Latest / The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business / 2024 PMRE and REPP Conference Recap

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2024 PMRE and REPP Conference Recap · The Spiro Podcast: Managing your Real Estate Photography & Videography Business

0:00
Coming up on this episode of The Spiro podcast.
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Craig and I have said this for years about the conference.
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It's probably the only time of the year and only place with these conferences
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that you'll be in a room of 200 or 300 other people
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that get you.
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I always use the example where they're the same people that as they drive
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around town with their spouse, significant other,
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they go, Hey, I shot that house.
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Yes, I shot that house.
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They had this cool thing or it was a disaster.
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All the people in the room did that.
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Welcome to the Spiro podcast.
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Managing your real estate photography and videography business
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with your hosts, Todd Kivimaki
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and Craig Magrum
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Hi, and welcome to the Spiro
0:50
podcast, Managing your real estate photography and videography business.
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Spiro is a software platform designed to help you
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not only manage your day to day business and what you do
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in real estate media, but also help you grow it and scale it as well.
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I'm Craig Magrum.
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Welcome to the podcast and glad as always to have you back.
1:08
If you're a long time listener or viewer and if you're a first time viewer,
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maybe you learned about Spiro or heard about the podcast
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at the PMRE Conference or the REPP Conference here in 2024.
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Welcome, or we're glad to have you as a viewer or a listener, depending
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where you're you're coming to this this podcast from.
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So got a great topic.
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I kind of hinted at it a little bit already.
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But first let me introduce our
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our founder, our owner and Spiro podcast co-host Todd Kivimaki.
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Welcome, Todd.
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Hey, Craig. It's great to be back here.
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Great to be back to the flatlands of Ohio.
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Exciting conference today.
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So, yes, it was so good to see many of you.
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We're going to get to that.
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But it's great to be here.
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Craig, give me a 30 second for Spiro updates.
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Okay. I'm going to time. Okay.
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So if you guys don't want to know it, just skip ahead.
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I think on Spotify, if you hit Skip, it goes 30 seconds.
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So you'll fast forward in time and get that 30 seconds back.
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And we put the we put the chapter markers on there, too.
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- So you can you can skip over. - We do, yes. So
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we are working in Spiro right now
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to rearrange how video upload into the system is done.
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So currently we integrate Vimeo accounts
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and at our company we have used Vimeo, loved Vimeo.
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There's a lot of reasons why it's great.
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The problem with Vimeo is they've changed their pricing.
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So since we've been recommending Vimeo, they've changed a lot
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and not in a good way.
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So we are pivoting out of that.
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We hear you guys, we see it.
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We don't like
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writing a huge check to Vimeo, and we don't want you to have to do that.
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So we are revamping that.
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We're going to integrate with the Dropbox integration
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or we're going to use the Dropbox integration.
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It's going to be fabulous.
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It's going to be streamlined and you'll be able to upload into the property.
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Website editor will take it straight to your Dropbox, so
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we're going to give you some relief there and excited about that.
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There's probably six or seven other smaller updates that are coming along.
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I'll give you the list, but I at least
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wanted to take this opportunity to let you know about that update.
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We hear you. We understand it.
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We feel the pain, too.
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So we're going to change it for you guys.
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I mean, we already wrote the check at Wow.
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So, yeah, we will have to write the check next year.
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But we are wrote Vimeo a big check this year.
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But anyways, that's my problem, not yours.
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All right.
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Well, good deal. Thanks for the update.
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Yeah, Craig can I have 30 more seconds.
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You want 30 more?
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30 more?
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We charge interest for it, but. Okay.
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Okay, then.
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This is not this is not selling anything.
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This is a free webinar.
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So Shannon and I are doing a webinar on Broker Deals
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on January 9th at 2 p.m.
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Eastern.
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So we presented at REPP conference about broker deals.
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There's always a lot of great questions after our broker deal presentation
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because this is something that we fine tuned over 20 years at Wow.
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But it is probably the largest indicator
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that has led to just enormous growth for us.
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So we want to take a little more time in a situation
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where we have some time for Q&A and we don't
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and we have a little more flexibility with time.
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So we're going to record it.
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But free webinar, click the link below.
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Again, that's January 9th at 2 p.m.
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Eastern.
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Awesome, thanks for the updates, Todd. Appreciate it.
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All right.
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So we kind of hinted a little bit to what this week's topic is for the podcast,
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and it's a recap on the 2024 PMRE conference.
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And also the REPP conference was Eli Jones and his team.
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And we've got two guests.
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They've familiar faces, they've been on the podcast before,
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just kind of share their thoughts and impressions as first time attenders.
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I think you guys were first time attenders, right?
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Yeah, yeah,
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yeah, yeah.
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So welcome.
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Welcome to Jess Paxson and Steve Musser from Wow Video Tour as part of our team.
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Guys, good to have you on the on the podcast.
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- Good to be here - Thanks for having us
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Cool
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All right, Todd you took you took several people to both conferences this year.
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I'm just going to kind of hand it to you
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and share with with those that are watching and listening right now.
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Maybe we're not able to make it to those conferences.
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What what's kind of the purpose of of each of those conferences?
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And yeah, let's just start there.
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What was the purpose for Wow video tours and Spiro to to go there this year.
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Yeah great question, Craig.
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So first, I just want to mention that you were missed at the conferences.
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People were looking for you, people are looking for your cardboard cut out.
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This is, this is pressure, but not pressure that like
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I think people want to see you there next year, Craig. So.
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I have a face for radio though.
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So yeah, do they really want to?
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Well, I
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mean, with a couple of tattoos on it, you'll feel right at home in Vegas.
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Face tattoo So that is
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so I get to tell a funny story real quick.
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So last night I texted Todd, my youngest son, Zeke,
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he's nine years old, fourth grade I get home from for my shoots for the day.
