(The following post is reprinted from REBCPHX.com)

Click here to register for REBCPHX 5

There are times when work engulfs us.  Sometimes it’s two steps back for every step forward.  We get buried in our business.  It doesn’t take much of this to create massive stress.

So, what can we do?

In the world of real estate, technological advances can be overwhelming.  Changes in the market also occur at a rapid clip.  In order to stay on top of these changes, you must budget some time to work on your business.

Why not set aside Friday, May 3rd as the day you connect, collaborate, and contribute to your business and your industry?  How?  RE Bar Camp Phoenix No. 5 returns to Scottsdale Stadium.  If you have been to a previous RE Bar Camp, you know the value it provides.  If you have not, it is unlike any other real estate conference you have attended.

The most common descriptor is “un-conference”.  There are a couple sessions scheduled with local and state assocation executives, but the vast majority of sessions are created the day of the event through crowd sourcing.  As you check in, you will be asked to submit session ideas for topics you want to discuss.  This means there are no presenters, instructors, and most importantly, pitches.

Every breakout room will have chairs in semi circles, facing each other.  Those that have knowledge on a topic share with those looking for help and answers.  It’s an organic process that benefits everyone.

Topics range from social to tech to broker issues to market conditions to whatever.  Schedule boards are posted around the stadium so you can pick and choose topics most important to you.

Lunch is available for a small fee and there will be an after party at a nearby Old Town Scottsdale establishment yet to be determined.

RE Bar Camp Phoenix is free to attend.  We do request you sign up so we have a head count in advance.

Grab an agent or two from your brokerage and make the commitment to work on your business for a day.  Looking forward to seeing you on May 3rd!

Original Source: REBarCamp Phoenix 5 is Just Around the Corner!

Want to really know what’s happening in and around Scottsdale?

There is an exciting, full-day event to be held on Friday, April 12 at the Hilton Scottsdale Resort that is open to the public highlighting current and planned commercial real estate development in and around the NE Valley.  It is called The Commercial Real Estate Summit “It’s all about Scottsdale”.

The Summit will be hosted by the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors® and is designed specifically for commercial/residential agents, developers, business owners, government entities, investors and residents interested in economic development.  Continental breakfast and lunch are included in the registration.  Early Registration is $45.00.  It is $55.00 per person 4/2-11, $65.00 at the door and tables of 10 are discounted to $400.00 for a company or group.

Speakers include some of the most respected leaders in the state sharing insight about current and future events and projects that are likely to have profound impacts on our quality of life.  Speakers will focus on transportation, healthcare, tourism, retail, housing, growth in the airpark, economic initiatives in south Scottsdale and plans for the Loop 101 corridor within the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community.  You may register online at SAAROnline.com or simply by calling 480-945-2651.

You can also download a flyer about the event here.

See you in Scottsdale on April 12th!

Original Source: The Commercial Real Estate Event “It’s All About Scottsdale”

We are less than 2 weeks away from a must attend event for REALTORS in Arizona. AAR’s 2013 Spring Convention is jam packed with CE classes, Technology Power Sessions and new this year, the Vendor EXPO.

In a change of venue, the event is being held at the Casino del Sol, located just a few miles southwest of Tucson. The buzz from the event committee is that the resort is going to be a great place to learn, network, and have a great time!

Casino Del Sol Resort

I want to take a moment to discuss the Power Sessions I will be hosting at the conference.

My first session is on Monday, April 8th at 1:30 and is called “Using Social Media for Intelligence Gathering.” In this session I will demonstrate effective ways to listen to online conversations. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and more will be covered. Discover potential clients, monitor your sphere, and check out your competition.

Monday at 2:30 I host “Facebook Business Pages – Do You Need One?” For a couple years now, I have been presenting a contrarian view on real estate Facebook Business Pages. If a cornerstone of your business is creating, building and sustaining relationships, is that happening on your Business Page? Bring your questions and lets have a lively discussion about the number one social network…

Capping off my Monday Marathon, at 3:30 come join me for “Using the Web for Listing & Buyer Presentations.” In this session, I will demonstrate alternatives to PowerPoint (a tool I’ve abandoned years ago) like Prezi, Haiku Deck and even Animoto. Stop putting people to sleep with a wall of words!

