Northern Delaware Real Estate

As my Real Estate Bar Camp experience began as a very last minute planned trip, I was not as well prepared as I would like to be for an “unconference”. The essential Louise to my Thelma was missing, so when Judy Moriarity (@realestatechick) indicated she was considering going I said “ME ME ME RIDE WITH ME!”, Judy took me up on this insane offer. She arrived at my home on Monday afternoon at 5:15, was quickly introduced to my children, my dog, and Gary (@TheDweller511), I cleared the garage for her tiny little Mini-Cooper to take its spot where my mighty Honda Pilot normally sits. To which my 3 year old said Tuesday morning, “Oh it’s so cute and tiny”.  I would not have been going at all if not for the excellent prodding and poking of Monica McNamara (@MonicaMcNamara) and Kathy Sperl Bell (@kathysperlbell).

We hit the road, cruising always at a safe and legal speed, never using the “force” as I am known to when driving, never tweeting, talking, nor making any unsafe lane changes, we began our journey southward on the I-95 corridor, following behind many greats who had made the trip before us (@realtormarney, @DerekMassey, @BillLublin aka B-Lub), we drove on – non-stop to DC, nay, Herndon, Virginia. Upon arrival at my hotel (Judy was not able to book at the “preferred” hotel due to it being overcapacity – this may have been a blessing for her), we proceeded to my “suite” where we were greeted with the essence d’afro – Afro Sheen – ahhh what a way to begin the evening (Shantee Haynes @ShanteeHaynes asked what kind it was, I am not that good at brand distinction), once changed from my road attire we moved onto Judy’s swanky quarters, as I stood outside waiting for her, I heard a booming voice call my name…

“PAVEZA”… G-d, is that you? It’s me Maya… oh close enough, it was B-Lub (@BillLublin) as he sauntered out of the Hampton Inn exclaiming he had just seen Judy in the hall and knew I was outside. Then I take back those quick promises I made to the invisible universal force since it was only B-Lub. So Bill and I chatted about #REBCDC and what was up, talked about the awesome photos he took at Ignite Wilmington, and he even shared his sought after Polish Sesame Candy. B-Lub decided to drive! So we doubled back to the “preferred” hotel, circled the lot, dropped my car and on we went to Jackson’s for Beer for Bloggers, arriving fashionably late about 3.5 hours after the start (we were rolling with the B-Lub – WORD, and he DID play JayZee in the car).

We were greeted by many of the usual suspects, all with libations in hand of some sort, some had had a few more libations than others, #ifyoucatchmydrift, some had none, and there was an odd scent in the air… Cigarettes!! WOW, smoking in a public building? Shocking to me, I was reminded by the fabulous Sarah Stelmok (@sarahstelmok) that this was in fact Virginia, to which Sarah segued into a very funny story about dinner at Waffle House (suggested birthday gift for Sarah, a Waffle House gift card #justsayin). I greeted my friends, some I had met “F2F” before, some I had not, and our evening of fun began. Much chit chat, facial recognition and sense of “Have we met before?” known as Avataral Illusions, overcame me a few times, the familiar sense of being with people I knew very well, but realizing I had never met them in person before was odd, and not in the same way it was odd 25 years ago when I was a BBS dork/Phreaker/Hacker, then it was just “What kinda freak am I going to meet today?” with lots of trepidation and fear, now it is “normal” people out there – amazing to follow the progression of Geekdom/dorkdom, that my friends is another Blog post.

We drank, and we got merry, and I stole Marney Kirk’s (@realtormarney) BFF Jen and we organized a coup to Uncle Julios for some Mexican at 10:31pm. Strangely, Uncle Julios closes at 10:30, so they let us in and locked the doors. Jen insisted that the others would fail to join us – but sure enough, as they banged on the windows and we waved mockingly while laughing, the Manager let them in and in poured the “late night crowd” including B-Lub, Mike Simonsen, Marney, Zach Hosford, Judy, Derek and my all time favorite new person Wendy Forsythe (@BHGRE_Wendy) – Tweeple she is so frigging cool (Cough), a few people ordered Fried Ice Cream balls while Jen and I feasted on some amazingly awesome Enchiladas (I give Uncle Julio’s 3 thumbs up!).

Back at the hotel room, the absolutely depressing nature of the “suite” hit me, and I knew I wouldn’t sleep well, so on went the TV, Amelia Earhart did survive and was a housewife in New Jersey! REALLY? Then on to some classic HGTV – now I LOVE the show Househunters, really, for years, one of my favorites, I even emailed them in 2002 asking “If you ever get to Wilmington Delaware I REALLY want to be on the show”, guess what, they’re here, and I have a client up for it, but I digress as is my nature… so I caught what had to be the WORST cast episode of Househunters, and it was like a car wreck, I could not stop watching – the forced nature, the awkwardness, I wish I had popcorn, eventually I forced myself to turn it off and attempt sleep. I think I slept… either that or time moved REALLY fast.

