Raincamp, Raincamp... What can be said about ActiveRain's Raincamp that was put on in Dallas TX a couple of days ago?
WOW!!
I was blown away, and I'm not one to get blown away with things like this. I usually like to sit with my arms crossed saying, "What an idiot! No one does that these days to help their real estate businesses..." as that's exactly what was I saying when I stupidly sat at a Craig Proctor seminar for two hours the day before. I figured I was in Dallas, what the heck. HUGE waste of time. Raincamp, not a waste of time at all!!
I learned so many things, that I can't wait to have a few minutes to implement ideas. As I check things out and implement, I'll be checking back with my opinions. I did start three Fan pages on Facebook and took some pictures in between appointments yesterday. Now, I just have to load them and get some fans!!
The best compliment I received (besides ActiveBrad personally asking my opinion about the day) was when I was approached by a friend saying that she was sitting next to someone from Austin, and while we were discussing Long Tailed Keywords and how to use them, he got excited about an area he wanted to target, Googled those words, and MY blog popped up!! He told her something to the effect of, "I'm never gonna be able to beat that Donna Homes person, she's everywhere!"
Here are some random pictures of some faces you'll recognize. I won't name everyone because as soon as I try, I'll forget someone and I'll never hear the end of it.
Thanks to Bob, Brad, and Ben... The three B's had it together and did a great job!!
**Are You Packed Yet?**
Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com
Austin TX Real Estate and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, West Lake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Hill Country Austin TX Real Estate and beyond. Whether you're buying or selling an Austin home, I'll be with you every step of the way.
For real time Austin TX listings, click here.
** #1 Agent in my Office for all of 2008 **
Copyright© 2010 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* ActiveRain RainCamp - Dallas TX - WOW!! * was first published on donnahomesblog.com
I'd love to go to one live but the virtual ones are the next best thing. You get so pumped up and can't wait to implement the new ideas. We have another virtual one coming up in June and it is definitely on my calendar! Any tidbits you want to share??
I so wish I could have attended RainCamp. From all that I've read and from the Virtual one I attended, I have already learned so much.
Great pictures Donna from an event that was, as you mentioned, "definitely not a waste of time"!
Hi Donna,
It was a pleasure to meet you. A real human dynamo!!!!!! I agree with you on how GREAT raincamp Dallas 2010 performed .....A plethera of great information and the bonus was meeting so many real professionals in one place.
Great article,
Robert
Robert Twaron
Donna..I agree with you. The camp was great and there are so many ideas to try...
I had a great day myself. I've implemented some stuff and some stuff I plan to try. I especially love the Facebook Target Marketing concept. I've never known how to do it.
It was a great event no doubt. Wish it was longer though.
Donna,
My head is still spinning!
It was great to finally meet you!
I have so much to change and implement!
See you around!
Hi Donna...looks like you had a great time at Rain Camp, Seattle was a blast too. The Sharing of ideas is awesome, I can't wait for the Next Rain Camp. Great Photos.
yes it was very informative and also quite interesting to finally meet so many of the people we've conversed with online. glad you made it.
Donna,
It's always great to hear that someone who is so active on AR learned something. It always makes me a bit nervous that our power users won't benefit as much as someone just getting started. However, I think having Ben there, who is using this stuff in his business is great. He's an innovator and we are lucky to have him on board.
It was a pleasure to meet you!
The next one (am I breaking our guidelines by advertising in your post? Hopefully you won't delete and report me, haha) is March 9th in Denver. They keep getting better so we can't wait.......however, I don't know if any crowd will ever be as loud as Dallas was, it was deafening on stage when Ben asked what everyone thought!
RainCamp Denver March 9th
If anyone has friends in Colorado, make sure to let them know this is not to be missed!
Barb, I'll post as I got through the tidbits. Already posted about Klout.com.
Craig, I'm glad I juggled my schedule to be there!
Robert, *blush*
Pat, Get tryin'!
Loreena, I've been FB target marketing for almost a year now. It does work.
Mike, Coming from a newbie... believe me, you wouldn't want it any longer!! But you can come to Austin in March for REBar Camp.
Sheila, I'm trying to understand my notes!
Fred, Being the guinea pigs, I'm sure it was fun in Seattle.
John, Good seeing you again!
