The 100 Years Club Installment #92: Fall Field Trip

Here’s the latest in my “back to school” series (wrapping up next week).

During my school years, my classes often traveled to experience history and culture at unique venues.

I remember visiting museums, the Philharmonic, Sleepy Hollow, a ski resort, and Model Congress. I volunteered at a state mental hospital and a rural elementary school (for credit) in college.

Trade shows and conferences are the adult business equivalents of field trips. They provide an opportunity to learn, see new things, and meet interesting people.

Blueprint is among my favorites these days. It combines several passions: real estate, construction, hospitality, technology, and memorable event experiences.

My fave conference technology at the show is a button on the back of the obligatory badge that, when pushed simultaneously, allows you to capture the contact information of the person you’re speaking to. It saves time fumbling for business cards, scanning QR codes, and other awkward ways to remember who you met.

Among the other highlights were:

1. Re-connecting with Dave Hirschman, one of the original Street Fight founders and current Blueprint EVP.
2. Hearing from and meeting Industrious leadership. What a great crew who cares about their client experiences and delivers delight!
3. Sitting in on breakfast with the Property Brothers, who have turned reality TV fame into a booming home products business.
4. A luncheon directed at women in the “built world” industry (i.e., real estate, proptech, construction, and related fields). It was inspirational and educational.
5. Meeting founders of exciting companies in both residential and commercial real estate and the technologies that support them:
   • Flash has built a digital ecosystem for parking and EV charging experiences. EV charging was featured by a range of other companies, too
   • ON3 showed me a “smart” construction hat device that enables “microlearning” and prevents errors at job sites. (I wish I had one of these for my daily life!)
   • Instabuilt was showcasing state-of-the-art, sustainable and speedy construction solutions
   • Dwellsy literally wrote the book on renting, and its website simplifies the search for rental homes
   • Miravel has a cool solution for sustainability and plants (aka biophilia) in the workplace. Hell! I’d come into the office regularly if I could grow fresh basil while I wrote!
   • A huge start-up area and dedicated pitch section enabled start-up companies to easily find funding sources
   • Workshops led by industry leaders like Zillow, Corelogic, Marriott, and others gave us insight into the industry’s future. And, of course, AI was a significant discussion topic

However, one of the most memorable moments was the “puppy area,” where attendees could take a break and cuddle with tiny pooches supplied by a local rescue organization. I was so tempted to bring one home!

Of course, cool swag and an end-of-show party were the last stops on the “field trip” before we boarded our buses, cars, trains, and planes.

The party was sponsored by REACH at a place called Flight Club, where we all played high-tech darts, which was a great way to get to know people I hadn’t met during the conference itself. (At the party, I promised the founder of Crowda that I’d give him a shout-out here.) The DJ was this renaissance dude, proving that real estate tech and its related businesses and people don’t need to be boring!

So, what do you care about all this?

• If you still work, get out of the office and learn about trends in your industry or related fields. If you happen to be in a fun place, add a couple of days of vacation.
• Job hunting or considering a switch? Conferences are a great way to learn about an industry and make connections.
• Be sure to download the event app before you go to eliminate paper cards and keep track of who you want to meet, which sessions you plan to attend, and (in many cases) who you connected with (so you can follow up when you return).

Field trips can be mind- and network-expanding at any age!

Do you need guidance on what events to visit or how to navigate? Please reach out! I’ll happily be your sherpa.