The morning of #REBCDC: My alarm went off and it was still dark out at 7am, wait what happened there? Up and at ‘em! Started the complimentary coffee, and watched the water pour down the kitchenette counter and onto the floor, I swiftly moved the trash can to try to catch it, and started the machine running before it lost ALL of the water and I had no coffee and a wet carpet, success! Two cups of coffee flavored water – isn’t that more like tea? Pack, dash, and call Marney to coordinate late departure. Timeline secured, Marney is missing… headed to the lobby and ran into Derek checking out, was advised Marney left with Zach and Jen. Fine. Off to grab my partner in crime Judy! But first, the stop at Starbucks, for our required morning java. It was raining, and I had flat ironed my hair, so I began the day with a ginormous hair fail, and a mediocre latte. Got to the hotel and Judy was waiting for me, threw her stuff in the car and off we went.

As we pulled into the parking lot at NVAR two gentlemen were outside, obviously placed to guide us, I was too quick, I made a break for the right side, waved and nodded to the flash of the #REBCDC badge, and on we went. We parked at the end of the building, and again with the rain we dashed for the building, checked in. Although the fanfare we expected to accompany our arrival was sadly missing. We got our shirts – they gave us Mediums, well Ainsley you’re my new bestest pal for that sizing – got our badges, where we were instructed to put our Twitter names on them too (tee hee, ok I think we get it). Two of the first people we saw were Daniel and Kari Rothamel (@realestatezebra and @strduo and therefore @lilzebra too), which was a thrill, I was so overwhelmed I did not process the event quickly enough to give my regards to Kari and Little Zebra properly(HI!!!), Kari looked awesome, and Daniel was styling as always with that Coat of Amazingness.

Finally we made it into the main room to make a grand entrance… greeted by old and new friends, it was a great turn out! While many of our friends were sitting toward the rear of the room, we spotted Mike sitting by himself in the front-third of the room and joined him. I ran back to check the board, oh so many wonderful sessions, so many at the same time slot. Heather was at the board making some adjustments, and I requested she sign my class up “Finding Your Social Media Voice by the TwitterQueens”, my time slot was against Heathers, and I wanted to take Heathers session – again the fact that I have not cloned myself prevented me from doing what I really wanted to do, this was to turn out to be the theme for the day, and the lesson I learned was – accept that you can’t be in every session at every time slot, and embrace what you can do (which apparently during one session is a Starbucks run). I hedged and asked Heather to erase it, but she said “I need you to teach a session”. Well that was kind, but the board was basically full so I am thinking not so much, but awwww how sweet?

Ainsley began the welcome!! And she was introducing the “Rockstars” in the room…. Around they went, past Judy and I twice, three times, four times, ok seriously – she’s @realestatechick, that certainly is a “Rockstar” in my book… someone did not give Ainsley good notes, I mean she mentioned B-Lub (cough), alright so really B-Lub is a “Rockstar” but I have to tease him when given the opportunity. He is the direct competition to all the attention seeking I do, and he does it quite well, to the point that I often defer to his expertise. Ainsley gave a wonderful and exuberant welcome and off we all went into an incredible day of learning and interaction.

I sat thru B-Lubs session, and it was great, as always informative, great participation, and I totally put myself out there as having retweeted a link without reading it – I have done it a few times from reliable sources when my mobile browser wouldn’t open the link, so I tried!! I am honest at all times people! A great discussion began and people had fun. Next I taught my session, as I had listed it as “TwitterQueens” that meant anyone who was a “TwitterQueen” (www.twitterqueens.net) was welcome to participate, and Matt Wilkins and Bill Lublin (B-Lub if you have forgotten) stepped up and I think really helped me keep a bit more focused, as I did not bring my handouts or my laptop, so shiny objects and tangents were jumping out at me from every direction.

I floated around for a few sessions, heard a bit of Sarah Stelmok’s fabulous “Red Light District”, and I would love to see that on a live feed sometime, great discussion and topic! In and out of a few more rooms, and enjoyed the Video presentation (when not interrupted by a client call here or there), then came the wondering…. Where is lunch? Ainsley seemed to be stressing a little, the Gentlemen bringing lunch were lost… oh the crowd was getting a little ugly, well ok the crowd was already a little ugly, now it was getting a little hungry. I floated from group to group and chatted with folks, snarked a bit here or there, and had serious industry conversations at other times.

When the food finally arrived Wendy and I jumped into help – isn’t this about participating, so we were going to participate, and let me tell you, pulling the plastic wrap off those trays was NOT easy by any stretch of the imagination, but Wendy did it with great skill, either that or she was so hungry she was clawing into the darn things (#justsayin). Ainsley pointed us to the front of the line, and then everyone started lining up, oh now we just looked pathetic up there, like desperate hungry chicks, standing around doing nothing as the line grew behind us and a majority of the people ONLY saw us standing there drooling on ourselves. Well Wendy and I are far too classy for that, we were assisting, and helping to expedite the feeding process. Lunch was quite good! And although I told Ainsley I would do my best to eat for two or three people since the turnout was less than expected, I went for an amazing Italian sandwich with Prosciutto and it was really filling. For the feed, the event get Four-Stars.

