Jeff Lobb, Tiffany Kjellander, Lisa Archer, Dan Stewart, Laurie Davis, and Jeff Kershner
The Geeky Girls spent last week in San Francisco and attended Inman News Agent Reboot SF and Real Estate Connect SF 2012. We were honored to be Ambassadors for theses events and “live blog” for Inman Next. We go to a lot of conferences and this is without a doubt one of our favorites, but this one was even more special. The conference is always packed with great speakers and information, but truth be told the real connecting happens in the hallways, vendor hall, hotel lobby, restaurants, special events, and yes the night spots around town.
Over the last few years we have made many friends in the real estate industry. This year has been a year of growth and change for all of us and Connect felt like a celebration of survival, goals achieved, new beginnings and life!
We arrived in SF on Sunday afternoon and caught a ride to the hotel with our great friend Will Hansen – how lucky were we to avoid that daredevil cab ride into the city. This was one of the few times we arrived a day early for an event – didn’t want to be scrambling like last year if we ran into travel drama. Luckily things went smoothly so we were able to have a nice evening with a few members of our Inman family who were there preparing for the event.
Greg Fischer and The Geeky Girls
On Monday morning we met up with our pal Greg Fischer and fellow ambassador Jeff Kershner to hit the streets and do a little sight seeing. First stop was Fishermans Wharf where we joined Dan Stewart (Happy Grasshopper), Tiffany Kjellander, and her hubby Jeff Lobb. A whirlwind up hill tour of the city included Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, and Lombard Street. Then we hopped into a cab to go visit our buddies from “RealSatisfied“, Chris Drayer, Phil Kells, David King and Jeff Turner. They were smart enough to rent a house two blocks from the main hotel – this quickly became known as “The RealSatisfied House”. After a quick visit we were off to dinner with the rest of the Inman Ambassador crew, who we affectionately refer to as Badassadors.
Back Stage with Tom Ferry
Bright and early we headed to the main conference area to attend and live blog Agent Reboot SF. Do not ask how many Reboots we have been to in the last 2 years, there have been a few, but this one was definitely the best. It is quite possible that Tom Ferry might have had something to do with that. Agent Reboot is fast paced and there is so much content packed into one day, there is always something new to learn.
That night we met up with some of the most awesome people we know and headed to the Giant’s baseball game. Unfortunately for David Marine, the Mets lost to the home team.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Wednesday morning started the Connect event itself. Brad Inman opened the show and within minutes gave The Geeky Girls a huge shout-out. He had asked us the day before if he could have a TGG t-shirt and rumor had it that he might wear it on stage. There were some incredible keynote addresses and Lisa live blogged for Katie Lance’s afternoon track while Laurie live blogged the Distressed Properties track.
Ambassador Row
That night started the first of the parties with Trulia at the Clift Hotel. Next was a fun time at the RealSatisfied House followed by the Show Me Your App Party. This was the one event of the week that you absolutely had to have a ticket to get in. It was a lot of fun learning about many different company’s new apps. Steve Pacinelli gave us a peek at the Realtor.com app which is about to launch and The Geeky Girls can’t wait to beta test (right Steve?).
Super Duper Burger
Thursday was a full day at Connect. In the morning Lisa was on a panel with Raj Qsar, Lynette Edwards and Matt Beall that was led by Sherry Chris. It was pretty amazing to hear about the successes in her real estate career that have transpired since last year this time. For lunch we joined our favorite burger expert Matthew Shadbolt for an amazing lunch at Super Duper. It was an incredible meal spent with great people. Lisa even shared her french fries with Jeff Turner. That afternoon Laurie live blogged the Branding Track moderated by Kelly Mitchell. Always a great discussion with Jeff Turner and other panelists through out the afternoon including Debra Trappen, Teri Conrad, and Stacey Harmon. Lisa was in the mobile track with Chris Smith. There are some incredible things coming in mobile. Cary Sylvester with Keller Williams Realty, Jennifer Peck from Banjo, Josh Herst from Walkscore, Jeff Lobb from Exit Realty and Dean Ouellette with Thompson’s Realty were some of the incredible panelists.
Zillow Party - Jeff Kershner, Peter Brewer, Nick Ratliff, Matthew Shadbolt, Jay Thompson, Laurie Davis, Lisa Archer and Rob Hahn.
That night was another packed evening of parties. First off was Zillow at the Clift Hotel. We felt blessed to be able to spend time with our good friend Jay Thompson who suffered a heart attack earlier this year. It was wonderful to see him so happy and healthy. Then there was the Power Women party led the stunning Sherry Chris. And the final event we went to for the evening was the (not so secret) secret DotLoop party that we helped plan at Bourbon and Branch. Thank you to everyone who spent time with us and our awesome DotLoop friends.
Joe Fernandez, CEO Klout
Friday’s Connect started out with the Inman Innovator Awards. Don’t know who was more excited Austin Allison, CEO of Dotloop or The Geeky Girls when he was named Innovator of the Year. Did we tell you that we met Joe Fernandez the founder of Klout? Let’s not start that debate, but yes that was super cool and he is now the proud owner of a TGG tshirt! He told the audience that there are some additional updates coming to the Klout algorithm very soon. We pried a few details out of him back stage and we think you will want to check it out.
Our time at Connect came to an end all too soon, as it usually does. Always an amazing experience – so many great people with so much to share. It takes days to recover and digest all the information. The worst part is feeling like a piece of your heart is left behind…. the best part is knowing you will find it again at the next Real Estate Connect.
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