RE Barcamp San Francisco 2009

RE Barcamp Phoenix was very cool, and I was already gonna be in San Francisco for a few days for Inman Connect, so I caught an early flight yesterday to check out RE Barcamp San Fran 2009.

My day started at four

Woke up quick. Shower, coffee, cab to McCarran Airport in Las Vegas for 6:20 am flight.

First, a pit stop at security where I surrendered the tiniest of pocket knives I left in my toiletry bag inside my carry on. By tiny, I mean the two inch variety made to live on a key chain. Wow, TSA, totally on your game today. The good news is that was the low point of the day.

Landed on time, hopped on BART to Market St, got lucky enough to check in super early and drop off my bag before heading to Trulia, home of this year’s RE Barcamp San Francisco.

The Barcamp website offered directions and travel options  that ranged from $17 to $55, but warned:

Taking a cab is highly recommended no matter where you’re coming from. The 16th and Mission stop on BART for public transportation is not for the urban rookie.

I’m a big fan of public transportation, and San Francisco ranks right up there with Washington D.C. and Mighty New York, so a cab was not in my future. I hopped on the bus for two bucks and 25 minutes later arrived a couple of blocks from Trulia’s doorstep. Who you callin’ a rookie?

Okay, I must admit this bus was a little rough. And crowded. And slightly smelly. And it dropped me off directly under an overpass, immediately between the temporary residences of two San Franciscans. One read a book, while the other took a nap.

Trulia’s office building, surprisingly located just blocks from the aforementioned overpass, is a four story loft with lots of open, roughly finished space.  Perfect for Barcamp (One gripe: When you add a few hundred people to a big room with concrete walls, the acoustics are less than perfect for holding simultaneous breakout sessions). But hey, we can work with less than perfect.

I arrived about an hour after kickoff, so I headed straight to the board to check out the schedule. Oh yeah, the board. In case you’ve never been, one of the uniquely awesome characteristics of an RE Barcamp (affectionately referred to as an “unconference”) is that the schedule is not made in advance.

Instead, there’s a blank board with time slots and room locations, but nothing more. The group sets the topics, as well as the speakers.

Everyone huddles around and starts throwing out ideas. Someone says “I want to learn how to connect with my niche on Twitter.” Another says “I can talk to that.” POOF! There’s a session. And so it goes until the board is full.

The result is a full day of short, interactive, casual talks that are customized to the interests of the attendees. Very cool.

After a quick study of the board, I head to one corner of the room dubbed “Union Square”.

Hyperlocal Strategies

Facilitated by Eric Stegemann of Tribus

The term hyperlocal refers to a very specific geographical area of your market, such as a neighborhood, subdivision, or even specific tract. Eric did a great job sharing strategies for specializing in hyperlocal markets by offering resources for consumers interested in those areas.

Social Media Sexy – Social Media Mule

Facilitated by Eric Bryn

I enjoyed this one a lot. Eric is clearly a student of marketing practices, and he offered up some incredibly insightful ideas about how to engage consumers by offering highly customized, targeted, valuable information. I’m still processing some of the concepts, and that’s a good thing.

Photoblogging

Presented by Dakno Marketing

These guys shared some amazingly simple ways to create and maintain a standalone photo blog to compliment your existing blog. Look for a photo blog here at Bullhead City Blog soon!

Advanced Market Statistics

Presented by Altos Research

I’m a stat guy, so naturally I was drawn to a session with “market statistics” in the title. The guys from Altos Research aggregate their data by analyzing homes for sale (as opposed to sold homes). They shared some great tips and made a point of not turning it into a product pitch. Much appreciated.

Come late, leave early

Although I would have loved to stay to the very end, this is a working trip for me so I headed out a little early to get stuff done back at the hotel. The return bus trip was a breeze. Much cleaner and less stinky than the first trip.

Thanks a million to Trulia and all of the sponsors and volunteers who made this event 100% FREE for the attendees. Can’t wait for the next RE Barcamp.

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