Back from the NAR Convention and Expo

Four days in Las Vegas, 30,000 real estate agents, parties and receptions, and I don’t know how many real estate related vendors at the Expo/trade show.

It was a long week.

I opted not to attend any of the conference sessions. Instead, I spent my time on the Expo floor, engaging with vendors and agents alike. It was a great opportunity to network — making new connections and meeting people I’d known for a long time on-line, but never met face-t0-face.

This was my first NAR convention, so I have nothing to compare it to. I couldn’t tell you if this years convention/expo was bigger, smaller, or anything else when compared to previous shows.

But I can share a few observations….

I’m 47 years old. And often I felt like I was on the young side of the attendees. I’ve got no data to support this, but I can tell you from observing there weren’t a whole lot of the “Gen X & Y” Realtors there.

There are a lot of vendors hawking wares that are very old school. If you want to find postcards, newsletters, sports schedules, pens, even cold-calling scripts — there are plenty of vendors that will gladly sell you enough bling to cover every refrigerator between here and Timbuktu. And judging from the numbers packed around these booths, the vendors don’t have to worry yet about technology running them out of business.

Clearly many agents “get” technology — websites, blogs, listing syndication, and more. I think there is a significant segment of the agent population clamoring for “how to” information when it comes to implementing technology in their business. They are aware, they know they need it, they just don’t know how to do it. This is one place the NAR could really help a sizable portion of their membership.

But what was even more clear to me was how many had very little knowledge about “web 1.0″ much less “web 2.0″. While I find it incomprehensible, it was abundantly apparent that many of those in attendance had never heard of Zillow, Trulia, vFlyer, etc. I’m not saying they have never been to these sites, or formed an opinion of their usefulness, I’m saying they have no idea they even exist. If one is a sworn Luddite, that’s fine. But really, you ought to at least acknowledge that technology exists and do what you need to do to at least get a basic grasp of what is out there. Seems this would be another education target for the NAR. Though in the NAR’s defense, is it really their job to tell an agent everything?