Following REALTOR® CONNECTIONS in March, we surveyed members who had registered to attend to find out how they rated their experience at the event. Overall, we are pleased to say, members found REALTOR® CONNECTIONS to be a worthwhile event and there was an overwhelming response that it should remain an annual event.
Members had an opportunity to offer comments about REALTOR® CONNECTIONS, and there were some comments (and some questions) that showed up a few times, so we’d like to provide answers to those questions and respond to your comments.
[Not every comment or question (some were clearly rhetorical) is listed here – these are only the questions and comments we saw several times from survey respondents.]
Q: Why don’t we have local speakers – someone from Hamilton?
A:
Interestingly, we also received questions about why we don’t have higher-profile speakers or big-name motivational speakers.
Over the last few years, we’ve tried to bring in speakers who are approved for offering credit courses so members could attend, learn something useful and walk away with CE credits. Now that RECO has changed the CE course delivery and RAHB won’t be offering as many CE courses, we can look at bringing in a speaker or speakers who won’t have to qualify as instructors. The question will still remain, however – do we find someone local? Or go for a bigger name?
We have brought in local speakers for the workshops and have found that overall members appreciated the more focused, shorter sessions.
Q. Why can’t you have REALTOR® CONNECTIONS at a more convenient location?
A:
This comment has come from a number of members, and has shown up on surveys for the past few years. The problem is, there aren’t any other venues in the area that fit the bill for an event like REALTOR® CONNECTIONS.
We regularly check other locations and so far, only the Hamilton Convention Centre is large enough to accommodate a large trade show, a large member meeting (with a meal) and concurrent courses. The Careport Centre is the only one that’s even close enough size-wise, but there are no breakout rooms for courses and the noise from the exhibit area would carry over into the meeting space if we tried to have everything in the one large area.
If anyone has a place they think could accommodate REALTOR® CONNECTIONS, we would very much like to hear about it.
Q: Why can’t we have more phone companies in the trade show? (cleaning companies, technology companies, Burlington companies and landscaping companies were also requested)
A:
We would have loved to have more phone companies – and cleaning companies, contractors, technology companies, movers, and others – but despite our attempts to interest them in taking a booth in the exhibit hall, we had few takers. It may be a sign of the current economy. We’ve been told by other associations that they, too, experienced difficulties in getting phone companies in particular to participate in their trade shows this year.
We put out a plea to members through social media for ideas for vendors they thought would be interested in taking a booth and members did give us the names of two new exhibitors. Next year we’ll consult with you sooner and see if we can bring in more of the services that interest you.
Q: Why can’t tea and coffee be available all day?
A: Good idea. There were all-day water stations this year, but we’ll look at adding coffee/tea stations next year.
Q: Why do courses overlap so that I can’t get to every course?
A:
We have scheduled courses to overlap for a couple of reasons. First of all, we want to be sure there is ample time for members to visit the exhibit area. It is the exhibitors who pay the freight for REALTOR® CONNECTIONS, and we need to make sure that they get their money’s worth from the event, too. If members were to disappear into courses at the same time, there would be no one in the exhibit hall for extended periods, and we’d find ourselves with no exhibitors in future.
In addition, when courses are spaced at least 15 minutes apart, it means that if the first course is sold out, there is still time for members to make it to the second course. This was an issue especially when courses were part of the CE credit program and members had to be in the room from beginning to end.
Q: Why was the Fusion course put in such a small room?
A:
The Fusion course was actually a later addition to the lineup of courses, and we already had our higher-priced, higher profile speaker Bill Lublin in the larger room. We anticipated (wrongly, as it turned out) that members would be more interested in hearing Bill Lublin’s presentation.
Q: Can’t you get discounts for parking or save parking spaces for members?
A:
Parking always seems to be an issue for REALTOR® CONNECTIONS, and as long as we have to remain at the Hamilton Convention Centre, it will continue to be an issue for some members. The Convention Centre parking lot is used by people who work downtown, by those attending events at the Convention Centre and others. We are not able to guarantee spots, nor is there a discounted fee for conferences or meetings like ours. It’s a first-come, first-served system.
It is our understanding that members who attended the Annual General Meeting had no parking issues – there were apparently plenty of spaces in the Convention Centre underground lot. We recognize that not everyone can make it in time for the early registration and meeting, but that seems to be the key.
Recognizing that not everyone will find parking at the Convention Centre, we try our best to identify possible parking areas on our REALTOR® CONNECTIONS website and in our correspondence with members registered for the event. We’ll review the options again next year to make sure we’ve identified good, close parking for the event.