One of my goals over the past 6 years has been to produce a real estate investing conference unlike any we've seen before. I believe that BiggerPockets is in a unique position to create a conference that changes the game . . . While most real estate investing events, seminars, clubs, conferences, etc., revolve around the guru crowd, I think the REI world is longing for something different. Just as we changed the game by creating a community dominated by actual investors and other real estate professionals with their feet on the ground, I think we can and must do the same with a BiggerPockets conference. With that in mind, I've been brainstorming this thing for a long time now, and have had a few false starts, but I've connected with someone that I believe can help us put on a hugely successful event. He has experience putting on various large and successful conventions, and we've begun to talk about how to proceed with one for BiggerPockets. That said, while I'm confident in my ideas, I would love to get yours as well! So . . . here are a few questions I've got for you.... 1) If BiggerPockets put on a conference, would you want to attend? 2) Would you be willing to travel (fly) to attend such an event? 3) Do you think 2 days would be adequate for a first shot at it? 4) What kinds of ideas do you have for sessions? 5) What would a BP conference look like to you? 6) Of the real estate and other events that you've attended, what is the one thing that you've liked the most? 7) The least? Feel free to add anything else to your post . . . I'm just looking to determine the level of enthusiasm and to get some ideas from all of you. So . . . are you psyched?

Uve, I've wondered about this too, but it does not need to be big or expensive to be successful, in fact, if only the people who have responded in this thread came, I'd stil go and am confident I'd be happy with the return on investment of my time and money. Also this kind of event could be a tipping point for BP to go to another level.

Sounds awesome Josh! 1. I would definitely attend. 2. Yup...you would have to if you wanted to attend 3. 2 days is probably fine. I would love for it to be longer, but that is probably great for a first event 4. The sessions could have people present on different topics. There are tons of investors on here and I am sure you could start a thread to solicit interest from potential presenters. You could then have people vote on who they want to see present the most or some such 5. Half presentations and half mixers/networking. Perhaps a few hours of presentation followed by structure networking followed by more presentations followed by more networking 6. I think the best events are the ones that have people hit the highlights during their presentations and encourage networking. Hours and hours of lecture doesn't make for a very appealing event IMO 7. Events where people pitch stuff in their presentation or are non-experts on subjects with an agenda I think one of the big things missing from the experience you are looking to create are local groups too. If BP could structure leaders for local groups and coordinate times for club meetings that would make the whole experience much more powerful IMO. I have met with many BP people by phone and in person and it adds a whole new dimension to the networking. Periodic structured BP club meetings would be very powerful.

Ok gang . . . some updates: 1 - I've got someone to help me get things moving. 2 - We're going to check out a venue tomorrow. 3 - We're probably aiming to put this on in February (perfect for a post-conference ski weekend) 4 - I'm very hopeful that we're going to pull this off in a big way! I'll likely be starting new threads soon to garner interest for things like sponsors, give aways, speakers, and more . . . stay tuned.

A useful little trick I picked up from ACORN. (this is not a political post). Btw, if you are reading this and haven't posted on this thread, post now to let Josh know what you think of a BP conference.

i am beyond excited for the idea of this conference. The networking that will naturally occur is worth its weight in gold. No matter where its at, I would travel to it. I think creating "Tracks" that are linked to the forum catagories currently laid out, would give attendees an opportunity to learn about a variety of investing concepts, such as notes, commercial re, or tax and legal.

I like Charles Perkins replies verbatim! In seminars I've attended and presented at, it seems the more well-received were the ones oriented to Q&A with short answers and also short presentations. Many presentations go long and don't cover info particular attendees are interested in. I'd attend no matter where it was held. I don't like the seminars that are peddling either inside or outside. A real estate conference is NOT a bunch of booths or gurus selling books, tapes, rehab programs etc, imo. There are folks on here I'd love to ask questions! Limit the questions per attendee and time to reply to something reseanable.Rich

with all due respect howard, this is something i would skip...i don't want to get business cards thrown at me...i'd rather meet with less people but get to know them and their businesses, and i'd hope that's what they'd want from me as well

I think Josh is still holding out on some more of the lurkers speaking up... where are you lurkers??? The bottom line is if we don't have at least 100 or so people going, it isn't practical to make this happen. In terms of getting a venue, enticing vendors to come (and thus pay for some of it), etc... all depend on the numbers. I don't think we can get a venue for an event with like 20 people. And I don't think a vendor would drop any cash or bother to travel to only have a shot at selling something to 20 people. Realistically, if 100 people post in this thread saying they'd like to go, we will be lucky if 20 of them actually end up going. A lot of people are all talk. Some people will have last minute excuses. Others are borderline not able to afford this, and the location and final cost will ultimately affect whether or not they can even go. So, if Josh needs say 100-200 people (that figure is a guess on my part but I'm quite confident the real number is at least > 100) to ATTEND in order to make this work, then that means we need several hundred, if not a couple thousand, members posting here saying that they want to go. It's like mortgage brokering, or showing apartments, or website traffic conversion (the number of visitors that actually click an ad on your site or buy your product) or anything else... it's a numbers game. If you show an apartment to a bunch of people, several of them will swear up and down that it's the nicest place they have ever scene and they can't wait to move in and they are totally serious but then it will often turn out that either they can't come up with the deposit and 1st month's rent, or they will just flake out and change their mind or say they found a better place. And this always seems to happen at the last minute. So... in my opinion... we need a LOT MORE PEOPLE to express interest here in order for Josh to start seriously working on setting this up. It's not fair to expect him to invest his time in it otherwise.

I was thinking of one of those boxing rings that they have at carnivals or maybe even having the sumo grudge match room with the inflatable sumo suits. Keep the ideas (serious ones) coming...

BiggerPockets Real Estate Conference: Is it time?

Account Closed

Landlord · Seattle, WA · Member since 2010 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes

15y

Normally I might want to follow what track or another, but in this case I would probably more more concerned about who was teaching what and exploring other areas outside of my main focus.

The networking will be the biggest draw for me as well. I would hope not to get so busy that I had no chance to meet so many of my fellow BPers. There are a great many that I would like to meet in person and get to know better.

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Jeff Brown

San Diego, CA · Member since 2008 · 59 posts · 46 votes

15y

How would it look?

I'd lobby for narrowly defined topics for presenters/speakers. Lots of useable info densely packed, time wise.

Two days is fine. I think it could easily morph into longer, and shorter conferences.

The key, and this is most certainly invading Captain Obvious territory, is the expertise/experience of speakers. It's all any conference has to offer.

I think the idea offered by another commenter about highly organized networking opportunities is stellar. Frankly, networking at most conferences is vastly more valuable than the info they provide.

3 Reply

Bryan Hancock

Investor · Round Rock, TX · Member since 2010 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes

15y

So are we doing this or what?

BiggerPockets Real Estate Conference: Is it time?

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