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And, you know, he he comes out and gives me a big hug,
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which always makes you feel good as a dad, Right?
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Except he has these tattoos all over his face.
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Those those stick on tattoos, you know, for the kids,
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you know, immediately I thought post Malone.
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And I'm like, I have to show Todd this.
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I forgot to send you the pictures.
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But yeah, my youngest, I called him Post the rest of the night just
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I'm not going to I'm not going to publish his picture here on the podcast.
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But just, just imagine my, my son was.
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Yeah, a little, little tattoos all over his face.
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All over his face.
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I love that, Crfaig. I love that.
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That's what you should do in Vegas next year.
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- That. should I? - Yes. Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Let's yeah, let's, let's move on.
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Thank you for the sentiments.
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Those of you that that mentioned wanting to see me.
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I do appreciate it. Pete.
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Pete Stegall from Pete.
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Pete sent me a message. He's like, Why aren't you here?
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I'm like, Well, maybe next year, you know
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there it is.
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You know, I appreciate that guys,
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everybody send notes.
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And the pressure Craig in to attending next year.
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All right.
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All right. Well, thank you for that.
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So let's just go with Craig.
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I was just going
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Craig, I was going with the awkward silence there.
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I was just loving I was like,
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I'm just going to be quiet here and let him just wade his way out of this.
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Those of you listening, you don't see my face.
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It is turning red right now.
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Okay, I, I,
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I'm done giving you a hard time, Craig for now,
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So let's go.
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So the reason why so Las Vegas conference now for us,
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we had always attended as Spiro, so we had gone.
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Craig went with me the first year and Nick, when Nick went with me
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the last last year, Eli Jones was there with me.
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And then this year we decided to take the Spiro team, but also the Wow team
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and so for us, you know, this is this is a good a cause for us.
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It's it's an investment for all of you.
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It's an investment because, one, you need to get out there.
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You need to stay there.
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You need to pay for entrance to the conference or conferences
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you're going to eat, which is not cheap anymore.
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In Vegas, at least I didn't find the cheap places.
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You know, you're going to do something fun probably,
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and you're going to spend some good money.
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Plus, it's your time going out there. this year.
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I wanted
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to take the team from Wow. Steve and Jess because I thought it was important
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just to walk back maybe a year, year and a half in history.
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at Wow. We have really gone through this transition where
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Steve and Jess, have stepped up and they're running the company, so they're making
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the big decisions now that I used to make.
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They are running, they're doing a fabulous job
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and they have a lot more responsibility in their hands.
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And one thing that we historically have not done great I have not done
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great is celebrate and take time to enjoy.
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Now we do.
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We take some time for education, but we could probably take more.
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So this was a time where I thought, well, heck, these are industry conferences
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we can enjoy out in Vegas.
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I mean, we had a good time, I'll let them tell you.
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But I thought it was important that they have an opportunity
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at least to go because it was team building.
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It was time where we could learn.
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And also Craig and I have said this for years about the conference.
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It's probably the only time of the year and only place with these conferences
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that you'll be in a room of 2 or 300 other people
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that get you.
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I always use the example where they're the same people that as they drive
10:00
around town with their spouse, significant other,
10:03
they go, Hey, I shot that house.
10:05
Yes, I shot that house.
10:07
They had this cool thing or it was a disaster.
10:11
All the people in the room did that.
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So that was kind of the cool thing, the sense of community.
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And so that was our goal with going to Vegas
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as a Wow team, as a real estate media team.
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Of course, the goal is a little bit different
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as a Spiro team, but that was the goals, the Wow team.
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So, Jess let's let's throw to
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you give us what did we achieve our goal in Vegas?
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What was it good for? Were there things that we didn't think about?
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What what was your quick
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what was your take away from the goal for Wow to go to Vegas?
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Yeah, I think my overall goal was just to sit and learn
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and see if there is anything that was being brought into the industry
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that I didn't know about that I could bring back to, Wow.
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to help streamline processes,
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you know, just kind of overall get a glimpse
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of kind of how we're doing in the industry and like what others are doing.
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So I made some really good connections out there, met a lot of really great people.
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I think my take away on it, which I know is
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what's already really important to us, is relationships.
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And that's something they continuously preached
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on, is like relationships and relationships with our with
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our clients, our teammates, our vendors, things like that.
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So it was nice to sit and listen to those conversations.
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You know, obviously we pulled a lot of relatable things from that.
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It was nice to see the vendors face to face too, and trying to get a gauge
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on, you know, kind of what they're doing, what they're leaning into that
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we may not hear being an update on an email and things like that.
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You know, they shared a little bit more openly, which was nice.
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You know, there's always ways that we're looking to improve some of our products.
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And so to kind of chat with them and kind of see where they're going to,
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you know, I took a lot away from that.
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There was
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there was a great presenter there, and I think you guys would all agree,
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Jenna and I don't know how to say Jenna's last name, but Jenna hit on
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AI kind of in our in our industry, things that help you, that can help kind of
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fix our workflows and some efficiencies and things like that.
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She's actually got a course coming up.
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I think it's I've got it wrote down here November 25th and December 2nd.
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It's only like if you're not at the conference, I think it's $199.
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If you were she's knocking 50 bucks off.
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So I think I might take that and kind of learn some of it and see kind of
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how to streamline some workflows.
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I think there's some stuff in there that I can help
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create some more efficiencies, especially for our C3 team. So
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Can I jump in there real quick?
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Jess, just to introduce you a little bit more to those that maybe don't know you,
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what's your role at Wow. Video tours?
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So head of operations here.
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So a little bit of everything.
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You know, I work with our editing teams and our support and
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scheduling team, which we call our Client Care Coordinators.
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So yeah, that’s kinda what I do.
