

I think its fair to say that REBarcamp Sydney was a great success. On behalf of my fellow organisers Lara Scott, Greg Vincent, Peter Fletcher, Tatiana Mijalica, Ben Stockdale and all the way from Santa Clarita California Jeff Turner, we’d like to thank our sponsors, Professionals, Inlinemedia.biz, TheHomePage.com.au , Stephanie Mason from Tret.com.au, Adam Campbell from desktop.com.au and many others for their wonderful support of our first event. In particular I’d like to publicly acknowledge the enormous organisational work of Lara Scott who was on hand to busily work behind the scenes securing sponsorships, organising the venue and registrations and generally making the event the great success that it was. Well done ‘Nanna’.

All in all we ran 15 informative sessions with some excellent interaction at this years event .

Possibly the two stand out pieces of the day for me were.

1. Jeff Turner’s opening… “if today sucks – its your fault’… (which truly encompasses the REBarcamp experience)

2. Seeing Ian Campbell – Head of Marketing at Ray White agreeing to co-present on ‘Marketing’ with Steve Day of LJHooker.

Tell me, who’d have ever thought that was possible?!

Both for me were absolute highlights to which I would have gladly paid 15 times the price of admission to hear and see again.

REBarcamp Sydney finished with a very liquid end courtesy of Professionals CEO Glyn Morgan who fronted with a very generous bar tab.

Peter Fletcher - Event Organiser REBarcamp Sydney and Perth: REBarcamp

As one of the organisers I’m already excited at the prospect of rolling the next REBarcamp into the other states and capital cities of Australia. Our inaugural organising team are located in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth and are also very keen to keep the momentum rolling. Our sponsors have indicated they’d like to support further events. So now all we need is the venue, the people and the spirit to share in an open brand agnostic environment.

30 years of real estate has shown me that no-one has a mortgage on a great idea. Its proven to me that its far better to give than to expect to receive. Its shown me that no matter what the colour scheme is above your offices front door, there are some wonderful people in our industry with a willingness to learn and share. I saw 100 of those people in Sydney on Wednesday May 24 and I liked what I saw alot.

For the more analytical of readers here is an interesting break down of the days tweets mentioning the hashtag #rebcsyd Tweet analysis. There is actually some wonderful information here.

But don’t just believe me. Click here to see what the attendees said.

Tony McGrath-Principal of Professionals Real Estate at West Ryde cpatured the faces of REBarcamp Sydney in this lovely compilation piece. Our special thanks to Tony for sharing his work. I hope you enjoy it. Click here to see ‘The Face’s of REBarcamp Sydney

Please join me in acknowledging the work of the REBarcamp Organisers. Left to Right – Top to Bottom

Greg Vincent, Tatiana Mijalica, Ben Stockdale, Lara Scott, Peter Fletcher and Peter Brewer.

: Inaugural REBarcamp Crew 2011 #rebcsyd

See You Next Time!

** (Important note to anyone who registered to attend and didn’t respond. ~~Pfft!! and Meh!..~~ . I mean, We’re really sorry you missed out on a great day. Hope you can make it next time!)

*Update: I’ve also found these reviews from others who attended the event.

Ian Campbell of Ray White voices his thoughts here.

Ryan O’Grady of Business2 shares his opinions here.

It’s just a giant hallway conversation of learning

Lara Scott — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:00:56 +0000

Ever heard someone say “yeah the conference was good but I had this amazing conversation with XXX in the hallway after one of the sessions”.

Without getting into an exchange on the relative pros and cons of meeting formats I would like to suggest that you approach RE BarCamp as one giant hallway conversation of learning. We will all learn different things on the day no matter what level of expertise we have in a particular area we may know next to nothing about another one. Diverse content will provide something for everyone at RE BarCamp.

Hallways conversations are different – there is a certain equality to them, different opinions on a subject can be shared and explored as people enter the hallway and join in the discussion. Equally if the conversation bores you – walk away. Each session at RE BarCamp will be like that PLUS there will also be more hallway conversations during breaks and at the end of the day.

There is no set agenda for RE BarCamp Sydney. Our current hallway list of session ideas centre around technology but it is not exhaustive nor it is necessarily going to define what happens on the day. Someone has already commented that there is “More to real estate than online guys – Guerilla Marketing (offline) that gets through – Killer Open Houses – Negotiation Mastery – Autopilot systems of contact”. Fair cop. Others have suggested Becoming a LinkedIn Super User, Property Management, Attraction of Staff/Recruitment, Hyperlocal Business and Community Marketing.

As a user-generated event the session content will come together on the day. As a delegate the most important thing to remember is that this is not a passive workshop format. Come, ready to start a hallway conversation and set the agenda along with everyone else attending.

Current Hallway List (in registration process)

Social media ROI and best practice
Expanding on-line marketing
CRM systems
Technology – hardware, software and intel
Mobile innovations (technology + sites)
Video
Consumers on-line
Reputation management
Maximising E-mail marketing
Google and new search
Blogs
WordPress for agents
Hyper-local prospecting
Social discounting and affiliations e.g. GroupOn, Living Social
Listing and prospecting – use of technology
The (r)evolution of portals

Reference: NM Dixon, The Hallways of Learning published by the Harvard Business review in 1996.

