How To Attend a Conference as a REALTOR
Real Estate Agent Tips for Attending a Conference
They say that conferences are the best places to network and meet potential clients, and while there is truth to this, there is a lot of value a real estate agent can pull from a professional conference. From all the learning that can be accomplished to the social media content you can capture and skills you can refine. In this podcast, you will learn 7 tips to get the most out of your next professional conference.
Podcast Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Rev Real Estate School. The podcast with quick tips and actionable advice to help you sell more real estate in today's world. And now your host Michael Montgomery.
[00:00:11] Hello and welcome back to Rev Real Estate School. I'm your host Michael Montgomery. Today we are talking about conferences what you can do before during and after conferences in order to get the biggest bang for your buck. Now we have six tips that we're going to jump into here and some of them you may have heard before but others probably not.
[00:00:32] This can be any professional conference this can be a real estate conference within your own city. This can be a real estate conference in your state in your country or it can just be a general conference any sort of professional level conference or event. This is what it applies to.
[00:00:48] First off, number one is research the event research and research the presenters. Look up videos on the presenters so that you know who's going to be presenting and which sessions that you want to go to. Now the real magic happens here is when you're talking to people about the event or when you're at the event you haven't been to the session yet you can comment on it or if you miss a session and somebody else goes you can comment on that speaker. So it creates a talking point just to research the event going in blind although you think that OK yeah it could be a surprise and we're going to enjoy ourselves. Yes but researching it knowing the venue knowing the speakers goes a long way.
[00:01:26] Number two is nail your elevator pitch if you do not have one. We will link ours up in these show notes so you can just go off of that. And with regards to your elevator pitches yes you need to be able to say what it is that you do in a short concise way. If you're at a real estate event this is still really important where you're working what brokerage you're with what you specialize in and this is all very important stuff. Another thing I recommend and I recommend this at networking events or anything even parties is where something that people can comment on. So if you ever see me at an event I'm usually wearing some loud flowery shirt or some pants or something like that that is very easy for people to comment on. So this just gives them ammunition to start a conversation with me.
[00:02:10] Number three what sort of questions should you be asking? Well there's the standard questions but I have two that I use pretty well consistently. That will start up any conversation at an event. Number one is how did you enjoy X session or how did you enjoy the food or how did you enjoy something that is currently happening at the conference? The second one and I like this one even more is what are you most looking forward to at the conference? So, if you're sitting down for lunch with somebody asking them this question will be so revealing. So I always have those two questions in my back pocket.
[00:02:45] Next is set meeting goals for yourself. Now I have two different strategies here depending if you're new to conferences or if you've been going for years and years and we know that a lot of what happens at conferences and where some of the best stuff comes from is the network. We know this but how do we go about doing it. And I would recommend setting goals for yourself if you're new to conferences maybe new to real estate then set numbers. Say I want to meet five people today and then five people tomorrow. If it's a new agent and you're meeting another new agent or something like that this can be a very powerful relationship. If you're used to conferences you've been going for a while then you want to set target goals you want to target a certain individual or a presenter that you'd like to get to know. So potentially you're sitting front and center you're getting early to a session so that you're able to have a potential conversation with the presenter So you're setting a target goal but when you're new to conferences you're just setting a numbers goal and make it reasonable because where things will really happen for you is in one on one conversations there's nothing wrong with joining in on a larger conversation at times but very much focused on getting to know people one on one.
[00:03:57] Two more quick tips on this as if you're finding yourself having trouble sparking up conversations. Just take your phone put it in your pocket or put it in your bag and do not look at it for an hour. Give yourself one hour of not looking at it. Chances are you will be forced to then have a conversation with somebody when we're on our phone it's just too easy to look down and start scrolling and avoid the conversation.
[00:04:21] Next is also chat with the organizers. So the organizers are always looking for help. They're always running around the organizers to the event or the conference can be very powerful they can make introductions for you like you would not believe if you want to start a conversation with somebody start a conversation with one of the organizers and ask them what they're most looking forward to.
[00:04:42] Next, I know I said put your phone in your pocket but now we're going to talk about what to do when you have your phone out. Capture is much social media content as you can. You're very likely paid for this conference. It's very likely something that relates to real estate. So make sure that you're capturing content videos photos whatever that might be. Make sure you get a lot of content and chime in on the hashtags. Most conferences will have a hashtag this starts the larger conversation is whether it's on Twitter Instagram or something like that make sure you're using the hashtags and you're following them because this can be a great way to start a conversation as well.
[00:05:20] Next number six is go to the sessions. Now I know you think that all the cool kids don't go to the sessions they just kind of hang out and network outside of the sessions. And although I think this is super important I think the sessions are totally worth your time. Maybe I'm not one of the cool kids but I love going to the sessions you can learn new things. Plus you can network and meet new people at the events. I'm always planning out which Sessions I want to go to where I even want to sit. So if there is a presenter that I really want to get to know where I want to shake their hand then I'll try to set towards the front. I'll take notes. These are very valuable so I highly recommend going to the sessions that I'm not saying that you do not want to network but I'm saying that there's a lot of other opportunities to network use the sessions for what they're there for improving your knowledge. Getting to be a better real estate agent and then plus having conversations.
[00:06:16] Number seven lastly is get off site. So what do I mean by this? When you're meeting people at conferences you want to be able to meet them off site as well. This is where relationships really start to form where bonds really start to happen. So if you can plan a dinner or a breakfast or something a drink even after the event. This is fantastic. This is where you'll really start to get to know people where you'll really start to have great conversations and where relationships really start to form. So taking it off site is extremely important.
[00:06:51] And then one final little piece this one should be obvious as we're in real estate we know how important follow up is but anybody that you meet makes sure that you follow up with them I highly recommend a handwritten card very easy. It will differentiate you from say a LinkedIn request or an email. You will look a little bit different because you're sending them a nice handwritten card.
[00:07:11] Thank you so much for listening this episode. I really appreciate it. Go to the show notes we will link up the elevator pitch will also link up the networking tips that we have so you can grab those and you can run with those because those really apply to conferences as well. Thank you so much for listening this episode I really appreciate it. You can reach out to me anytime at revrealestateschool.com Or on Instagram @the.michael.montgomery. Thanks so much and we'll see you in the next lesson.
[00:07:37] This episode of Rev real estate school has come to a close. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you back here for the next lesson.