By Gino Blefari
This week my travels find me in Westlake Village, CA for the 2017 T3 Summit, a premier real estate event that brings together leaders from around the country to take part in hearty discussions about the current state of our industry and how to best move the needle forward and bring about positive, progressive change. More than 30 CEOs and C-level executives join Stefan Swanepoel, chairman/CEO of the T3 Summit Group, onstage during the conference, sharing their unique experiences and how they’ve overcome challenges specific to residential real estate. I was humbled to have been asked to be among this group and honored to share my life’s story with the crowd.
Additional keynote speakers provide insight from beyond the real estate industry. This year’s speaker list included: Robyn Benincasa, adventurer and CNN Hero; Walter Robb, former co-CEO of Whole Foods; and Michael Gerber, a small business guru. More than fifteen deep-dive sessions cover industry-specific issues like the search for NAR’s next CEO, the tale behind the BRIGHT MLS merger (one of the largest mergers in the nation), conversion of broker data into valuable assets and the unexpected, even radical viewpoints that could potentially change the way we conduct real estate forevermore. I also have to give major kudos to Stefan, whose mastery comes through in not only his expert moderation of these sessions but also in how well-organized the entire event is year after year. T3 Summit is a true example of precision in action—everything starts and ends exactly when it should and delivers on precisely the topic at hand.
With Stefan Swanepoel, chairman and CEO of Swanepoel T3 Group at Swanepoel T3 Summit!
Posted by Gino Blefari on Thursday, May 4, 2017
One of the most interesting aspects of the T3 Summit is its limited space. The event is capped at 300 leaders and specifically designed to address challenges, obstacles and roadblocks that are currently being faced by the real estate industry. As you know, I’m a proponent of setting specific, attainable and actionable goals and T3 is organized to meet just this one. I’m also an advocate of think tank groups, and this event, too, is structured to be a large-scale think tank group of leaders who, for a few days in Westlake Village, sit down and focus on finding real solutions to specific problems plaguing real estate today.
So, what’s the message? T3 Summit may be an event limited to just 300 attendees but the idea behind it is certainly without limits. When was the last time you sat down with a thoughtful, thought-provoking group of leaders and engaged in serious discussion about the challenges set before you? The power of this exercise cannot be underestimated or undervalued. Change doesn’t happen on its own and definitely it doesn’t happen without meaningful conversation—like the kind that goes on at T3 Summit—meant to help leaders arrive at a solution that’s transformational and new.
GINO BLEFARI is CEO of HSF Affiliates LLC. You can follow Gino on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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