Keller Williams Realty Northeast (KWNE) management and agents returned to the office last week after attending the Family Reunion in New Orleans from Feb. 20-24. The annual Keller Williams national convention is a chance for the company’s associates to renew, energize and celebrate accomplishments from the past year.
Senior Team Leader Lisa Dempsey had the chance to meet the renowned real estate visionary Stefan Swanepoel, who was a featured presenter at Family Reunion. Since 1987, Swanepoel has been an independent researcher for National Real Estate Data. He is best known in the industry for the annual Swanepoel Trends Report. He has written several books, including his newest: Social Media Report 2010.
He spoke about how to uncover the secrets to creating and strengthening your online persona, building a large following, mastering the most important Social Media and establishing a legitimate online marketing channel. (This man walks the talk. He has 20,000 friends on his Facebook page!)
Swanepoel was quoted as saying: “Facebook is like being invited to a barbeque and you should have your own site. Tell folks what you are doing and what is happening. It is a great additional medium for providing information to your clients and friends.” Dempsey says that after they took a photo together, she joked with Swanepoel about how quickly they would see the picture show up on Facebook.
One of the highlights of Family Reunion was the installation of KWNE’s own Diana Heffner as a 2010 Cultural Icon. Heffner received the honor of Cultural Icon for the Austin, San Antonio and Houston Region from Keller Williams Vice Chairman Mo Anderson. Each year two individuals per region are selected by Anderson as shining examples of Keller Williams’ culture in action. Heffner has chaired the KW Shares Gala for the past two years, raising $44,000 for charity, and has signed on again to lead the 2010 fundraising effort. “Congratulations Diana, you are so deserving of this honor and we are very proud of you,” said Dempsey.