There was this mother of one of my son’s preschool classmates (no names, please). She was that mother — the one who had to have the biggest car, fanciest house, most toys, and so on.

We all detested her.

One afternoon, as we were waiting to pick up our kids, she was talking to bunch of us about this purchase or that purchase as we gave her the tight little smiles of those who can’t get away.

But then she made a mistake: She commented about something at Wal-Mart. Then she made another mistake: She asked me about it.

“We don’t shop at Wal-Mart,” I said. “We shop at Target.” You could hear the brakes slamming on.

Ah, the power of subtext. Target is the high-end bargain store. Wal-Mart… well, Wal-Mart is the other kind.

Target didn’t get that caché by accident. It was a carefully, deliberately cultivated image, one brought to fruition by the keynote speaker at VAR’s 2008 Convention and Expo, Robyn Waters.

(Come on, you knew this was going to tie into VAR somehow, didn’t you?)

Anyway, here’s what Fast Company had to say about her:

It was Waters’s job to guarantee that the company’s many brands — from clothing to housewares to paper products to gardening supplies — hewed to the same high standard in all 1,249 Target stores. Overseeing a team of 120 industrial, surface, and technical designers, she drove the look and feel that caught the media’s attention and helped Target morph from dowdy Midwestern discounter to the trendy “Tar-zhay.”

She’ll be keynoting the first day of the convention, and you won’t want to miss it — Friday, September 26 at 10 a.m.

First things first: Yes, it’s more than a little ironic that the Virginia Association of REALTORS® is holding its annual convention in Baltimore instead of, say, New Baltimore, Virginia. Go ahead: shake your head and chuckle. But there’s a ton to love about VAR’s Convention & Expo 2008:

1. If you love to shop at Target stores, our opening keynoter is largely responsible for your affection. If you call the store “Tar-zhay,” thank Robyn Waters. Under her leadership as Target’s VP of Trend, Design and Product Development, Waters helped transform the retailer from an unremarkable, low-cost, low-service, low-profit retailer to an upscale discount shopping mecca. There was no such thing as an upscale discount store at the time Target started its turnaround. Discover how embracing paradoxes can help you make more money by developing a niche nobody else has thought of.
2. Calling all real estate bloggers! Virginia Real Estate BloggerCon continues its streak as the longest-running series of peer-to-peer learning experiences specifically for REALTOR® bloggers. You know that once you get to a certain point, the so-called “blogging experts” can’t help you anymore. To truly grow, you need to learn from those who are blogging alongside you day in and day out. This four hour session is your opportunity to learn from those very people.
3. Wall-to-wall Lem Marshall. Need we say more? Not really, but we will anyway… Nobody knows real estate ethics and law like VAR’s Special Counsel, and we have four sessions with Lem. You can get nearly eight hours’ worth of Virginia real estate ethics and legal updates from the undisputed expert at VAR’s Convention & Expo 2008.
4. So much networking that even the most outgoing extrovert will need to take a little “me time.” Our host hotel is big enough to accommodate all attendees, so you’re sure to bump into fellow attendees in the halls, the bar, the gym, the indoor pool. And of course, VAR is known for its remarkable hospitality, and this year’s convention is no exception. You’ll make new contacts and reconnect with long-time friends at the Opening Reception and Inaugural Party. Even if you’re a little shy, we have a speed networking session to kick-start your schmoozing.
5. You get the full conference experience for one low price. If you resent paying several hundred dollars for a conference only to find that the receptions and meals aren’t included, we feel for you. That’s why all breakfasts, lunches and receptions are included in the price of admission to VAR’s Convention & Expo.

And that’s far from everything. Baltimore is a scenic, historic and exciting city, and our host hotel is right on the Inner Harbor, right in the epicenter of the action. You’ll be informed by the substantive education. You’ll grow your contact list through the networking. You’ll be inspired by the experience.

This is a perfect opportunity to prepare yourself for the inevitable market rebound. Don’t miss it! Registration is open now.

