This past Monday I had the pleasure of attending the regional Century 21 convention out at Navy Pier in the Grand Ballroom. It was a great day and I got to spend some time with some of my fellow real estate agents from our office as well as the other 8 Pro-Team offices. We took the Metra in from Aurora and took a short but nail-biting cab ride down to the pier to get there. We got there just in time to hear the current president of Century 21 do a talk about corporate branding and the company vision for the next few years. Afterwards, the vice president of marketing did a talk about some of our new advertising campaigns and we got to see a few of the new commercials that will be comming out this summer.

Afterwards, we got a fairly spartan box lunch but eating it out at the end of the pier on a nice sunny day made it a great experience. A group of vendors were also open during lunch so I got to talk a bit with the representative from Top Producer (who seemed a little defensive about some of my “suggestions” about the features they offer). I also spoke with a rep offering website design services. I was asking about a custom IDX solution and think I confused him a bit as to what I wanted. Oh well. I also had a nice talk with the folks from Spot Runner.

After lunch, we had the pleasure of hearing a talk by Jim Dross, a former top agent for the Century 21 system worldwide. He had some very insightful things to say about the market and how to generate business, especially in a down market. I’m in the process of incorporating many of his ideas into my own business plan and expect to see some good results.

All in all, a great day, lots of good informaiton and lots of fun spent with my fellow Century 21 real estate agents.