Bob, Go ahead, advertise away! Next time, I'm going to eat your cake too!! And it would get more views with a pretty little star *wink wink*
@ Barb in # 1: I doubt if Active Rain would hold a Rain Camp in Cleveland... but they might do it in Columbus... so Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinatti could all attend. I think if they did... I would plan my trip back to visit Cleveland around a Columbus Rain Camp. How fun.
Donna: Ouch ! I wouldn't sit through a Craig Proctor seminar if you PAID me. But yes... I am sure the RainCamp was just wonderful. I am sorry I was unable to attend... I would have loved to have met you.
Great to hear your experience Donna! Just to give you a head-up, Diverse Solutions implimented their dsIDXpress.com solution for long-tail seo. This will help local agents compete for top placement with the search engines for property address and mls #.
Thanks again and glad that you had a blast.
Donna looks like a blast. Coming to Denver but it is still hard to break away to get there. Thinking hard about it.
Hi Donna, I had such a good time meeting you and you do look better in person! I cannot believe you did that other seminar, i made the same mistake several years ago. I did think it was funny that your brand is so strong that people think your name is Donna Homes! ;-) Like you I came away excited about where this will take my business in my particular market segment! Oh..and thanks for posting a flattering picture of me!
Donna, thanks for taking the time to post the pictures. For those of us that have not had the experience yet the pictures mean a lot. Thanks.
Awesome Donna. Looks like you guys had a great time. And a huge turn out. Maybe some day TLW and I will actually get out of our cave and make it to one of these.
Looks like everyone had a great time. Maybe I can attend in the future. The pictures were great!
Donna, How exciting! I am going to hit as many raincamps as I can this year. I can't wait to meet everyone. What an awesome crowd you were in the midst of. I recognize SO many of those smiling faces :)
Donna, I told Bob that if Activerain camp was good for you, then it was definitely a winner.
ha ha...that is a complement because if it was BAD you would have said so.
WOW ! For YOU of all people to endorse this so loudly, it must have been a MASSIVE success :o)
... of course I know it was, as I couldnt rave loud enough about the one in NYC that I was fortunate to attend !
Nice recap Donna !!!
Donna, Thank you for telling me about Raincamp! It was definitely worth the 3+ hour drive from Austin. They should think about making Raincamp a two day seminar with all the information they presented. Even though this was an eight hour seminar, the time went so fast. I had a great time. Thanks again!
Donna, it WAS such a great meeting wasn't it?? Sorry that I did not get to meet you. Everyone has said how great it was, I have not talked to anyone that did not come away with things they could use.
Karen, They promised "information" and not a sales pitch, but all it was was this Canadian guy telling stories...
Richard, I'll have to look into that, thanks.
Nick, I had to take 4 days! It's worth it!
Russell, Nice meeting you too... and do you like this picture?
Ted, Putting "real" faces to the pictures behind AR.
Bryant, Yes, every seat was taken. They even kicked people out of Platinum who sat there by "mistake" because the Platinum people didn't have seats.
Scott, You should schedule one!
Elizabeth, Save the flyer miles!
Missy, You know me so well!!! LOL
Sheldon,I know I know, I can be critical, but it's only meant to help!
Steve, I'm glad you found it worth the drive!! *Sigh of relief*
Uh, those people in Platinum Seats that sat there by "mistake" are just too slick. LOL!
I agree on all fronts that AR Raincamp rocked. I've been to 5 BarCamps, am a big fan, and am now thinking that Raincamps are worth running around the country to attend as well.
What a great day! Again, good to meet you, Donna. See you soon.
Donna - I spent so much time talking that I really forgot to take pictures that day. Thanks for sharing these! I also thought it was a valuable event, and I hope they come back to Texas sometime soon. :) Are you planning to go to the Austin RE Barcamp next month? It's right before SXSW.
Sounds like you learned alot and can't wait til it comes closer to Canada....now about these 3 Facebook Fan pages Donna, were they on communities?
Donna, thanks for sharing the great pictures. The energy in the room was electrifying.
Loved looking at the pictures! Looked like a great event with a lot of folks enjoying themselves in networking and learning.
Aren't you glad you didn't sit in the back of the room with a baseball cap on hiding out? I'm so glad you liked it!!!
I have been staying up until ungodly hours trying to hurry up and implement the things I learned ever since the NYC one, plus put 7 new listings on the market.