After we all feasted, Wendy, Judy, Shantee Haynes (@shanteehaynes) and I sat in the second row for Mike’s presentation, I am all about the statistics, charts, graphs, data and eye candy (by eye candy I mean Heather Elias’ website). I took a lot away from that presentation and am now a big fan of Altos Research, and need to find a way to incorporate data from them into my website and my everyday Real Estate experience. Mikes presentation was fun, informative, and showed me what benefit I could take away from having the data to support my “It’s Great!” reply to the “How is the market?” question. Although I nearly lost it during this session when someone at the event whom I had followed sent me some sort of “Please Verify Yourself” DM, those that know me can imagine how this was received…. Go ahead, take a moment and imagine, because you would be right, and Judy and Wendy saw it firsthand.

After that a Tweet by Derek that a post-lunch carb coma was imminent, it was decided we would make a much needed Starbucks run, orders were taken (sorry to those we did not get, it was quite disorganized and there is just so many coffees three people can carry in my car), and off we went with the GPS to guide us. After two passes thru the parking lot at a lost attempt to make people laugh (the shades were drawn too tightly), we were on our way. To a Starbucks at a Supermarket, that was mistake number one – if you WANT it to take too long, this is the place to go.

Back again, delivering the Starbucks to those that partook, and on to Bobby Carroll (@rewebcoach and Dakno.tv) session, which was so great because I wanted to learn more about Photo blogging. I was respectful and quiet in this session, ask Bobby, it is possible for me to actually just listen and learn and not interject snarkiness. Great session, and I learned some new things that I have begun to implement. After Bobby’s session we had hoped to hit the road and beat traffic, but Judy was to be the subject of Derek’s presentation on Posterous. So as we sat down for this presentation and learned that in fact, Judy was not, I was resigned to that fact that we were destined to be sitting in traffic at some point. Derek’s presentation again was informative and I played with my Posterous account (that sounds naughty?) while he taught.

Then came the fun highlight – apparently Lynchburg Squares was going to be the end game before cocktail hour – and what a delight it was. I even got some video I will edit later and post with this blog. Nanette Saunders (@brokersaunders) did such a great job organizing this, and truly picking people who had absolutely no clue what they were doing, or had such a good clue they made themselves look clueless. The answer of the day was in fact Thorax, the question went like this:

“What is the name of the part of the blog that separates the topics?” Nanette walked over to Mike Simonsen with the microphone, and he looked very seriously and said “The Thorax?”, everyone cracked up. So when people tweet “Thorax” you will understand. And for the record I have 39 minutes of this video if anyone wants to see it. Hilarity ensued from there, as well as a lot of misinformation, inaccuracies, and some great gifts!

Then came Happy Hour! The place was a tad scary, we had to do the ladies room trip in packs, and the one time I went alone I did fear a little for my life, but I could probably tear a pool stick away from one of those guys and beat him down super fast! Everyone chatted, drank (I had water), and hung out. B-Lub did the airport runs, and I caught a little quality time with Heather, and heard more about Mike’s background and his business. One of the highlights was FINALLY being introduced to THE Jovan (@jovanh), talk about fun and fabulousness that I missed partaking of during the day? Oh the snarkatunities that Judy and I missed were great.

Eventually we got on the road, informed that there were Metro stations heading North we could drop Shantee off at, guess what – Tysons Corner people, we had to go there, against traffic at that time wasn’t a bad idea, off we went to find the station so Shantee could return home, we had a lot of fun, got her safely to the station and then we found the only McDonalds in the country that is not a drive thru. Got some McFood, and on our way home. I am truly thankful for the congestion and the slow pace of traffic for as Judy and I reviewed the day, and the slowness of Fred Flintstone in front of us, I was laughing so hard I was crying and my stomach was in knots… this continued for most of the two-hour plus drive.

Now the serious summary of this event, there were lots of amazing people there, what is so great about a RE Barcamp, is it doesn’t matter if you are a CEO, a CSR, or just unemployed, we are all there for the same purpose and we all share the same enthusiasm, title and means matter not in this world of the unconference, all that matters is you are there, you are genuine and you contribute in some form, as we all take something great away from it. I have not been to as many as some people, but I have followed quite a few online thanks to Dakno.tv, but I truly believe this was a premiere event, and that the crowd was engaged, engaging, and giving, that we all brought it to the next level by contributing and making each other think. Improving our industry one unconference at a time, re-educating ourselves, reminding ourselves, and congratulating ourselves, on loving our industry and what the future of Social Media and Technology brings to masses, and how we can help fine-tune that, making it better one event at a time.

I had a GREAT time #REBCDC. Now… on to #REBCAC, Triple Play and Inman Connect… I hope. Judy, are you calling shotgun yet?

(Disclaimer: I am not an English major, nor am I a writer. This is written as though I were speaking to you. #justsayin)