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Now, Steve, your goals were slightly different.
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If you just want to again, I should ask, that's a great question, Craig.
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But Steve, just for those who that don't know you, what's your title?
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What's your goals here?
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What's your what do you do here at WOW for us?
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And then how were your goals or what were your goals for going out
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and attending these conferences?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So those that don't know me, my name is Steve Musser.
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I'm the director of Sales and and marketing here at Wow Video Tours.
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And so my goal within the company, obviously, is to manage
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the sales team and, and just continue to,
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to build those relationships with our clients and expand our our
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not only our markets by just bringing in new clients
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to the Wow umbrella, letting them know what we can do for them,
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and making sure that we take the best care of our clients
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on that side of things as well.
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So my my main goal, going out to the conferences there
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in Vegas, a couple of different things.
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One, to connect that was number one on my list.
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So not only to connect to people, you know,
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that are in the industry, but vendors specifically,
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which is nice to kind of put some faces to names
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that we've talked to in the past, meet new people, meet new products
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and services that we can kind of examine, see how they fit in our business
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and see if it's something that can help us improve our workflows, our quality,
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our our processes, everything along those lines.
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So that was that was a great aspect.
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And then connect with other people in the industry, you know, just just to see.
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And it is the great thing about it is it doesn't matter if they're, you know,
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a solopreneur, to where it's just them and their business
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and they're just starting off and they're looking to expand or maybe they're not.
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You know, some people are just looking to keep that business to just themselves
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and kind of move forward that way as well.
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Or if they have a, you know, a small team or a large team, you know,
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there's there's all kinds of people that you can connect
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with and going and do it with an open mind just knowing that,
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you know, no matter the size, no matter the volume, anything along those lines,
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there's still great information to learn from everybody there at the conference.
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And so that was that was a great aspect just to be able to connect and learn
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more about,
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you know, how how people are handling certain issues or what
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issues are affecting them
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that may be different than us.
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And those might be
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coming down the pipeline for us down the road and vice versa.
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So that was that was a great aspect as well.
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And then anytime you get out and you just kind of be
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in the middle of those conferences and be with all those people,
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another aspect that you get out of it just kind of re-energizes you.
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So you come back to it with a fresh mindset.
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You know, you're stuck in the day to day sometimes in in the work world
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and sometimes just getting out of that and seeing other people in the same industry
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and hearing their stories and what they're working on and new technology
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coming up and everything else, it just once you get back to the office,
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you're energized, ready to go and take the business to the next level.
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Let me ask a question, just an open question for any of you.
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So we went to both two conferences this year, the REPP conference
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with Eli Jones and his team and the PMRE conference as well.
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What would you say are the the differences between the two?
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You know, say somebody is trying to consider
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whether they're going to go to either or both of those next year in 2025?
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What were the differences between between the conferences and,
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you know, what would help somebody decide which conference to go to or to go to both?
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My my thoughts on that
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just kind of give my breakdown is with PMRE
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It was it was a lot of great content.
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It was more higher level content.
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So it wasn't getting into the specifics of, you know, do this and then do that.
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It was more about, you know, just kind of refocusing
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on what you're doing and and new trends and whatnot hitting the market.
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And it was filled
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with a lot of great people to connect with and learn from on that side of things
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and on the flip side of that, from my perspective with REPP
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with the conference there, that was a little bit
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more down to the details too, where you just kind of take away
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all the barriers you share, you know, more so with your business, connect
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with other people, share what's happening personally with you and your business,
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what you're working on, you know, and you just get so much information
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from that as far as ways that you can take back to your own business
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and help improve and and honestly, while you're there, if you can help others,
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you know, that's there's no greater feeling than that as well.
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Jess, what are your thoughts?
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Yeah that is honestly Steve really hit it on there.
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Like I felt like PMRE
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was kind of the state of the industry and kind of where it's headed.
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But for me, like when I jumped over to the REPP
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and like we did the breakout sessions and things like that, it's,
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you know, it's just much more personal.
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It's on a it's hitting on a personal level,
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like the questions that they're asking, the things they're pulling out of you,
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the relationships that you're building kind of
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there are very tight knit.
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I think I think one of you said this and maybe you both I think we all agreed.
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So PMRE with Brandon Cooper
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and loved Brandon, love his wife, They're so generous.
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They're just great hosts and they put on
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an incredible visual experience.
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I know this is a big goal of Brandon's.
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So at the Palm, you know, we have the big media room.
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You walk through kind of this hall of mirrors that has
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led monitors overhead,
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you know, PMRE logos up there, really visual.
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So for all of us in this visual industry, you know, that is that is neat.
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You walk into a huge room and it,
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you know the theater room and huge LCD wall behind it.
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Again in the ceiling is, is circular LEDs all around the room.
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There's branding everywhere.
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There are signs everywhere.
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You know, it took me back to my days in high school
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when I had 215 inch subwoofers in the trunk of my car and a big amp.
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I mean, you would feel you felt that in your chest, like you're like, you know,
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like the music kicks in and like, you feel that stuff and it's like,
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you know, so visual, audio, like it is done.
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What you would expect in Vegas like of a major show.
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There were thunderstorms and fog and like it was insane.
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The bass that was going on in that room when they were giving
19:15
some of the presentations.
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But like it was very like it was an immersive experience for sure.
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And he did a wonderful job in that aspect.
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and comparison, just to a visual standpoint,
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the REPP conference is still in Vegas led wall behind the presenters
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not as big now so you're more of a conference style room,
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circular tables where you're sitting at,
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you know, there's other auxiliary lights and things like that.
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A nice emcee at both events,
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So that's visual kind of the difference of what was for me.
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And then I think content wise is where there's a big divide as well.
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And I think we kind of conclude this as PMRE, we conclude this as a team
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excuse me, that PMRE is really a conference for photographers.
