CRT staff gets invited to speak at many venues. This past week I was privileged to be at the Colorado Association of REALTORS state convention. The Colorado association has a large population of REALTORS with over 26,000 members. This was also one of the largest state meetings I’ve attended with over 2,300 attendees.
The first day included a talk on information security that was well attended. After doing many of these over the past months and years, it’s encouraging to see the attendance at these sessions continue to rise. More and more REALTORS have come to realize the importance of protecting themselves, their customers, and their business information from breaches and other information security threats. We at CRT will continue to advocate on this important topic. One of the items we brought to the convention and used in several sessions were our new Executive Briefs that highlight aspects of information security. We also displayed a couple of the new CRT videos on security. The audience particularly liked the one on financial safeguards. It’s entertaining but also gets the message across.
One of my favorite parts of a convention is the expo floor and visiting with old and new exhibitors. It always great to see some familiar faces like Everett Kaneshige from Pocket Real Estate and James Reynolds from SentriLock. And then there are the new vendors that we come across. One area that CRT has started to investigate is the use of videos to market real estate. That’s why you’ll see CRT using videos in some of our CRT projects as an example and to understand the concepts and expense involved. One of the new vendors I met at the CAR expo was imagination interactive or I2. They are now marketing the use of videos to display and sell a property. I was impressed with what I saw. Vendors like I2 can bring new ideas to the industry that many REALTORS will find useful as well as something they’ll be using in a short time.
On Tuesday evening I got to attend the the CAR Inaugural Dinner. What a polished affair - Bob Golden and his staff now how to do it right. I was lucky enough to get the sit at a table with a group from ERA Shields. It was a lively group and rightly so. ERA Shields is where the incoming 2006 CAR President Michael Labout is from. ERA Shields is a local Colorado Springs based firm and it was a great opportunity to learn about the area. I tip my hat to Lois and Mary from ERA Shields for providing me with great conversation and their insight on Colorado Springs and the local market. We also had a lot of laughs.
And now a quick digression - earlier in the day, I was looking for someone from CAR to get some help - I must have looked lost, or certainly out of place. A gentleman came up and asked if I needed any assistance. I explained my situation, the gentleman walked me to the right person, introduced me, and in seconds all issues were resolved. Well, I didn’t know it until I got to dinner that night, that the gentleman who helped me was the incoming President himself - Michael Labout. No wonder, with a helping attitude like that, he’s a successful REALTOR and the 2006 CAR President.
Had an enlightening lunch with Kati Harken, the Chair of CAR’s Technology Committee and Jeff Geddes, CAR’s Director of Technology covering many facets of technology. I then presented to the CAR Technology Committee. I gave an overview of CRT, our mission and applications and then specifically reviewed some of our projects like PolicyPage, Messenger and REALTOR Secure. This was a sharp group with good questions, always looking for ways to improve the real estate ‘process’ for both the REALTOR and consumer.
The location of the convention was the Broadmoor Hotel. This is a beautiful, full-amenity, luxury property with with personnel and service that make a guest feel cared for. I wish I could have enjoyed more of the recreational aspects of the hotel. Add to that the the mountain scenery in full fall color, the view from my room was beautiful, and the exquisite weather - CRT would be pleased to be invited back.
