I just returned from the NaREIA conference June 21st-24th in Las Vegas!
National REIA is a non-profit trade organization supporting and promoting local real estate investor associations. Each year a mid year leadership conference is held; and this year it was in Las Vegas. Presentations covered everthing from legislative issues and lobbying to public relations. This conference always offers great learning opportunities to grow our local association, GaREIA (http://www.gareia.org),
and enhance our member benefits. Meeting new people from all around the country, finding out about their associations, markets and more is great, too! Of course, just being in Vegas is also a ton of fun!
GaREIA at the Mid Year Conference
GaREIA had a great presence at the conference by Atlanta attendees. GaREIA was represented by Mike Helton, Marketing Director, and myself, PR & Communications Director. Atlanta vendors included national speakers, Pete Youngs and Don DeRosa, as well as, REI TV's Matt Goggin and Maggie Chamberlain.
From left to right: Mike Helton, Pete Youngs, Barb Youngs, Jim Shapiro, Matt Goggin, Maggie Chamberlain, Me & Don Derosa.
GaREIA presents PR & Building Community
Mike Helton & I
I was honored to have the opportunity to present at the conference. Mike Helton, our marketing director, and Mark Galey, our community outreach chair, were instrumental in helping me pull the presentation content together. Mike Helton shined in the presentation where he consistently chimed in with great ideas for the group. Thanks guys! We received great feedback on our work locally as an association and on the presentation.
Cathy Crowe-League from DFWREIN was our big winner.....
Talk about a great return on investment - Cathy won $1440.00 off of $17.00 that she dropped into a slot machine! Believe it or not, if you win over $1200 in Vegas you will be experiencing a little wait time before receiving your money; Cathy waited an hour and a half. You'll only be paid after an FBI and IRS check and being issued a 1099; and by the way, you can't gamble while you are waiting. Congratulations Cathy!
I won a whole 1250
I'm not much of a gambler. I won a whole twelve dollars and fifty cents.
Funny story - My favorite 5 year old, who is my friend's daughter (she's like mine), knew that I was going out of town to Las Vegas. Somewhere along the line, while I was gone, someone must have filled her in on gambling and Vegas. As soon as I returned, she was wanting to know how much money I won so I told her $12.50. For days, she was announcing to everyone, "Nanc' won $12.50 in Vegas". It was really cute but kind of embarrassing to have only won that little bit; but I figure, "Hey, atleast I didn't lose any money!" Another friend mentioned that maybe I should have just said 1250 and left it at that!
Vegas Views
Vegas is full of things to see. Here are just a couple of the sights that we saw while visiting.
Water show at the Bellagio
Gondala rides inside the Venetian
Overlooking the city from the top of the Stratosphere