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So you're going to go there and you'll get the photo
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critique with Tony Wayne and Frazier.
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You know, they're going to look at photos, You'll have architectural talk.
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Devin did a fabulous talk on content.
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Devin Pastorius, if you're not familiar with them, just the mind
20:17
and the creative mind, the marketing mind he has is fabulous.
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There's a couple of presentations on AI
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there was a copyright presentation,
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so that that was kind of the
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the genre of types of things that were presented.
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There was a couple panels
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on the flip side at REPP, I would categorize
20:40
this more as a business conference.
20:43
So happens everyone there that has a business
20:46
happens to have a real estate photography business, but this is more
20:50
the business of your real estate media business.
20:54
So you're not going to get things like how to shoot photos, critiquing photos.
20:57
We didn't talk about copyright.
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Not that those things are important and vice versa with either conference.
21:03
But it's just interesting the way the two conferences were geared.
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You know, at REPP, you're looking at things like some might a lot of mindset.
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You know, as business owners, we need to change our mindset
21:16
to some very structural things.
21:20
Like Steve mentioned, how to hire photographers, What's the process?
21:23
Colleen did a fabulous job.
21:26
The culture that she's trying to build, how culture plays into growing and scaling
21:30
a successful team when she did it, how she did it, where she posted it.
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So some very concrete things there.
21:36
And then we heard from a lot of people Scott, Kevin,
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other panels of individuals, of people
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that just gave some life like
21:48
or some life scenarios of of how they grew their business.
21:52
So I think at the end of the day, fantastic visuals at PMRE,
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it's a show that you're going to you're going to get photo industry
22:00
items, you're going to get a few.
22:02
I don't want to say there was no business science there.
22:04
You know, there are some marketing things,
22:06
but on the
22:07
contrast REPP you're going to go to a good show.
22:11
You're going to see and hear it fine.
22:13
You're going to get some concrete things
22:14
about the business of your real estate photography
22:19
business and how to do those things.
22:21
And also there was a little bit more time at REPP to connect with others.
22:24
They did a few breakout sessions where people with like sized businesses
22:30
would sit around a table and they gave you some prompts to talk about.
22:34
So it was like photographers helping photographers or business owners
22:39
helping business owners.
22:40
So let me ask a question for Steve and Jess, with you guys.
22:44
This being your first time going in, I remember the first year I went with Todd
22:48
just being a little
22:50
I don't want to say
22:50
apprehensive or anxious, but, you know, it's it's a new experience.
22:54
It's Vegas, right?
22:55
We're coming from northwest Ohio.
22:57
You know, I had a little bit of nerves.
22:59
What what were your nerves like and what what did you experience?
23:03
Was it as if you
23:07
I guess I'm not sure exactly how to phrase the question.
23:10
Just what was your experience
23:11
as a first time attender and what surprised you?
23:14
Sure. I can start if you like.
23:16
I don't know that anything surprised me, but
23:20
so I'm a little bit I don't know that most if everyone really knows
23:23
this, I'm a little bit more of an introverted extrovert.
23:26
I guess, like I have a very difficult time going up
23:29
and just talking to people like on my own.
23:33
But I did like that was a goal of mine.
23:35
There was to just go and tell myself to go network
23:39
and walk the room and talk to people because that's why we're there, right.
23:42
To kind of to do that.
23:43
I mean, to do that, to learn from everyone.
23:45
So I was, yes, Craig, very, very intimidated walking into those rooms
23:49
with tons of people.
23:50
I don't know how many people were actually there,
23:52
but some of those conference like little like vendor rooms
23:54
and things like that, that we were in were pretty jam packed.
23:58
And, you know, you got groups of people
23:59
that have been attending this conference for years together
24:03
and just kind of like come together and on their own little clicks
24:06
and things like that, having fun.
24:07
But what I found is everyone was really open to new people and still talking and,
24:12
you know, getting to know you.
24:13
And I mean, honestly, there were like people from Ohio and California
24:18
and Texas and like meeting them and making connections and stuff like that.
24:22
There was a quite a few people from Ohio,
24:24
mainly the Cleveland area that I made some connections with. And
24:29
yeah, I mean,
24:30
it was just good to hear how they're all doing and
24:33
connect and see what's working well for them and what they're struggling with.
24:37
So yeah
24:38
let me set Steve's up real quick.
24:40
So the question was anything that surprised you?
24:43
So I want to set this up real quick.
24:44
So, Steve, this was the first time on a plane for Steve, first time flying.
24:49
So really went. Yes.
24:51
So when we booked a seat, just naturally we wanted to get him a great window seat.
24:56
So, Steve, how surprised were you with the window seat going out to Vegas?
25:02
The views were excellent.
25:03
I have no complaints whatsoever.
25:07
No. As soon as we got on the plane, so we we sat down
25:10
and we made sure I had a window seat ready to go and of course, sit down.
25:13
And I'm sitting right next to the bulkhead.
25:15
So there's no window at all next to my seat
25:20
So I missed
25:21
out on all those amazing views on the way out.
25:24
But luckily, even that was that night.
25:26
On the way back, I did have a window and was able to kind of take that in.
25:30
So that was that was a nice experience.
25:32
Just missed it one way.
25:36
I, I just love Steve and Steve.
25:38
For those you that don't know Steve,
25:39
Steve has the most fabulous, witty, quick sense of humor.
25:44
He cracks me up so, Shannon, we were in a group text,
25:47
so Shannon flew out separately of Steve,
25:51
Jess, Nick, and I. and Shannon as she flew out that morning.
25:54
She's sending these beautiful pictures from out the window.
25:58
And then Steve so Steve has the window seat, but he's got a wall
26:03
right beside him.
26:03
So Steve sends his pictures and it's just as great.