I think I'm going to try to go again to the next one on the east coast.
Hey, we matched!!
Good to see you again Donna!!
I wonder of Craig Proctor has sat through a rain camp? Perhaps he should to understand his stuff is so old. Glad you had a great time.
Hello Donna - Thanks for the report. Some like I need to sign up for Rain Camp!
Donna! Thanks, I may have to get you take all my pictures!
Judi, There were a lot of people I didn't meet, but I was brain-fried as well as people-fried!
Amanda, Never been to a barcamp, but plan on it next month.
Jason, I did mark my calendar to keep it open. I didn't see a place for registration yet though...
Al & Peggy, The fan pages are on "areas" not necessarily communities.
Lisa, You're welcome!
Lola, Yes, they did make it fun. The game was trying to connect to the internet!!
Dana, I was planning on sitting in the back and keeping to myself, but as soon as I walked in and saw familiar faces, I went right up to the second row...
Tom, It was red shirt day!
Corinne, Maybe he has programs set up to see when people mention his name!
Andy, Yes, you do!
Russell, I try...
Donna,
Sounds like time well spent. If I could be in two places at once...I would have gone!! LOL!! But I will have to glean from the tidbits I read from you and others who attended! :) Great pictures!!
Hi, Donna. Thanks for sharing your pictures. It's great to see all of your smiling faces though we weren't there.
Donna - Thank YOU for including me into your pictures. Some people took a picture and left me out. Maybe they werent good pictures. LOL Anyway, it was great seeing you again. I'm thinking about coming to Austin for the REBarCamp in March. Perhaps a group of us can get some drinks afterwards.
Thanks for posting the pics, Donna, looks like fun - and if you learned so much, I will be in way over my little head when I finally get to go!
Donna:
I enjoyed your post about Raincamp. I wished I could have been there! Looks like you all had fun. We need to meet at reBarCamp!!!
Hi Donna... It was great to finally meet you in person! After years of knowing you online it's nice to no longer have to refer to you as my "online" friend!
Hi Donna! It was great meeting you in Dallas! I know you hated to miss the big snow but, at least you made it to Rain Camp!!! I didn't get a photo with you but, maybe next time!
I too, came away with a ton of information--some that I had heard of but, never did anything with and lots of new FREE stuff! Since they recommended the sites that I had never done anything with, I gave a couple of them a try--LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Xobni! You've GOT to try it--especially if you get online leads. It's pretty cool and I didn't even download the paid site, just the FREE one! That is going to help so much with the leads that come in; having more knowledge of the person to whom we're talking is ALWAYS a good thing!
Hope to see YOU at the Charlotte Rain Camp later this year!! Not a bad flight at ALL and the Priceline deals are amazing!
Donna,
More great pictues and experiences, thanks for taking the time to share.
Donna - Here's a link to the RSVP/registration page for the Austin RE Barcamp (it's free!): http://rebarcamp.com/austin/?page_id=3
Great writeup Donna and it was so nice to finally meet your lovely self!!
Hi Donna. I love your write up and the accompanying pics. Sounds like it was very informative. (BTW I remember one of your older posts... I love your hair.)
Sonja, Maybe next time.
Yolanda, You're welcome.
John, Sounds like a plan!
Virginia, But the good thing is that there are tidbits for newbies as well as veterans, so take what you want to work with, just work with something. No one expects you to work with everything they talk about.
Carol, I plan on being there at this point.
Steve, Good meeting you too, and you should think about changing your pic as it doesn't really look like you.
Debe, Good meeting you too! Your pic doesn't show how tall you are!! I plan on looking into Xobni this weekend.
Richard, You missed out!
Jason, Thanks for the link!
Gary, *blush* thanks! And I didn't realize you were that tall!
Lana, The hair is on its way out, as it's fighting every day... back to the flat-iron!
For someone who is more experienced with blogging and social media, an event like this reinforces that knowledge, or maybe causes us to see something from a slightly different way. Plus, there's the bonus of getting to meet so many great people!
John, But it wasn't just about social media. There were a lot of tools and tricks told.
Cheryl, I plan on posting the tools as I use them. I already posted about Klout.com.
Donna, I'm just checking out all the highlighted comments from RainCamp as they advertise the upcoming camps. Can't wait til our turn in Orlando next month!!!