NAR's Annual convention starts this week. This year its in New Orleans with the title of NARdi Gras!
As usual CRT has a number of things going on around the convention. You've already seen posts about the WiFi HotSpot and the Bloggers' Lounge, but to remind you:
- The WiFi HotSpot offers you free internet access and is located in the entry foyer of the New Orleans Hilton Riverside. All you need is a laptop with a wireless card. Chris and Ian will be around the HotSpot to help with any technical issues you may have and answer any questions. I'll probably take a few shifts there myself.
- If you're a real estate blogger who will be at the convention our Bloggers' Lounge is the perfect place for you to compose your posts. We'll have WiFi access and one computer available for you to use. There will also be every bloggers' most important tool: snacks and caffeine enhanced beverages. Make sure you say hi to the CRT staff, we love meeting the others out there in the blogosphere. If you're not a blogger, feel free to come by and ask questions about blogging.
We also are sponsoring a number of educational sessions as part of the conference. This year we bring you four interesting topics:
- Friday 11/10, 9am: Digital Identity in Real Estate
- Saturday 11/11, 9am: Blogs In Real Estate: Another Lead Source?
- Sunday 11/12, 10am: White Powder, Bird Flu, Hurricanes, And Hackers
- Sunday 11/12, 3pm: Web 2.0 and Mashups
As long as I'm chewing your ear off about the convention, I'll mention two last things. The REALTOR.org team has created a number of resources for the conference visitor. is having a conference specific blog. You can find it at http://narblog1.realtors.org/mvtype/annual/. The NARdi Gras live blog will have many contributers, myself included, sharing their thoughts and perceptions on the conference. The other place you should know about is the main NARdi Gras News page. It has pointers to many conference resources including links to the Show Daily and the REALTOR Magazine Online daily news.
The wifi hotspot in New Orleans is starting to kick into full gear. The most amazing part is that it is inces away from one of the most rare and almost extinct species of IT gadgetry - the pay phone! The craziest thing is, that we almost covered it up while putting our workspace together - what were we thinking, how did we not see this magnificient creature in its natural surroundings? In the 2 hours since opening our doors, there has been 5 times as many people using the pay phones as there were on the wireless network. It’ll be a sad day when the last pay phone disappears. Do you remember the dial back trick when you were a kid? I got a big kick out of watching some poor bystander pick up the phone and no one was on the other end. Now that’s old school hacking! What was it again dial 1-958 and the last 4 digits of the number. Ahh the good old days.