26:08
It's just this beige wall looks like, hey, did he send like three or four of them?
26:13
But I was just cracking up
26:16
I had the laugh with it.
26:17
You know, it's one of those things where, you know, expectations were one thing
26:22
and reality was another.
26:23
we did laugh
26:27
Oh, I could see Memes coming out of that somehow.
26:29
I don't know.
26:31
I mean, personally, when you spend just a little bit more on your ticket,
26:34
so you can pick your seat and sit in a little bit more of a comfortable seat.
26:37
And so we picked our seats and that happened.
26:43
That's funny.
26:45
Okay.
26:45
So at the conference itself, what was your biggest surprise?
26:50
Yeah, going into it, I was excited.
26:52
You know, like I said, my my main goal was to connect and and just
26:56
get to meet a lot of people that I've met virtually
26:59
that I haven't got to meet in person. So that was a nice experience.
27:01
But that was my, my number one goal.
27:04
And I will say from my perspective, PMRE
27:08
was a great event, a lot of good information and very social.
27:13
It's where everybody was willing to
27:14
connect and and, you know, just build new relationships.
27:18
It was from my perspective, people were a little bit more guarded
27:22
out of that conference as far as sharing some information.
27:25
When it gets down to like specifics, if that makes sense.
27:28
Whereas going into it's a REPP
27:31
that that was more of the experience that I think I was looking forward to.
27:36
Just everybody, like I said, tore down those barriers
27:38
and it didn't matter if you were doing, you know, you were just starting off or
27:42
you have an established business, people were sharing information.
27:45
It wasn't.
27:46
It was more a collaborative collaboration over competition.
27:50
And so people were just willingly sharing information and sharing best practices.
27:55
And and honestly, that's where I where I learned the most.
27:57
And what I like
27:58
to get out of it is hopefully, you know, had a lot of questions come up to me,
28:02
you know, and different things we're doing within Wow.
28:04
And hopefully I was able to provide some really good value for
28:07
for all of those questions.
28:09
And I had questions of my own for other people that I met for the first time
28:13
and just got to kind of see what other people are doing,
28:17
how they're doing it well, what problems are they're experiencing then.
28:20
And it lets us stay ahead of it in our business as well.
28:23
And same for them.
28:24
Okay, Todd, let me do kind of a round robin real quick here.
28:27
Let me ask you, was there any standout speaker
28:30
at each of the conferences in the you know, if
28:34
if there was a particular individual, what was the one point
28:37
that really stood out from that speaker?
28:40
And we'll just kind of go around the circle here.
28:44
my standout.
28:45
So I'm a bit skewed because I spend a lot of my time
28:48
at PMRE, at the vendor hall, because the vendor hall was separate this year.
28:52
So I didn't actually spend a lot of time like normal in what the presentations.
28:57
I'm going to go back and rewatch Devon I think Devon Pastorius,
29:01
I really enjoy him.
29:03
The creativity is just mind blowing to me though,
29:07
with the things that he comes up with.
29:09
Steve and Jess, shared some of the example videos
29:11
that he used that they were creating.
29:13
I think they're fabulous.
29:14
So that's what I'm going to go back and rewatch. at Repp.
29:17
So the thing was, is this was all these were all real estate
29:20
photographers that probably a star in the last maybe Max for two
29:24
or maybe three or four years and how they scaled their business.
29:27
So really cool takeaways from from all of them.
29:30
Colleen Kydd, If you guys have not heard Colleen, she is such an inspiration.
29:35
Oh my gosh.
29:36
Yes, she Oh my goodness. What?
29:38
Just a powerhouse of inspiration from her.
29:41
Great things.
29:42
I Scott Gorman did fabulous.
29:44
Scott's really tall, too.
29:46
So Scott's like, Yeah, he's like about my height.
29:49
So I thought he had he had the idea of, like, zooming out on your business.
29:54
And that was a cool idea.
29:57
Kevin had a really great presentation and a flowchart
30:00
that showed about, like, how his referrals worked.
30:03
So I know I'm not giving you one, but I thought everybody was great.
30:06
There's people I'm missing.
30:08
This is one of those things that really taking time to go back
30:12
and let it sink in is what I need to do and maybe take some notes down.
30:16
But that's what stood out in my mind.
30:18
Awesome. Steve, how about you?
30:20
Yeah, with PMRE
30:21
Yeah. I think there's two standouts in my mind.
30:24
I love Devon and his presentation just on content and what they're producing
30:30
and then just getting back to basics, you know, and just kind of recentralizing
30:33
on being purposeful with the content you're creating.
30:37
So that was a great topic there.
30:38
And then Jenna was, was great with the AI.
30:42
I'm no stranger to AI, I'm not using that anywhere close to its potential.
30:46
And so that was just kind of re-energizing that to see how she's using it
30:51
and her day to day and just operating her business with AI.
30:55
And so it kind of re-energized me to where, you know,
30:58
after that I'm on my computer
30:59
in the hotel room researching everything and trying to build it out.
31:02
So that was that was a good that was a good presentation there.
31:06
With with REPP, I got to say, I don't know if I had a single standout.
31:10
I was excited and got as much value out of every single one.
31:15
Awesome.
31:15
I mean, I love I love the topics, you know, as far as just
31:20
hearing their their real life experiences and what they're doing.
31:23
And and the difference with REPP is you have some people on stage that are not
31:29
they're not traveling the country or the world giving presentations.
31:33
You know, this is this is their kind of first time on stage
31:37
or they have, you know, not a lot of experience on stage.
31:39
So they're not presenters by career, I guess, or whatever.
31:45
I'm trying to relay their they're just actually giving
31:47
their real life experience as far as what they're doing,
31:49
what's helped them, you know, maybe some issues.
31:52
They've fallen into things along those lines.
