The Greater Lansing Association of REALTORS is hosting a Real Estate Bar Camp at GLAR in Lansing Michigan on April 13, 2011. These slides will explain some of the components of a successful REBarCamp.

1. REBarCamp GLAR April 13th, 2011 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

2. What is RE Bar Camp? The concept for RE Bar Camp came from a technology Bar Camp event held in San Francisco. Wikipedia defines a Bar Camp as: an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants.

3. Anybody can deliver a session and attendees are strongly encouraged to participate.

4. How does that happen? When you arrive at the event, you will have the opportunity to put your name in a slot to facilitate a session. The number of sessions delivered at any given time depends on the venue and number of attendees. After registration is over, a board will be put up (see picture below) that details each session and what room they are located in throughout the day. The length of the sessions varies at each RE BarCamp event.

5. If anyone can deliver a session, won’t some of the presentations be terrible? Possibly, but it not typical. Some of the best and brightest minds attend these events. They lead sessions and they sit in on sessions. RE BarCamp sessions are group sessions. They are not meant to be presentations by a single individual. Because the audience participates, sessions that may start out a little rocky often adjust and get redirected by the participation and collaboration of the audience.

6. http://brian-copeland.com/rebarcampnashville/

7. Presentations promoting specific commercial products or companies are discouraged. If you feel like you’re being sold, or if a session is really bad and your participation can’t turn it around, practice the rule of two feet- get up and walk out. That sounds like chaos. How is that productive? It can be a little chaotic, but some of the best ideas and invention are derived out of chaos. If you go in looking for a very structured day, you will be disappointed. What you get out of an RE BarCamp event is what you put into it.

8. What topics are covered in the sessions? This depends completely on who volunteers to lead a session. The sessions are frequently related to technology usage in real estate but cover any topic from mortgages, to photography to philanthropy. If you want to hear a specific session, facilitate it! Who runs the RE BarCamp events? RE BarCamps are run completely by unpaid volunteers. How much does it cost? RE BarCamps are typically free or of very little expense ($20.00) events because of generous donations from sponsors.

9. Hot Topics iPads Smarts Phone Technology QR Code, Text Message programs Social Media (General) Blogging Why, How, What? Facebook Pages, Groups LinkedIn, Twitter WordPress Blogs, Plugins Syndication of Listings IDX Solutions

10. Your Support as Broker Owners & Managers is Needed Encourage Your Agents to Attend, plus please plan to Attend yourself You’ll be Glad You Did!

11. http://rebarcamp.com/?page_id=216