I am proud to say that I attended the very first REbarcamp, which was a real estate industry specific technology “unconference”.  Basically, the idea behind barcamp is that the conferees get together and create an agenda and then host the sessions.  It is an amazing peer-to-peer discussion.

Ken Cook, of Social Media Edge on BlogTalkRadio, had the vision to build a barcamp experience optimized for small business owners.  Many small businesses have found that ‘New Media’ has presented a very cool opportunity to promote… without spending loads of money.  In fact, many smaller businesses have found that they can not just compete, but defeat larger rivals by effectively leveraging ‘New Media’ like FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube.

Friday, September 17th, The first Small Biz BarCamp Atlanta will take flight.  There are limited tickets available for only $10, and the event is being held at the Five Star World Conference Center – Towers at Wildwood in Marietta, near Windy Hill and Power’s Ferry.  Follow the link for tickets…

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• Small Business BarCamp Atlanta (lanebailey.com)
• reBarCamp – Atlanta? (lanebailey.info)

Right now there is a small core group looking at the feasibility of a real estate bar camp in the Atlanta area.  If we can put it together, the event will be held this fall… September or October is the likely time frame.

Here are a couple of posts on Active Rain with more info about #rebcATL (that is the ‘official’ Twitter hashtag for the event).

• Should Atlanta have a reBarCamp?

• A little more about an Atlanta rebarcamp

On the second link there is a webform asking about what you might want for a rebc.  We’d love to get your feedback in order to make a better experience for everyone.  It also give you the opportunity to volunteer…  There will be lots of opportunities for volunteers from now until the event concludes… and then I’m sure planning will need to begin for the 2011 #rebcATL.

We are also putting together a FaceBook Official Page for #rebcATL.

REtechSouth

After every conference and seminar, there comes the real challenge… implementing all of the VERY cool things I’ve learned, while living in the real world. Setting up client searches, responding to inquiries, dealing with the family, making sure everything that should be on track is on track… they all get in the way of rolling out 3782 changes to my websites and social networks.

I have found that I need to take a little time… and then I need to dive in. Diving in comes next. I have pages of notes, some vendor material and a list of websites and ideas. I have mind-mapping software on my computer… and it needs to get used.

For the last few weeks, I have been unhappy with much of my web presence. I have a great IDX, but I am not getting the most out of it. I have good Page Rank, but I don’t have the level of conversion I feel I should have. My traffic is decent.

And I focused on the sessions at REtechSouth that I thought would help me fix that…

Plenty of sessions to focus on, too…

If you weren’t at REtechSouth, you should have been.

In addition to the incredible information that was presented, the connections that were made and the fun on the exhibit hall floor… there was also the opportunity to hang out with my friends. There are a lot of folks I have been lucky enough to meet from all over the country. And there were some that I was able to meet (in person) for the first time.

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• Where do we go from here? (lanebailey.info)

If you haven’t been in Gmail lately, you might not have noticed Google‘s new toy tool.  It is called Google Buzz.  In a nutshell, Google is integrating a social media component into Gmail.

In Buzz, users can strike up public or private conversations with integrated video, photos and links.  Kind of like the Status Updates on FaceBook.  In that regard, it is a step above Twitter… the king of the micro-blog/status update world.  Twitter doesn’t allow inline photos and videos, so when users share them, viewers have to leave Twitter to view the associated content.

I haven’t had a lot of time to play in it, but it seems kind of like “Google Wave Lite” to me…  Google Wave has many of the same types of features… of course it adds a LOT more integration with a wider variety of tools… and isn’t tuned to automatically pull in content as sites like Twitter, Flickr and YouTube are updated.

OK, they are very different, but I see the same type of collaboration available with Buzz as there is with Wave.

But there is a big picture here…

The big picture is that you NEED a Gmail account.  Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google Analytics, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Voice…  Are you getting the big picture?  There is WAY more than that, but those are a good start.

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• Google Buzz – Gmail adds social network functionality [VIDEOS] (nickburcher.com)
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• Google to make Gmail a little more social (news.cnet.com)
• Hands On With Google Buzz – It’s a Stream in Your Inbox (webmonkey.com)
• Google Buzz Takes Aim at Facebook, Twitter (sfist.com)

What comes next?  A few years ago, did we see Twitter and FaceBook dominating the horizon?  Did we see MySpace falling off a cliff and becoming a place for bars and bands… and not much else?  Did we see the mobile would still be “just around the corner”?  Did we know that video would be EVERYWHERE… and still be almost here?

Actually, two years ago at REtechSouth, Pat Kitano told me that Twitter was getting ready to go big and that in a few years it would be a dominant social media.  But, while FaceBook was looming, I don’t think it showed up on the radar as the power it has become.

Regardless, this is an interesting video about the future of technology…

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• REtechSouth Tickets on sale NOW! and I have a discount… (lanebailey.info)

But it isn’t the only platform.  In fact, before there was Posterous, there was Tumblr.  And they are very similar.  Similar enough that many think that Posterous took direct aim at Tumblr when they introduced their platform.