31:54
So it's hard for me to pick one from REPP.
31:57
I really like every single one of them that we listen to,
32:00
and I've went back and listen to them again since we left.
32:03
I like your point there.
32:04
You know, they're not traveling presenters.
32:07
They're in the trenches just like we are with our everyday business.
32:10
And just that ability to share real life, you know, real life stories
32:14
and experiences and how it can help other people, that's cool.
32:18
- Awesome. - And they all did an amazing job.
32:20
So they're not they're not traveling the world presenting.
32:22
But you wouldn't know that by listening to them.
32:24
They all did fantastic on that side of things too.
32:27
Right
32:27
And not to say that those that travel and present, you know, nationally
32:30
and internationally aren't don't have their value as well.
32:34
But it's nice to have the two different perspectives.
32:37
That's that's very cool. Jess, what what about you.
32:40
Yeah I think
32:41
for me PMRE again like the people that we're talking about
32:45
AI like Jamie McKinley he said you know how to not fear
32:50
AI but you know embrace it and open it you know be open with it and,
32:55
and then with Jenna like all the tools that she's using to help streamline things
32:59
in her business with AI again, like Todd
33:02
talked like the visual the creatives that are creating with intent.
33:07
I love that phrase there the commercials my call
33:11
commercials that they were kind of creating at one point.
33:14
I don't know if Steve was sitting next to me or not, but I was bawling while
33:19
watching some of the emotional commercials that, you know.
33:23
And then I was hysterically laughing.
33:25
Dying rolling over, watching one of the other ones where they
33:28
they had like a family walking in and, you know, don't curse around my daughter.
33:33
And the next thing you know, the mom is cursing because the house is so cool.
33:36
And then you've got inflatable guys with arms flailing around,
33:39
grabbing attention in the house, and you've got a dog commercial
33:42
that's like, I'm bawling like a baby and
33:45
just there's a lot of
33:46
talented people in that room that know how to pull those emotions out of you.
33:51
I really enjoyed those presentations.
33:53
There's also there was the third day was more centered around,
33:57
I think, an architectural type of style.
34:00
And I really liked Brandon.
34:01
I think his name was yeah, Brandon Bar.
34:04
He has shot places all over the world like
34:07
hotels and things like that.
34:09
And the way that he did, like scouting and delivery was really interesting to me.
34:14
He'd go round and shoot on an iPhone,
34:17
he'd pick, then he'd go and they would pick kind of the visuals that they want.
34:21
And those are the scenes that they would create because I guess so
34:23
I don't know a lot about this industry, but they're paid per photo,
34:27
not just like by per shoot
34:29
and the way that
34:30
he worked with lighting and things like that were all extremely interesting to me.
34:34
So that was one thing.
34:35
Like that conference did hit on is kind of more of like
34:39
the setup, like the behind the scenes stuff that photographers do.
34:42
I don't think we really hit on any of that at at the REPP group.
34:45
But like Brandon uses like what do you call,
34:47
I think, black flags or something like that for hot light sources
34:50
to create kind of the, the lighting in the photos
34:54
and then some with lights on, some with lights off.
34:56
So all of those things, like the photo nerd in me
34:59
was like just eating those things up.
35:01
And it was extremely, extremely interesting.
35:05
I've never left a conference more.
35:07
You know, I shot portrait photography and things like that,
35:10
but after listening to both,
35:11
I've never left somewhere wanting to be a real estate photographer.
35:14
more in my lige, I'm going to go master this industry.
35:18
I can do this. Look at all this amazing information I have.
35:21
I think I would
35:21
I would say that for both conferences is like putting them both together.
35:25
You walk out of it feeling so energized, like I can do
35:29
anything with the information that I've just gained.
35:34
And the REPP group for me again.
35:36
Yes, Colleen's amazing.
35:37
Amazing, amazing.
35:38
I loved her presentation on everything.
35:41
She really hit the mark.
35:42
Like you can tell, like her care level
35:44
her and I get to get along really well in that sense.
35:46
Like, it's really important to me for, like, our clients,
35:49
our teammates, all of us, to feel really valued.
35:53
You know, I think we all want that.
35:55
And Colleen gets that, whether it's her, her photographers,
36:00
her VA’s that she uses, her clients.
36:04
You know, I think that was one of the,
36:06
you know, highlights was listening to her talk.
36:09
But there was a lot
36:10
there was groups up there that like I was just taking so much away from
36:14
the way some people go to open houses and chat with realtors
36:18
and things like that to get business to just hyping it all up.
36:21
It was like Steve said, I took something away from every single one of them.
36:25
I don't think there wasn't a moment
36:27
where I didn't have a smile on my face listening to people talk at REPP.
36:31
It was wonderful.
36:32
Very cool.
36:33
Yeah.
36:34
All three of you have mentioned two names a couple of times in this episode,
36:37
and that's Devon Pastorius and Collin Kydd,
36:40
both of which have been guests here on the Spiro podcast.
36:43
So we'll we'll tag those so you can go back and watch those, watch
36:47
or listen to those episodes if you haven't seen those. Both.
36:49
Yeah, Incredible, incredible people in our industry that we can learn a lot from.
36:53
And yeah, I just that kind of stuck out.
36:56
It is as you were all talking,
36:59
Todd, what other thoughts do you have?
37:01
Yeah. What was the most fun?
37:03
Jess, go
37:05
Oh
37:05
most fun thing we did.
37:07
I mean, you having us come was like, a huge highlight.
37:11
Like, it was nice just to go.
37:12
Both conferences were amazing.
37:14
I can't say there was one thing that stood out most about the other,
37:17
getting together as a team and like some team bonding and stuff
37:20
like that was great.
37:21
Going down to, I think, Fremont Street, we went with a group
37:24
of some other photographers and industry people and that was a huge highlight.
