September 11-13, 2009 marked the FIABCI-USA Fall Business Conference which was held here in Denver, Colorado. While I’ve communicated with FIABCI(pronounced FIAPSI) members in the past year or so, this also was my inaugural personal meeting with FIABCI-USA. I must say found myself more than welcome and I was more than stunningly pleased with my experience.
The conference started with a series of committee meetings some of which I was unable to attend. I jumped full force into the Membership Committee meeting and found myself instantly welcome and quite comfortable with my fellow members.
After this meeting we took a property tour and enjoyed a reception at the Spire in Downtown Denver. The Spire is a luxury high-rise during the course of completion and is nearly 25% sold with only a few months away from completion. This gorgeous property is an incredible eco-friendly development.
The following day we started bright and early with a New Member orientation breakfast where I met with some other new members some of which I new from my Certified International Property Specialist classes earlier this year.
Opening of the business day was the Welcome Session and General Membership Meeting. This too was a very warm yet exciting introduction to the day. Our FIABCI World President, Lisa Kurrass, welcomed us to the session followed by brief introductions by two candidates for next years World President position, one colleague from Italy, Enrico Campagnoli, and one from Norway, Tore Petter Braate. Mr. Dean Lapointe, Director and President Americas Committee spoke of the status of the residential investment market in the Americans.
Following this session was our Networking Lunch and Marketing Session. After an tasty lunch my colleague and I introduced one of our office’s luxury home listings located in Littleton, Colorado.
Thereafter, we were advised the benefits of EB-5 and E2 Visa programs and how we can put them to work for our foreign investors. I’ll be introducing a summary of this session at a later date.
We started our Expert Roundtables and then were interrupted by a brief fire drill. Topics included Luxury Property Forum, Marketing Show and Tell, Blogging as a Lead Generation Machine, Putting Together a Limited Partnership, How to use Proxio for Your Business, and becoming an Owner Instead of a Broker.
While there was a Board of Directors Meeting on Sunday, my day and participation in this event, concluded with the FIABCI Scholarship Foundation Dinner and Auction. This was lots of fun and funds were raised for students planning to participate with FIABCI in the future.
All in all, this was an incredible event and great way to begin my venture and career enhancing participation with FIABCI-USA. As with any organization the more you put into it the more one gets out. I will summarize future participation and travels there to as the opportunity presents itself. FIABCI is open to affiliated businesses as well so if you are interested at all I invite you to contact me for more information.
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Darn fire drills. I hope to attend the fall business conference next year.