RE barcamp gets a passport and heads to Barcelona, Spain

Back in February at REBarcamp Seatttle, a few of us had an impromptu session called the ‘Future of REbarcamp’. Andy and I thought it would be pertinent since we had Nick Bostic and Nick Bastian on hand who would be volunteering for the soon to come Portland and Phoenix events. What we did not anticipate is Claudio Cossio showing up. Claudio introduced himself to me earlier in the day as someone who would be interested in holding a Real Estate barcamp in Barcelona, Spain.

The discussion was great. I’m sorry that there was no audio or video taking, but that’s what happens when things are done on the fly

So the writing was on the wall, and looks like they have a date. Now how about that? RE barcamp Barcelona. September 16th, 2009.

RE Barcamp, es una propuesta para compartir y aprender de las personas
que tiene el deseo de crear un ambiente abierto de colaboración. Es un
evento donde se comparten ideas, se hacen demostraciones de productos e
intercambio de ideas entre los asistentes.

If you are half as curious as I am, you can take a look at plane tickets right here. At $529.00 round trip from SF, that’s as cheap as getting around the states for an RE barcamp.

No website up yet, just this Facebook group (sorry, you need to be logged in to see it.) We’ll keep you posted as things develop.  In the meanwhile, I’m just going to root through my belongings and make sure my passport is up to date.

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Are you ready to participate? If you are, then RE barcamp is ready for you.

RE barcamp really is about you using this opportunity to step up and participate.  It’s a “user generated conference” after all.  One idea is to come with an idea for a session that you would like to have.  It does not matter if you are an expert on the subject or not.  In fact, it would probably be best if you were not.  That way you could locate others who are attending to step up and join in.  This is a wonderful way to gather the brain trust available and really make something happen.   Ideally RE barcamp should not be about sessions which are led the same way we find at conferences.   This is about the synergy of the group and your voice being heard.

No spectators.  Only participants.

Scheduling added to Upcoming

The entire RE Barcamp schedule going forward has now been added to the “events and things to do” website Upcoming.Yahoo.com.  Please add to your events if you already have a profile there, and if not, you really should get one.

Upcoming is a community for discovering and sharing events. It can help you find stuff to do, discover what your friends are doing, or let you keep private events online for your own reference.

The site is also a great way to reach out to the local communities surrounding our events.  You can also join the RE BarCamp group while you’re over there, add pictures, as well as create a badge to put in your website/blog to help promote the upcoming RE BarCamps.

From the site you can easily add to all types of personal calenders.  If you are a Google Calender user like I am, you can also add the public schedule found here.

Note:  Sharing on Upcoming does not take to place of registration for any of the Camps.   Just a place to cross promote and share with the Community service of Upcoming.   Every event has their very own ‘RSVP’ page for resistration.

REBarCamp Lives On!

This post is long overdue considering the gentleman that sent me these praises, did so WAY back in August.  At any rate it seems like a year has past since then and the wheels keep turning.  Mike Price had initiated the next REBarCamp in Houston and it happens just next Wednesday, Oct. 22nd.  From what I understand in talking to Mike, they are expecting this to be another stellar event of countless possibilities.

Here’s what a few happy campers had to say about San Francisco’s inaugural event back in July:

Jacob Morgan – I found out about the event through being involved in the social media space and knowing folks like you and Andy Kaufman (which by the way is a great enough case study, without social media, I would have never known about the event). If came to the event for several reasons.  First of all I am launching a company in the social media and real estate space and I wanted to see what challenges real estate professionals are facing and what tools they are using.  Social media has a lot of applications in virtually any industry, the challenge seems to be finding out how social media can be applied to YOUR particular industry.  In the case of real estate, which is an extremely relationship based field, social media, when used properly, can definitely help build relationships and leads.

I learned a few things, first of all there is no substituted for quality relationships, sure social media can help build those relationships but face time is also crucial, especially in real estate.  I also learned about how some of the real estate folks are (or aren’t) using social media.  It seems that the real estate industry, which has a very traditional approach, is changing.  Real Estate professionals are going to have to learn how to use the various social media tools out there, or they are going to have a very difficult time succeeding in the competitive landscape.  As I have said and continue to believe, social media is a way of life, it should not be treated as solely a marketing medium.  You have to be honest, original, transparent, and above all authentic, meaning be yourself.  There is no point in building a solid online relationship with someone with a fake persona, because once you meet in real life, the relationship will be shattered. Look forward to the next event Brad!