37:28
It was nice just to relax and enjoy each other.
37:31
But you know, when you're enjoying each other, you're still talking business.
37:34
But it was just a really in a really positive light.
37:37
And some of the connections I made with some really insane,
37:40
amazing individuals out there, that was the highlight for me.
37:45
Yeah. Yeah, that was fun.
37:46
Craig, when you go next year, I guess if you go, I know, sorry.
37:51
I mean to say that we'll edit that out.
37:53
If you go next year, we will not take you to Fremont Street.
37:57
Okay? So, okay.
37:58
No, I had blinders on.
38:00
A lot of times I was walking fast, walking through.
38:03
We had some really good tacos
38:05
there, Jess danced with a humongous gorilla in the street.
38:09
And there was some other things as well.
38:12
So cheap souvenirs on Fremont Street.
38:15
So it was a great trip, I think.
38:18
Well, Marshall, Scott,
38:19
Matt and uhm.
38:22
Austin
38:23
Austin. Austin.
38:24
That's right.
38:24
Is also with us, so that was a good time.
38:28
I love that as well. Steve, what about you?
38:30
Most fun thing that we did there
38:32
first would have to be the just the views on the way to Vegas.
38:35
It can't beat that.
38:36
So you got to recall that again.
38:39
So just, just what you guys said.
38:40
Honestly, just meeting a lot of the people that that I have met virtually,
38:44
it was nice putting, you know,
38:46
just being able to meet one on one with a lot of those people.
38:50
Fremont Street was was definitely the most entertaining as as far as that goes.
38:55
You know,
38:55
that's that's one that you
38:56
you don't really get that experience anywhere else in the United States.
38:59
So that's that's a unique experience there.
39:02
And then just
39:03
having the people along with us was great.
39:06
The question begs, do you want the experience
39:10
like Fremont Street anywhere else in the United States?
39:13
No, we can keep it there, it was fun though
39:17
there's a lot going on at the same time,
39:19
but it's it's that unique experience that that was fun.
39:23
So and having good company with us, it just made it even that much better.
39:27
So 150 bucks.
39:27
I did win 150 bucks, Craig.
39:29
Oh, did you? - Yes, she did
39:31
I put $20 in a slot machine.
39:33
I said, This is the only time I'm going to gamble.
39:35
I'm not a gambler, but 120 bucks Now I hit the button.
39:38
- 150 Cash - Did you walk away?
39:41
I cashed out immediately.
39:44
- I did. - Good for you.
39:46
bought my souvenirs for my kids and a sweatshirt for me.
39:48
I left.
39:49
I left even finally, which is good.
39:52
But yeah, my unique experience was I won two gifts
39:55
and had to find out how to take home a a pot
39:59
and pan and a hand mixer and my luggage that I won in the casino.
40:05
I bet I bet TSA was scratching their head on that one.
40:09
Yeah, I was a little worried about that
40:10
and I didn't know how that was going to get through TSA.
40:12
So they didn’t seem to concerned
40:16
that's funny.
40:18
So, Todd, let me ask you, if you were speaking directly
40:20
to the person that's never been to one of these conferences
40:23
and maybe they just started their business or they've had a business
40:25
for a couple of years, what would you say to that person that has never been.
40:30
Yeah, I'd say go I it's an incredible time this is a time where no matter
40:36
how extroverted you are, you you're pushed a little bit out of your boundaries.
40:40
Just because the amount of people that are there in Vegas,
40:44
I think it's great to go and connect with people.
40:48
You will make friends that you take away, that you connect with.
40:53
It was great to see so many of you like to have you guys come up
40:57
and say hello to hear about you, to finally see you in person.
41:01
Moline brought me Canadian
41:04
organic maple sirup, which is fabulous.
41:07
Michael brought this just incredible Swiss chocolate.
41:12
He’s in Switzerland it was the best chocolate ever.
41:15
Yeah. So. Right. Incredible.
41:17
Yeah.
41:17
And just to talk to everybody and spend time with people,
41:21
the human the human aspect thing for me was
41:23
was just kind of an out of body experience to have you guys come up and say hello.
41:28
It still is crazy that you guys
41:32
that you guys would come up and recognize me.
41:35
It's just weird because I live in the middle of a cornfield.
41:37
So that was that was a cool experience for me.
41:40
But it was neat to connect with you guys and I had so many of you come up
41:43
and talk to me about your faith that it was just incredible to do that.
41:48
So thank you for coming up and sharing those stories with me
41:52
that that was a huge takeaway and a key highlight of mine.
41:56
And I'll say, you know,
41:58
other than the first year that that you and I went out,
42:01
I haven't been, but that was my biggest takeaway too was was connecting
42:04
with people and I'll I'll point out one guy in particular,
42:08
Pete Stagl he and I in
42:11
Utah as well, we've just really hit it off in this past summer.
42:15
He happened to be coming through northwest Ohio, him and his wife
42:19
taking a motorcycle vacation, riding thousands of miles.
42:23
And he reached out
42:24
and said, hey, I'm coming down 75 and I'm going to be going right past you.
42:28
You know, do you want to connect? I'm like, Absolutely.
42:30
So Pete and I, you know, after meeting it at PMRE
42:34
what was that, two, three years ago?
42:36
Still able to continue our friendship, you know, as as colleagues
42:39
in the same business that we were.
42:41
We have a lot of things that we can connect to each other on
42:44
to be able to ride down 75 and grab dinner with him and his wife.
42:48
That's just the sorts of relationships.
42:51
And again, it goes back to relationships that we can build in this industry.
42:55
We love what we do, right?
42:56
Well, I would say most of us, we love the industry that we're in.
42:59
We like the work that we do
43:01
and we value and love the relationships we're able to build.
