As someone who has worked in the real estate industry for more than a decade and a half, I get this question a lot: What conferences should I go to next year?

When I was in ninth grade, I attended a weekend leadership retreat for girls. Back then, much as I am now, I was chubby, bookish and pretty much the opposite of athletic. I was looking forward to a weekend of seminars, but what I got was outdoor team building, ropes courses and — at the very end — a monumental climbing wall. You can imagine my excitement.