There are some things that Posterous has done VERY well… to start with, the emial post capability of Posterous is amazing.  I’m not going to run over all of the options… it is another post… but let’s just say that you can upate any combination of Flickr, FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, your own blog and/or Posterous with one email.  In fact, I would say that Posterous is one of the best syndication tools available.  With just a couple of clicks from your mobile phone, you can syndicate content all over the web…

Tumblr has moved the other direction.  It is a great aggregation tool.  You can pull in content from 5 or more sources to one place.  That is a very nice option.  It is one of the best aggregators available.  But there is something else that Tumblr does better than Posterous (although there is erosion there).  That comes down to “the look”.  Tumblr has great theme options.  Posterous has made their platform (kind of) compatible with the Tumblr themes, but they aren’t quite there yet…  yet.

The bottom line is that both platforms are pretty cool.  They both do much the same thing, but they do it differently and with different strengths and weaknesses.

I have a process I go through too…

Why? That is what I have to focus on.  What am I doing here? That is what everything else flows from.

It’s fine to talk about quitting smoking or losing weight or vowing to speak to people in grocery lines.  All of those are worthy resolutions.  But what is more important is Why?

I don’t want to lose weight in order to look better in a suit (I don’t smoke… not a problem for me).  I want to watch my children grow.  I want to play with them.  I want to enjoy my life.  Resolving to lose weight is nice… but it is powered by WHY I would want to lose weight.

Talking to more people is good for business.  Most of us could probably use a few extra contacts and conversations.  But the WHY is that it is a great building block for our businesses.

Honestly, I don’t really concentrate on making a bunch of resolutions or life changes at the beginning of the year.  I try to make course corrections all year long.  I try to tweak my business.  I try to tweak my life.  The only thing I find special about the Holidays is that I have more time with my family… and more time to think about the tweaks that are needed.

I have a lot of time to think about the WHYs…

Once you get your WHYs in order… the WHATs are a lot easier to handle… AND to keep.  Knowing the reason, and keeping the reason front and center is what makes everything easier.

from Lane’s Active Rain blog

Are you planning on hitting REtechSouth in Atlanta?  As usual, I have a discount code for tickets.  Brad Nix gave me the hook-up to deliver a 10% discount (affiliate link… that is where the discount comes from) on all ticket levels.  Here is how it breaks down:

• All Star Admission $134.10 + $3.35 EventBrite fee.  This is normally a $149 ticket.  It includes event access on both Thursday, Mar. 25th and Friday, Mar. 26th.  It will get you in to all of the learning sessions…  You can see folks like Jeff Turner, Amy Chorew, Brad Carroll, Ilyse Glink and Heather Elias… and WAY more.
• MVP Admission $179.10 + $4.48 EventBrite fee.  This is normally a $199 ticket.  This includes everything in the All Star package, as well as special seating, access to the MVP/Speaker’s Dinner on Thursday evening and access to the MVP Lounge.  Those that went to New Media Atlanta had a blast in the Rock Star Lounge hanging out with the speakers.
• 10 All Star Ticket bundle $891 + $9.95 EventBrite fee.  Yep, you get a discount on the discount.  This is 10 $149 tickets for just $89.10/each.  The bundle normally sells for $990.  Grab some folks from the office and get a discount.
• 25 All Star Ticket bundle $1687.50 + $9.95 EventBrite fee.  That brings the price down to just $67.50/each.  Brokers, bring the WHOLE office. Ramp up production with technology and social media marketing in the new year.

I will be there!  I can’t wait.  Brad has built REtechSouth into THE event in the Southeast for real estate technology and social media marketing.  In just a couple of years, this event has become one of the premier conferences to attend, regardless of where you live and work.  Atlanta is an amazing place in the Spring.

Last year I had the opportunity to attend the speaker’s dinner.  I HIGHLY recommend the MVP Admission for that reason.  Imagine yourself standing in on a conversation with Jeff Turner and the Notorious R.O.B.  At the previous REtechSouth I was able to spend some quality time talking with Pat Kitano and Tom Royce.  The luminaries of the re.net will be there…

Don’t forget, these tickets will likely sell out, especially the MVP tickets.  they are limited by the size of the dinner venue.  Don’t miss out.  Here is the link again to get the discount.

Catch #retso on FaceBook, too.

from Lane’s Active Rain blog

Get Posterous-ized…

The Great Posterous Experiment…

If you aren’t familiar with Posterous, they might be a good place to start.

As mentioned in “The Great Posterous Experiment”, I devoted the weekend to using Posterous while on a road trip.  Honestly, As a mobile platform to spit out some short posts, It ROCKS! The limitations are with my phone.  I already know a couple of ways to sneak around those, too…

If you look at my Posterous blog, you will see that I made a BUNCH of posts from the road.  All of them were from my BlackBerry Pearl Flip mobile phone.  the pictures, video and text were all generated on my phone.  In fact, I think every one of them was done from the passenger seat of the truck…  most of those while rolling down an Interstate at or around the speed limit…

I know that there are some tools to allow me to do that with FaceBook, YouTube, Twitter or WordPress.  But there aren’t nearly as many tools that allow ALL of them to be updated simply, quickly and at the same time…

I programmed the addresses into my phone before leaving.  I simply emailed the material to the address.  Posterous did everything else…

It can also be used to write to a WordPress blog.

from Lane’s Active Rain blog