Inman

Inman News launches invitation-only conferences

Inman News is launching a series of invitation-only executive conferences, the company announced today.

The first conference, called the Inman Data Summit, is scheduled for July 25-26, 2011, just before the company’s Real Estate Connect conference. Both events will take place at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square hotel.

Inman News is also planning two additional invitation-only conferences to be held in Palm Springs, Calif., in the fall: the Inman Women’s Summit for female executives, top producers and "thought leaders" in the industry; and the Inman Top Team Summit for top-producing real estate agents and their teams, industry executives, and technology leaders.

"We believe that these conferences serve a vital need in the industry to present hard-hitting information for decision-makers that is actually created and vetted by executives and thought leaders," said Tim Smith, CEO of Inman News, in a statement.

The Inman summits will be created in collaboration with a board of advisers made up of industry experts. The content for the upcoming Inman Data Summit has been developed by a nine-member board that includes executives from data providers, multiple listing service executives and real estate brokerages.

"The Inman Data Summit will debate topics that are top of mind for executives today," said Madelyn Mock, Inman’s vice president of content, in a statement.

"From listing syndication to data privacy and ownership, we will discuss, debate and attempt to develop working plans to bring the industry together."

The conference’s agenda includes panels on topics such as "Debate on Syndication: Good or Evil?" and "At the heart of it all: The multiple listings service." Workshops include sessions on "Designing market reports that work" and "Protecting your data," among others.

The summit will be hosted by Gahlord Dewald and Rob Hahn. Dewald is an Inman News tech columnist and principal at Thoughtfaucet, a Web strategy and consulting practice. Hahn, a former Inman News columnist, is founder and managing partner at 7DS Associates, a consulting firm that focuses on real estate business strategy.

The fee for the event is $899 and invitees may also bring along one senior associate to attend the general session and working sessions for an additional fee of $699, the company said.