Tips on short sales, getting the VAR publications you need in a click, new economic development in Virginia, and help on helping sellers in Todays market; these are just a few reasons to check out the April edition of Commonwealth Online. Check your mailbox for your customized version or view it online to see it all. Either way, don’t miss this chance to tap into the relevant information you need as your business starts to heat up.

View Commonwealth Online

In about 24 weeks, VAR’s 88th Convention & Expo will kick off for the first time ever in Baltimore, Maryland. Yes, Maryland. I said it. Virginia REALTORS^® do leave Virginia on occasion. (GASP)

Obviously we aren’t the first first for 279 year-old B-more and our Virginia convention in Maryland follows quite a few other interesting inaugural events in the city. Here are a few for your notes, just in case you end up on jeopardy and the category is “The City of Hun:” (courtesy of our friends at the Baltimore CVB)

1800: First investment banking house in America founded by Alexander Brown. Thank Baltimore for your 401k’s and hedge funds

1811: First to import and package tea in America. The next time you order a good ole southern glass of ice tea, don’t forget about the northerners who brought it over.

1814: First printing of the Star Spangled Banner in the United States by Samuel Sands. Oh oh say can you read…

1819: First agricultural publication in the U.S. The American Farmer. The next time you meet a well read farmer, remember Baltimore’s where it started.

1828: First American umbrella factory in the U.S. Yes, Baltimore helps you hate the weather man a little less.

1830: First railroad depot in the U.S. at Pratt and Poppleton Streets All aboard!

1831: First National Nominating Conventions for President in the U.S. Not in Florida? You don’t say.

1838: First iron steamboat built in this country. This one makes sense.

1839: First dental college in the world: Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. Got teeth?

1844: First telegraph line in the U.S. routed between Washington and Baltimore by Samuel Morse. I think in honor of this year’s convention, we should all use telegraphs instead of our smart phones. Can you Twit with a telegraph?

1844: First publicly supported high schools for girls: Eastern High School and Western High School. Is it coincidence that the telegraph and high school girl were created in the same year?

1851: First commercial ice cream factory in America. Before Häagen-Dazs^® there was….

1859: First YMCA erected in America at Pierce and Schroeder Streets Village People in the 1800s?

1867: First pediatrician and gynecologist in the U.S. Dr. Wm. T. Howard, University of Maryland sets up shop. Not funny, just important. Perfect question for final jeopardy.

1883: Invention of the typesetting machine: Ottmor Mergenthalern A-S-D-F-J-K-L-; My job would be a lot harder without this one.

1885: First Commercial electric car line in the Western Hemisphere. I think it’s time we improve and revive this idea.

1892: First bottle cap made in the U.S. Who knew Baltimore was instrumental in us paying for tap water?

1901: First woman professor at a medical school in the U.S. Dr. Florence Rena Sabin, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Women could teach us something about taking care of people? Really?

2008: First VAR Convention & Expo in Baltimore September 24-28, 2008. Why should you attend? Log on to VARBuzz on May 8^th for the nuts and bolts of how this year’s Convention aims to improve your business.

Until next time…

-Jovan

A Richmond-area real estate networking group that started as a targeted opportunity for younger real estate agents to jump start their professional networking has evolved into something much bigger. Rapport has metamorphosed into a broad cross-section of real estate professionals from all corners of the industry: commercial, residential, lending, legal, associations, rookies and veterans alike. In less than a year of existence, Rapport is establishing itself as Richmond’s real estate social scene. In fact, it is not uncommon for Rapport to pull over 100 attendees for their parties, helping the Richmond area real estate community to come together. Their next event is being held tomorrow, Thursday, March 20 at 4:30 p.m. Visit Rapport’s website for details.

VAR staff and Rapport volunteers are discussing how VAR, with its statewide reach and Rapport, with its ability to quickly ramp up a critical mass of interested locations and attendees, might be able to replicate this success in other parts of the state. If you or your local association is interested in learning more, please leave a comment here or contact Ben Martin at (804) 264-5033.

