Without a doubt, we are in an exciting and ever-evolving business. We face legislative issues that affect us and our clients, technological advances that can be beneficial as well as a huge waste of time, and market conditions that are always changing.

One thing I learned long ago is that if you want to be good at something, you benefit greatly by surrounding yourself with others that perform at a high level. That relates to health and fitness, money or any craft at all. Real estate is no different. As an example, I have breakfast (almost) every Friday with a group of awesome REALTORS®, network with many agents in town and across the country, and attend many events where “peak performers” gather to talk shop.

The AAR Winter Conference is LOADED with people that practice at a very high level: from attorneys to brokers to busy agents in the trenches and everything in between. Below, you will find a partial list of topics that will be covered at this year’s conference:

Hangin' with Barb Freestone, Tom Farley and John Foltz #aarwc #supercool

1. Anti-deficiency legislation. 

2. The top five legal issues Arizona REALTORS® are facing.

3. BPOs, REOs and disclosure issues.

4. Managing your online reputation / minimizing risks.

5. Mortgage issues: Dodd-Frank, HARP 2.0, G-Fees and the CFPB.

6. rCRMS (AAR’s risk management certification) class with attorney Rick Mack and REALTOR® Frank Dickens.

7. Property management boot camp (the rules and the risks)

8-108. MUCH more! Come see for yourself. The information is outstanding!

Make sure to check out the “geek fest” at Winter Conference featuring FREE one-on-one time with experts on blogging, iPad, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, Google tools and more. Yes, free.

As chairman of this year’s social media team, I would like to personally invite you to our many social media sessions. In addition to some great presentations, we will have some awesome people hanging out in the AARBar where you can ask questions and view demonstrations. As a bonus, I’m bringing in a non-REALTOR® WordPress expert to answer questions about effective websites for the real estate industry. Don’t miss this great opportunity.

Keep up with the festivities, as the “geeks” will be sharing conference information online like crazy this year. See photos on the AAR Flickr page, read tweets by following AAR on Twitter or by following #AARWC if you know what a hash tag is, and, of course, you can get information on the AAR Facebook page.

We are going to learn a LOT and will have ample opportunity to network and have some fun. Don’t miss the great sessions and classes, along with networking parties such as the AARtini bar (shaken or stirred?), AAR Got Talent party and more.

I’m going! Are you?