Here is an update on the Commercial Real Estate Disruption Events I posted about in September.

What I know NOW.

The first event date: April 4th 2012

The event location: General Growth Properties Chicago, Illinois

Huge props to GGP for having the vision to jump start this event and push the commercial real estate business forward.

The times: The day will start at 9-9:30 and conclude at 2-2:30.

Format: Coffee and donuts before the event.

At this point I am looking at 20-30 minute presentations.

Break for quick lunch.

Finish on time and respect everyone’s time.

Content: 3-D Mapping,Google,GIS,Aug Reality,CRM,Mobile,Apps,Retail tech etc etc. for commercial real estate.

Speakers: I have made contact with a few. I am now taking proposals to speak and or present at my e-mail dukelong@dukelong.com

Yes I have several contacts for presentations but I want to keep a very open mind and see what really cool stuff may come forward. Ya never know!

Networking: All day at the event itself. Also I plan to do something the night before. Preferably at a bar and casual get to know you kind of networking.

ICSC: International Council of Shopping Centers has stepped forward and offered to use their extensive knowledge resources and more importantly people.

ICSC is at this moment creating a website/event page that will allow members and non-members to sign up.

Note: You do not have to be a member of ICSC to attend or present at this event!

Huge props to ICSC for looking outside of it’s core to see what they can do to push commercial real estate. That’s call vision people!

Event Name: Yes there is an offical name and once the site is up we will blast it everywhere. Hey, we even have a cool logo.

Next: Look for announcements and the site launch very soon. Also scan your data bases for potential speakers/presenters and attendees.

One more thing: I will be heading to the west coast in the next couple of weeks to connect and do a little scouting. LA and San Francisco are strong front runners for the next event most likely with June/July event date and maybe New York in the fall.

Baby Steps Baby Steps. Now fire up those databases and Internets.

Image Credit:http://www.icsc.org/index.php

This week marks the one year anniversary of the launch of my YouTube Channel.

Reflecting back on what have I learned.

1.You must respect Charles in Charge!

Yes oh yes it does look easy. It is not. I like many of you have over the period of your lives watched a ton of  TV and thought ” hell I could do better than that”.

Guess what…you probably can’t. Hey, Scott Baio I tip my hat to you sir. Anyone else have the balls to do the same. That’s what standing in front of a camera will do to your brain.

2. Content Creation.

I started out with hundreds of ideas and still have hundreds of them. The difficulty was choosing which topics were the one’s that I had the most passion and interest in and then put on video.

Think about an industrial building…..keep thinking…see what I mean. Pretty boring…but maybe not so much.

Office buildings….still boring….I do like the decaying human in a cube wasting a precious life for the corporation angle. Hmmm.

Retail seems to be the easiest because it relates so much to the experience of shopping and interaction…unless your the father of two daughters. It’s Hell.

Adaptive reuse…now that has a lot of potential.

Airports as a hub of all cities in the future…not downtown’s.Think of Atlanta and Dallas. I think of the airports first too. Trend?

My point is this. Take the topics above and try and come up with visuals and text that makes a point entertains shows an opinion and do it in three minutes.

Oh and do one a week for a year.

3.Stats and Production.

At the very beginning I stuck my little camera up and let it roll. Raw,unedited,bad sound,and sunglasses.Hey, I had to start somewhere. What did I learn? Wow did I need help.

Enter Nathan at Ovation Studios. Nathan tracked me down on LinkedIn and shot me a message.”Hey maybe I can help you with your video’s.” I obliviously needed HELP and we struck up a professional/friendly relationship. You will never see the first stuff we shot….. it was brutal.

Nathan does all the camera work, editing, sound and formatting. Let’s remember what he has to work with!

Numbers: 9200 plus views on YouTube.

More importantly I post(embedded) all the videos on my blog and the hits for each get into the thousands.

4.What I would do differently.

Start with a list of at least 50 yes I said 50 topics and work on a solid 20 topics for at least a month before even thinking of filming.

Practice Practice Practice. I stand in front of my home video camera and Practice. Guess what? I still suck.

Time Effort and Money. Put in the time to make it worthwhile. Remember that your time has a value. 50 videos will cost x dollars. Be prepared to pay for quality.

The writing or content context part of this is where I would focus the most. The visual is not that difficult. The other is at times very hard to articulate.

5. Benefits?

Fame and fortune. Uh….NOT. If that is the reason you want to do videos for commercial real estate. Get a life!

Learning more about your market.

Gaining insight into your business and your customers business and helping pushing it forward.

Creating and OPINION about all commercial real estate. Priceless.

Interaction and reaction to the videos. 99% good and the rest….whatever.

Almost everyone that meets me for the first time mentions something about a video that I have posted. I call that brand recognition.

Finding clients in a completely different way. Some people don’t want to read and would rather listen and watch.

6.What’s Next?

More Google+ Recorded Hangouts.The technology is there…for free!

Broader topics. Examples: Logistics,Airports,Green,Leed, Sustainability,Interviews with Big Hitters….in a bar:):)

Travel to more cities and dig deeper into the commercial real estate business…and not the corporate fluffy stuff.

Document four brokers and how they do deals. Day in the life of how deals get done kind of thing.

One on one with Sam Zell unedited uncut and raw. Now that sounds like a video worth watching.

Interview 3-4 Co-Star reps about data……and try not to throw up.

Think a little harder about the offers of “sponsorship”. Is it selling out? Is it giving away control. I can fund the things and do,say,film,opine and rant whatever I want. Still thinking.

7. Was it worth it?

One year’s worth of YouTube video interviews,opinions,buildings,deals,attitude,learning…was it worth it? HELL YES!

New Updates.

-Instantly create all of the below without LoopNet’s branding!
-No logo or mention of LoopNet anywhere – not even in any URL’s.
-You don’t need to wait for a graphic designer anymore.

Email Campaigns
-It pulls all your listing info into a template so reduces data entry.
-Get rid of whatever service you are using because you can manage contacts, track clicks, manage unsubscribed, etc.

Property Websites
-New templates: pick colors, add/edit photos, etc.
-New registration options: electronic CA’s.

Flyers
-New templates like Offering Memorandum, Postcards and more.

Private Listings
-Add listings that do NOT show on LoopNet’s marketplace.
-You’ll still get access to use protected websites, send emails, create flyers, etc.
-When you’re ready to expose them to everyone you can flip the switch.

Or as we stand by and let them kick our ass.

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