Why I think you should come to REBarcamp.

Peter Brewer — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:32:59 +0000

I’ve had fortune to attend a couple of outstanding REBarcamps in the US over the last year and a bit, and I gotta say I’ve loved every minute of them.

They’ve been a great networking experience, but most of all they’ve been a great learning and sharing experience. What I’ve found at the Bar Camps I’ve attended is that there’s been at least 10 other people in each break out session that have had the same or similar questions or ideas that I have. How cool to learn and share with your peers that are faced with the same challenges. They say 2 heads are better than 1.. Well, Try it with 200. Its AWESOME!

I thought I’d share a few ideas on why I think you should register today to attend the Inaugural Australian REBarcamp.

1 to network with fellow real estate practitioners seeking to increase their knowledge particularly in the area of the effective use of technology and social media.

2 to engage in healthy debate around industry trends with industry peers, leaders and key stakeholders.

3 to be exposed to cutting edge ideas and concepts around where the new tech tools of today can take a business today and beyond

4 to be challenged about whether your business practices of this year will cut it next year.

5 To enjoy the opportunity to share in a social, no pressure, brand agnostic environment.

6 To engage in healthy debate in a peer to peer environment.

7 To network with like minded professionals.

This is a great opportunity for you to join in a great ‘Think Tank’.

If you’re thinking of coming to Bar Camp (and we really hope that you are!) its really important to remind you that REBarcamp is a ‘Participatory’ event. Make sure you come with an attitude of preparedness to share, learn and generally participate. If you ‘give’, I promise that if you ‘participate and give’ then you’ll get at least 5 times what you gave in return. If however you sit on your tail bone, then you’ll get nothing other than a sore tail bone.

Interested to see who’s already registered?.. Click here... It’s an impressive crew so far!

Peter Brewer with Jeff turner at NAR 2009. San Diego

Of particular note in our wonderful list of attendees is a colleague by the name of Jeff Turner who I met at the 2009 NAR Annual Conference in San Diego.

Jeff is coming all the way from the USA join us and to launch the REBarcamp concept into Australia. Jeff is one of the most highly sought after presenters and true thought leaders in the USA, particularly in the area of social media in the real estate community. We are honoured that Jeff is coming out to join us.

We have limited space available for registrants at the Inaugural REBarcamp and tickets (which are free) are moving quickly. Click here to register to attend (while there are still seats)

Our hard working organising team of Peter Fletcher, Lara Scott, Greg Vincent, Tatiana Mijalica, Ben Stockdale and myself are working busily behind the scenes to ensure that our first REBarcamp is an absolute hit. We’re that confident its going to be a roaring success that we’re already mapping dates for Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne for mid year.

Get on board! I promise you’ll be really sorry if you miss this EVENT!.

RE Barcamp is Coming to Australia

peterfletcher — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 07:38:16 +0000

The real estate BarCamp movement is about to arrive in Australia.

According to Wikipedia a BarCamp “is an international network of user-generated conferences (or unconferences). They are open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants…and [they] rely on the passion and the responsibility of the participants.”

In the US, BarCamps have become popular amongst real estate agents jaded with attending conferences where it’s commonplace for presenters to pitch their book, DVD or coaching programme.

At real estate BarCamps participants are expected to use the rule of two feet. If a presenter starts pitching their product then the attendees use their two feet to walk into another session that’s more valuable.

Most conferences have a pre-arranged agenda and conference presenters. Not RE BarCamps. Presenters are chosen on the day from amongst the attendees. And it’s the attendees who get to choose who they want to speak, not the organisers.

Most RE BarCamps are free. Sponsors are invited to contribute directly towards running costs. Already The Home Page has undertaken to pay for venue hire and the Professionals Queensland are keen to get involved.

At this stage Australia’s first RE BarCamp will be held in Sydney on May 24, 2011. The date dovetails with AREC giving interstate AREC attendees the opportunity to stay on and participate.

There is still lots to organise. Volunteers are needed to assist with registration, logistics supplies and plenty more.

Sponsors are needed for:

Venue (THP is covering this)
Wireless internet access
AV hire
Coffee van
Morning tea
Lunch
Lanyards (Maverick Strategies supplying these)
T-shirts (optional)
Photo booth (branded, optional)
Notepads
Promotion
Drinks (Professionals and THP have both expressed an interest)
Prize give ways (optional)

More clarity is needed on a sponsorship entails. Broadly sponsors will be businesses who are enthused by the idea of RE BarCamp.

At this stage sponsors will receive

A logo on an Our Sponsors page on the RE BarCamp website
Mention on the morning of the event e.g. lunch is kindly provided by XYZ
Logo on a sponsors’ page on the RE BarCamp Facebook page
A banner (they organise where/when/how)

The sponsors don’t get:

An opportunity to promote their product
A booth
Front of room promotions
Naming rights

Finally, here’s a video by Brad Coy. He’s explaining how to get the most from RE BarCamp through active participation.