REBarCAmpLA was awesome! I got to meet IRL several people that I have known online for a while. I also brought 2 newbies (to social media) with me (but they aren’t the same ones that Kathy met, so there must have been at least 4 that day!)

Ricardo did a great job and I made it a point to thank the vendors, too! Can’t wait for the next one!

Ann I really do hope that my San Jose harks and your Boston Bruins meet up in Game 6 which coincidentally might be at the same time as REBarCampBOS. ZipvoGreg and I could have a pretty good bet going by then!

Dale – That rocks! REBarCamp #1 I had to literally drag a newbie with me. HINT: Make them drive! That way they can’t back out.

Kathy – Good for you! Hey, follow up on the 2 people you met at REBarCampLA. I would be interested to see what they incorporated.

I’m sorry you didn’t get to attend but you were definitely here in spirit and a part of it all! Seriously, thank you for the support from the very beginning…

And in regards to your rant, well, I said it from the very beginning (at REBlogworld)… I didn’t want this to be just another tweetup. I wanted to have people attend this event that were outside of the web 2.0 scene. I wanted attendees who knew nothing about blogging and nothing about social media. Our rsvp count hit about 450 or so (after we took out all the duplicate registrations). In the end, I think we just might have broken 300 (according to the count of name badges we distributed at the registration desk). Yes we had a large turn-out of social media all-stars but I’m pleased that we also had a large group of folks from local offices and local brokerages. Folks who didn’t know what it meant to blog. Folks who knew nothing about Twitter and though REBarCamp was a screwed up name for a conference. But even those that didn’t know what was going on or what all of this was about…even they had fun in the festivities. I remember quite vividly one woman’s reaction… A morning session broke out into the back of the main ballroom. I asked people to grab their chair and move out into the lobby for their Blogging 101 Group. Then, after moving to the lobby, I asked them to move again (at the Hotels request) into another break-out room… Mind you, by then everyone had moved 3 times with chairs in-hand. This woman said, “Ricardo, out of all of the events I’ve been too, this is the first time I’m not falling asleep and am having fun, so thank you.” She had heard about the conference just a week before and by the end of the day had a butt-load of fun and learned a thing or two. So for me, that added a little bit to the feeling of success.

As Jeff mentioned above, RE BarCamp Portland appears to be bucking the trend of all people already “in the know”. I traveled to RE BarCamp New York in January and knew almost everyone in attendance upon seeing their faces. When I read through our attendees list in my own backyard, I know a small amount of the names on the list. This excites me. We get to help train and coach others to properly use social media in the real estate world.

Not that we won’t have content and value for the more seasoned. We have some real superstars coming as well. As you mentioned, there will be content for all in attendance.

Thanks for the shout out and keep on providing us with great content and food for thought!