Andrew M. Isreal – I run a successful web-zine in Aspen, Colorado: www.AspenSpin.com as well as a niche Real Estate brokerage, www.AjaxRE.com .  I’m in SF for the summer to “tech up”.  I’m a little older (in fact I’m considered–the “world’s oldest intern”) than most of the tech geeks in town, and therefore i still like old fashioned face-to-face networking. REBarCamp confirmed for me that to succeed in a very crowded on-line market place—one STILL needs to employ fundamental business principals.  There is no “secret code” for success on-line.  Listening to my colleagues helped me clarify that tech–is just another tool–albeit a powerful one. The three most salient points that i took home from RE Bar Camp:

1. Content is King.  If it’s boring or uninformative—they will not come.

2. Be authentic.  If your content is real–people will relate to it and  hopefully engage you.

3. K.I.S.S.  Keep it simple stupid.  You don’t need to be the super-duper tech wiz to make the intenet work for you.  Provide ”value added content” for your customers and prospective customers and you’ll be successful.  But don’t only do tech—get out there and make some deals the old fashioned way, market knowledge, contacts and hard work.

Payam Soleymani – I found REBarCamp through facebook’s news feeds.  I checked out the official site, and I saw the number of real estate rock stars attending.  I knew this “unconference” was going to make history, and I had to be part of it.  Presentations were conversations, speakers were your new friends, and the audience were the panelists.  The side chats in the halls will produce some amazing mash-ups.  REBarCamp is like a hot start-up… it’s biggest hurdle will be how to scale its growth.

There will be beer… and possibly Tequila

photo courtesy of Thomas Hawk

Going way back to when we roamed the venue of the Swedish American Hall as a possible location for REBarCamp, the option was brought up for piggy backing the event right downstairs into the bar for an after party.   Tequila for twitterers was already in the works, but as all ambitious plans would have it, our work was already cut out for us.   The other thing that occured to us was that “Beer for Bloggers”  the semi-annual pre-Inman Bloggers Connect party would be in full swing that same evening.

Putting the old social networking skills of the RE.net to work we somehow managed to make point A come over to connect with point B and get the good folks over at Inman and Zillow to hold the event downstairs after REBarCamp.   Needless to say, we are really excited about this and I bet you are too since most of us will be right upstairs anyway.   If you are not coming to BarCamp and are just getting in for the evening, the Cafe Du Nord is a real easy cab ride straight up Market St.

Trust me when I say the joint rocks!  Looking forward to seeing you all there.  I know I already owe one BawldGuy a drink.

Here’s what some other locals think on Yelp!

Their website description:

Café Du Nord is a nightclub, restaurant and live music venue located in the landmark Swedish-American building in the Upper Market district of San Francisco.  Although the Du Nord is known for the quality of the national music acts it showcases, the club retains the ambiance of a classic lounge.  Built in 1907, it has maintained its Victorian interiors, featuring the original faux decorated paneling and wainscoting, and a forty-foot hand carved mahogany bar.  Details throughout the club hearken back to its past life as a notorious speakeasy during Prohibition.  The rich red walls and dark wood interior create the perfect environment to enjoy classic cocktails and the most eclectic live music in town — seven nights a week.

The SF Happy Hour meet-up

Last night a few of us convened at the Ferry Buildings’ famed Taylors Refresher for our first Happy Hour local meet up to start the talks of on the ground support for the event.  The turn out, though few was impressive.   We have some new volunteers on board of great importance to the success of our effort.  We opened up discussion on getting some support with Tech set-up, load in (night before) help, registration, and Food.  If you are going to get a bunch of geeks together for a BarCamp they will want to eat.

Cindy Lin of Staged4More has some experience in organizing conferences and sponsorships and suggested some great ideas for fueling the campers as well as our getting people registered.   Eric Bryant new contributor to the Geek Estate Blog,  RE Coach and Wine connoisseur showed up fresh from a nice sunny day in Napa with Wine in hand to offer some enthusiasm for tech support and word of mouth promotion.  Staycee G. of Green Valley Prudential tagged along, new to the Web 2.0 idea she seems very excited (hope we didn’t scare you too much Staycee.)   We also had Pat Kitano of the all mighty Transparent RE blog show up with MacBook in hand to share some great insights on last months RE Tech South event and their efforts of coordinating.

All in all it was a nice couple of hours spent in the dusk of the city’s day, meeting a few of the local Camp volunteers to get to know one another and brainstorm a little of what needs to happen in the next few months.  July will be here before we know it, and with the fireball of an event that RE Bar Camp is becoming, we are going to need some real good local support.