43:06
So I would agree, Todd, you know, if you've never been
43:09
make the investment in yourself, make the investment in your team
43:13
and check out one or the other or both of those those conferences, PMRE
43:17
and REPP, it'll be good for you personally and be good for your business as well.
43:21
Yeah, and let me just echo that.
43:23
Shout out to Pete, Pete’s a fantastic individual.
43:27
We Craig, his wife was with him this time, so we got to meet her.
43:31
Jess and Shannon connected.
43:32
They they got to spend some time together.
43:35
So a lot of fun there. A Pete is the owner.
43:38
He was a real estate.
43:39
Oh, that was fun.
43:40
- Jess, you just had hearts on your screen - because I love his wife so much.
43:43
Oh, look at that. That is. Is that.
43:46
Is that a feature on our recording platform?
43:49
- I've never seen that. - I don't know.
43:50
I don't think they're here in real life, but.
43:53
- So maybe - it's not working for me.
43:57
But it was great to see
43:58
Pete, his wife, and also Pete
44:02
just exited from his real estate media business and to focus on PixlCRM.
44:06
So huge shout out to him.
44:08
That's PIXLCRM.
44:10
It's a CRM geared for real estate,
44:14
media businesses and he does doing some really cool things.
44:17
So he's got an incredible marketing mind.
44:19
He had this backpack that had these LEDs on the back
44:22
that was really cool that Shannon and Shannon wanted.
44:24
I tried to buy it from Pete,
44:26
and just just for the record,
44:28
PixlCRM is not sponsoring this podcast.
44:30
- There's just. - No, but I’m going to send him an invoice, Craig
44:35
Pete
44:36
I do have to say
44:38
Pete came through with the pixlCRM caps because as soon as we got
44:43
back to Ohio, within a couple of days we had an inch of snow on the ground.
44:46
So I’m wearing mine yesterday
44:49
Yeah, the beanie caps we had. Yeah, yeah.
44:51
And actually I, I, he gave me a beanie cap and I don't wear you guys know me.
44:56
If you saw me in Vegas, you realize how large my head is.
44:59
Like I just don't wear hats.
45:00
I put the beanie cap on, took a picture of Pete like.
45:04
I'm all for pixlCRM. It's just a fact.
45:06
I have a really large head, but I think the beanie cap actually makes me
45:09
look a little bit younger, so I don't know.
45:10
I might go back to the beanie, but I can't skateboard so I don't know.
45:17
I’m just mumbling out
45:18
Craig, save the ship here.
45:19
I was gonna say this episode
45:20
is going off the rails
45:22
save the ship.
45:24
Well, if you can't tell guys, we like to have fun.
45:28
Vegas is is a ton of fun.
45:30
It's educational.
45:32
So, Steve, Jess, thank you so much for joining
45:34
Todd and I this week and just sharing your experience is new attendees
45:38
with with those that are listening and watching.
45:40
We appreciate you both so much.
45:42
Yeah, absolutely.
45:43
It was a great experience and love it
45:45
and come on here and kind of give a recap of what we what we went through.
45:49
Yeah, Yeah, it was a blast.
45:51
Thanks for having us, Craig.
45:52
Awesome.
45:53
Well, Todd, any, any final thoughts as we wrap things up here?
45:57
Just a quick one.
45:58
I mean, I really am looking forward to going back next year with Jess
46:03
Steve, you Craig, and the rest of the team.
46:06
It's a good time.
46:07
It's time to invest in your business and the energy.
46:11
We mentioned that a lot.
46:12
There is a good energy and even after doing this for 20 years,
46:16
I came back just as energized.
46:18
as Steve and Jess described
46:20
if you can make it, it really is great if you don't make it.
46:24
I believe both conferences recorded it.
46:27
I'm not 100% sure, but reach out to them, see if you can get those recordings.
46:31
There's some really good content in there that's worth at least watching.
46:34
You know, as we're a slow season here in the States.
46:38
Well, that's going to wrap things up again for another week of the Spiro podcast.
46:42
Again, we just want to say thank you to each
46:44
and every one of you that did come up to our team
46:47
at the conference that were there and said hello and introduce yourselves.
46:50
We really do love connecting with you guys and sharing knowledge,
46:53
encouraging each other,
46:55
you know, sharing tips and how to make our businesses better
46:57
because that's the whole point of the Spiro podcast is how do we make
47:01
stronger and, more efficient and and just better businesses.
47:07
Lots of great resources out there on, on photography
47:11
and videography in the in the creative of what we do.
47:14
But we want to really try
47:15
and be a resource for you that builds a strong business for you.
47:19
So thank you guys so much for, for saying hello.
47:22
For those of you that weren't able to make it,
47:24
maybe next year we'll be able to connect.
47:26
And again, just thank you for watching and listening to this podcast.
47:30
We're very humbled by that and we don't take that for granted.
47:35
We would
47:36
do like to ask you if you found value in the podcast,
47:38
be sure to subscribe so you get the notification when a new episode drops.
47:42
And of course, liking and sharing
47:44
just helps us get this information out to more and more people.
47:47
So thank you, guys. We appreciate you.
47:51
For those of you here in the U.S.
47:53
celebrating Thanksgiving, this should drop on Monday or Tuesday.
47:56
We record on Fridays, but
47:58
we want to say happy Thanksgiving to you And you guys have a great week.
48:02
Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening.
48:03
Make sure you take some time to be thankful
48:05
for the blessings in your life, especially in this season of Thanksgiving.
48:09
And make sure you take a breath.
48:10
Have a great week.
48:12
Thank you for joining us for the Spiro podcast,
48:15
managing your real estate photography and videography business.
48:18
This is a production of Spiro and wow video tours.
48:22
You can find out more about Spiro
48:24
is real estate, media, business management software at our Web site.
48:28
Spiro.media.