Inman Disconnect Conference in Palm Springs

I sit on the board of Inman the news leader and event company in the real estate sector.  If you are involved in real estate, at any level, you should be getting Inman news.  I am a huge fan of Brad Inman, the man behind this company.  I got to know Brad when we both sat on the board of Curbed so he kept us all connected by getting others from Curbed involved in Inman from running it to being on the board.

Inman put on a two night, one day and two half day conference in Palm Springs this past week.  It is actually the perfect amount of time for an event.  Leaders in the real estate sector attended.  One of the things that I have always loved about real estate is that there are multiple players from developers to owners to brokers and all of those roles are extremely entrepreneurial.  As a broker, your skin in the game is your commission.  Having skin in the game makes for an extremely focused group of people who are always pushing themselves to get better in their vertical.

The real estate sector likes to beat themselves up when it comes to embracing technology but the truth is, I have found that this vertical has embraced new technology in their field with open arms.  Since we were in LA, I decided to come to the event and Fred came along with me.  We talked to a small group of people before having a tour of the Frey House and the Palm Springs Art Museum.  Our topic was Disruptive Art, Disruptive Companies.  I can count on two fingers the only time that Fred and I have had the stage together.  It was fun.

There was a lot of conversation about data and making sure that we kept platforms open to make sure that innovation is always the forefront of any industry. Inman wanted to create conversations that pushed everyone to think about the industry in a bigger picture so that when everyone went back to their lives when the event ended, that perhaps the conversations they had here, the topics that were discussed and the people they met, would make a difference and perhaps a change in how each person thought about their businesses going forward.

I honestly have gone to very few conferences but the concept of pushing people to engage and think differently is something I’d like to see more of the founders I have invested in have access to.  I spoke at something later in the week and someone asked me how do you push yourself get out of the day to day of your company and my answer is sleep, a few days off and events where you can talk big picture.  Inman did just that.