BiggerPockets

CORRECTION Book by FEBRUARY 24th, 2012 before 12:01 AM, not March.

Oops -- thanks for the correction.

I just sent you that email, @Will Barnard. Thanks for the help promoting the event!

If any BP members have local RE investment club meetings this week, don't forget to tell everybody attending about this great (and very inexpensive) conference upcoming reminding them they only have a few days left to get the early bird registration price.

Just to clarify once more for the proscrasti-BP-nators :)
Does it really end at the very first strike of early Friday the 24th? -OR-does it end on Feb 25th at 12:01 AM? so that anytime on Friday the 24th is still an early bird(?)

I don't get it, over 85,000 BP members and thus far, we are around 200 registrants! I realize that the economy and other factors may make it difficult to make this happen for some people, but look at it this way: All things in life that are difficult are the things worth going after. To quote Mr. Tom Hanks "the hard is what makes it great"

If I were an aspiring RE investor, new to the game, or just starting out and looking for the right path and info, I would beg, borrow, and borrow some more to get to this event. It is not often (in fact, to my knowledge, not ever) that you will find an event of actual pure education and networking with actual real life investors who do this for a living. What better way to learn than from those doing it!

I remember back when I was 15, I went to my local grocery store to ask about a job position and spoke to the store manager. I told him, "I will do whatever it takes Sir". he hired me on the spot and told that sline/story to countless people, as he was so impressed by this young kids determination and willingness to get a job.

Take this story as motivation to do what it takes to get to this event. I can assure you that it will improve your life!

- Will Barnard

Less than two days remain until prices climb to $250 from $200 for a pass to the conference.

We're now over the 200 attendee milestone and I'm extremely excited about how things are coming together.

I agree with what Will just said, and unfortunately, with what Nick said as well.

A Call to Action
One of the things that has struck me about the event more than anything else are the emails from people who think that we're going to be having our speakers soliciting some crap in the back of the room while on stage, regardless of what we've said.

These emails are the very reason why this event is so important for us to pull off. This industry is badly damaged and is in need of repair. I'm not going to pretend that one event will change it, but I do know that when we prove to people that it is possible to have a conference/tradeshow in the real estate investing space that isn't about the upsell from stage, things will change.

We must alter expectations, because right now, we're fighting an uphill battle. I can't tell you how difficult it has been to bring together a lineup of speakers who aren't in it for the $997 courses or the $5,000 bootcamps, or the $20,000 mentoring that they are selling. I've been approached by dozens of people who want the opportunity to get in front of our attendees so they can make money marketing this kind of stuff to them, and I've turned them down because that is exactly what this thing is not about.

I actually had conversations with several potential speakers whose first question to me is "what am I going to get out of it?" Clearly they don't see the value of presenting to and connecting with their peers and colleagues.

In case you didn't know, standard practice in the industry is to take somewhere around a 50% cut of the price of products sold in the back of the room at REI conferences/clubs or through websites that hawk these things. We don't sell anyone's products on BP, though I've been approached by pretty much everyone to do so . . . that is not what this company is about.

The incentive to run an event that is a pitch fest is just too great (you can do the math on how much money you can make) to reject, yet we're doing just that -- and we're doing it because I believe that it is far more important to bring credibility to this business then it is to get rich selling out.

I'm not alone, because there are a bunch of awesome investors and other presenters coming to this event who all believe in what we're doing.

If you're on the fence about coming to our event, I hope you'll read this post and take a chance on us. If you do, I believe that you'll walk away on Saturday, March 24 with not only an amazing basket of new knowledge and many new colleagues and friends to lean on for advice or to do deals with, but also will be able to say that you came and took part in an event that changed the game.

Sounds like a cool opportunity to me . . .

oh, and @Nick J. . . . as I've been telling you from the beginning, there is just too much riding on this conference for me to cancel, no matter the turnout.

It is happening, so register now!

I like that, @Tod R.dford, though I think Bill O'Reilly would probably not be happy with our use of it.

Wouldn't want to miss this. Already registered.

Tic toc tic toc

Wow, that is quite an increase from just a few days ago. It looks like we should have around 300 by the time the rest of the procrastinators sign up. Great job Josh!