Finally, I team up with Dean Ouellette and Nick Bastian on Tuesday, April 9th at 9:00am for “Google for Business.” Dean is a Google Apps power user and he will show you how to maximize the power of Google through hosting and database management. Nick, creator of Raillife.com, will share some of his secrets on “niche targeted marketing” and building a consistent pipeline of leads.

Make sure you check out the entire schedule and sign up by April 2nd so you do not miss out on being included for all the events. Bring a friend so you can cover all the power sessions and take some CE together.

Looking forward to seeing old friends and making some new ones at AAR’s 2013 Spring Convention! See you there!

Original Source: AAR’s 2013 Spring Convention is Almost Here

We are constantly on the lookout for effective technologies for real estate professionals.  We may have found another.  Bombbomb.com.

Bombbomb.com is not new.  They have been around for a couple years.  They merge video into email and they make it very easy. Check out the video below to see what people are saying about BombBomb

Original Source: Do You BombBomb?

There are times when work engulfs us.  Sometimes it’s two steps back for every step forward.  We get buried in our business.  It doesn’t take much of this to create massive stress.

So, what can we do?

In the world of real estate, technological advances can be overwhelming.  Changes in the market also occur at a rapid clip.  In order to stay on top of these changes, you must budget some time to work on your business.

Why not set aside Friday, May 3rd as the day you connect, collaborate, and contribute to your business and your industry?  How?  RE Bar Camp Phoenix No. 5 returns to Scottsdale Stadium.  If you have been to a previous RE Bar Camp, you know the value it provides.  If you have not, it is unlike any other real estate conference you have attended.

The most common descriptor is “un-conference”.  There are a couple sessions scheduled with local and state assocation executives, but the vast majority of sessions are created the day of the event through crowd sourcing.  As you check in, you will be asked to submit session ideas for topics you want to discuss.  This means there are no presenters, instructors, and most importantly, pitches.

Every breakout room will have chairs in semi circles, facing each other.  Those that have knowledge on a topic share with those looking for help and answers.  It’s an organic process that benefits everyone.

Topics range from social to tech to broker issues to market conditions to whatever.  Schedule boards are posted around the stadium so you can pick and choose topics most important to you.

Lunch is available for a small fee and there will be an after party at a nearby Old Town Scottsdale establishment yet to be determined.

RE Bar Camp Phoenix is free to attend.  We do request you sign up so we have a head count in advance.

Grab an agent or two from your brokerage and make the commitment to work on your business for a day.  Looking forward to seeing you on May 3rd!

Original Source: Taking Time to Work on Your Business

Why not create HaikuDeck presentations to highlight areas you work in? The HaikuDeck below took about 5 minutes to put together, but it gives you an idea of things to highlight. Then, share via Facebook, Twitter, or like we’ve done here, embed it on your site.

Any other ideas on how to use this cool tool?

Original Source: Another HaikuDeck Example

Presenting to a group can be a daunting task.  First, many people get anxious at the thought of a live presentation.  Second, the content of the presentation needs to be created so it can be displayed.  It is this piece of the presentation process I want to discuss in this post.  For anxiety issues, google “speaking in front of a group”.  You’ll find lots of great advice.

The overwhelming majority of presentations are prepared with Microsoft’s PowerPoint.  Why?  Because nearly everyone has access to it, it’s been around for years, and there were few options.  In the Apple iOS world, Keynote is the tool of choice.  Think PowerPoint on steroids.  In the corporate world however, there aren’t a lot of companies rocking iMacs and MacBooks.  So, PowerPoint rules.

I hate PowerPoint.  Really, really, hate it.  My eyes instantly glaze over when i see the first PP slide on the screen.  Why?  The majority of PP presentations quickly devolve into walls of words, and that is bad.  What happens when a wall of words appear on a screen?  The entire audience reads the words, and more than likely, the speaker reads them out loud to us as well.  Not the recipe for a good presentation, right?  Even if the speaker is dynamic and interesting, much of the message is lost as the audience reads the wall of words and is not listening to the presenter.  This is not new ground I’m covering here.  Many presenters, coaches and experts have been pointing this out for years.  Yet, it continues.

How can your presentation, even a listing presentation be different?  Images!  Forget the words and be visual.  Let your words be guided by the images on screen.  For nearly three  years I have not touched PowerPoint unless corporate demanded it.  My tool of choice is Prezi.  Think mindmap with the power to zoom in and out, rotate, and basically dazzle.  I talk about Prezi here.

Just recently, however, I was turned on to a new tool,  Haiku Deck.  This presentation wonder does lots of things very well.  First, it is easy to use on my iPad.  Most will agree that the other presentation programs out there difficult to use on tablets.  Haiku Deck is an app built for the iPad.  It also makes searching for images easier than any other program I’ve used.  Simply search for images by typing in a search term and all images returned from the search are licensed for use.  No more “stealing images” in a Google Image search.  Haiku Deck does the filtering for you. You can also use your own images, so if you need a chart, screen shot, or one of your photos, simply insert it.

Haiku Deck currently offers 5 themes for free, and 11 more at $1.99 each or all 11 for $14.99.  Pick a theme, upload your images, and add text if necessary.  Haiku Deck handles text in the edit menu by giving the user 14 different layouts.  These will not let you add a wall of words, but just a line or two to accentuate the message being delivered by the image.

The presentation can be saved to HaikuDeck.com within the user’s account.  From here it can be shared via link or the embed code can be generated for online use.  You can also annotate each slide if you desire. There are great tutorials at HaikuDeck.com and within the app, so I don’t want to get too technical here.

If you are looking for an easy to use, highly effective, mobile based tool for presentations, you have to give Haiku Deck a shot.  Below is the Haiku Deck I created on my iPad regarding Facebook Custom Friend Lists.  I purposely chose a narrow, specific topic for the Haiku Deck, in order to show that it is not just for big, broad, idea based presentations.

I value your feedback.  Leave a comment below or drop me a note at billrisser@gmail.com.

Original Source: Building Presentations on Your iPad with Haiku Deck

Here is an idea for a 2013 New Year resolution.  Make sure your online presence is secure.

There are sites like Lastpass.com or PasswordGenie.com that will create unique, secure passwords for all of your logins. You simply need to remember your master password.

The video below shows how to create secure passwords for each of your sites by using a few simple techniques.

Finally, here is a list of the worst passwords in use today.  If you are using any of these, please get to work securing your online identity right away!

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passw0rd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football

(list courtesy of splashdata.com)

Original Source: Are Your Passwords Secure?

Linda Grabner is the manager of our new Apache Junction location. It is located at 115 N Apache Trail, Ste A.  The phone number is 480 425-3180.  Linda is assisted at the branch by Trisha Getz.

The Apache Junction Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday December 14th.  In the photo below, Linda and Trisha were joined by County Manager Laura Amada, Escrow Operations Manager Brad Mercer, and in-house Underwriter Richard Klein.  Nicole Wolf, Marketing Assistant and Anna Everts, Residential Sales Representative were also in attendance.

We are excited to expand our presence in Pinal County and we are looking forward to serving agents and lenders in the far East Valley!

December 14th ribbon cutting ceremony

Original Source: Announcing Our New Apache Junction Branch

While browsing through Slideshare.net, we stumbled upon this cool collection of apps for the commercial broker.  By the way, if you have not explored Slideshare.net, you should.  Lots of great presentations on every topic imaginable.

Let us know your favorite commercial app in the comments below.

Original Source: Commercial Real Estate Apps