The National Association of REALTORS® is accepting proposals for sessions to be held at its Annual Conference & Expo, November 7-10, 2008 in Orlando. We’d love to see as many Virginians on stage as possible. If you are interested in speaking at this major event, please submit a proposal. Once you’ve submitted it, tell us about your proposal, and we’ll exert whatever influence we can to help get it accepted.

My name is Scott, and I’m a control freak. Or rather, I can occasionally be a control freak. Or rather, when I’m really passionate about something I can tend to overwhelm my fellow staffers with all my incredibly creative (??!) and insightful (???) ideas and guidance. Does that a control freak make? (The insecure side of me envisions VAR staff members nodding vigorously.)

As a leader, I’m learning that passion and creativity can be blessings and curses. They’re blessings when leaders channel them to spur individuals, teams and organizations to attempt new things, to be proactive and audacious and excellent in achieving their goals. But they can be curses when leaders – for all the best reasons, mind you – mistake their own ideas for the only ideas, and fail to trust in the inherent talent and creativity of the teams they’ve assembled to take a decent idea, make it better, and own and implement it without excessive oversight or…control.

The trick, of course, is that word trust. Trust means understanding you don’t have all the answers…and don’t have to. It means building the right team, equipping them with all the right tools and skills, and letting them go. Sometimes, it even means following them to places and outcomes you’d never have considered on your own (like this blog, for instance….).

Maybe that’s just common sense, but for an old control freak like me, it’s a lesson that’s been a long time coming. I bring it up now, as I watch your VAR staff execute preparations for our Legislative & Education Conference held this week in Richmond, because now that I see it, I’m starting to get it. I’ve never seen such a well-oiled machine as this group of folks (led expertly, on this conference project, by VAR’s cool and unflappable meeting planner Tracey Floridia, and supported by 25 other capable team members).

We started in the fall with a few ideas for this conference, a focus on content that contributed to strategic outcomes, and the sense (on my part at least) that we had exactly the right assets in place to prepare and execute this event with more polish and professionalism and style than ever before. We all contributed ideas, and then…I got out of the way. I hit the road. Traveling. All over the place, visiting members and local associations and attending NAR meetings, being about the business of Virginia REALTORS – and hoping that out-of-sight, out-of-mind would help temper my control-freakiness.

And you know what? To my amazement, it sort of did. Oh, my team was never really out-of-mind; they offered me abundant opportunities for input and feedback. But danged if they haven’t dazzled me with what they’ve accomplished…not only on this event, but myriad other projects in the works.

How easy it is for leaders like me to slip into the mindset that our performance will be evaluated based on how many good ideas we have, how many of our own ideas we implement. Or perhaps we lapse into thinking that the association will go into a holding pattern if we aren’t right there every minute shouting orders, contributing. But those aren’t good measures of effectiveness. They sound more like more insecurity than leadership. In contrast, real leadership mans establishing direction, building and equipping a team, removing obstacles from their paths, and letting them do what they’re good at, what you hired them to do in the first place.

Here at VAR, as leadership development goes, I’m still a work-in-progress. But this week in particular, I’m feeling mighty proud of this remarkable staff team and the work they’re doing on your behalf. And that feeling of pride trumps my insecurities any old day.

– Scott Brunner, CAE

Everyone knows Virginia’s famous tourism tagline: Virginia is for Lovers. At VAR, we love our bloggers, so in conjunction with our Legislative & Education Conference this week, we’ve set up an informal happy hour on Valentine’s Day to give them an opportunity to meet each other face to face. We’re also extending the invitation to our members who have opted into VAR’s facebook group, VAR’s Linkedin group, or who happen to be using Twitter. See the January/February edition of Commonwealth to learn more about facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

Finally, if you just want to learn more about social media or meet the REALTORS® who are using it, feel free to drop in. You don’t have to be registered for the Legislative & Education Conference to attend the happy hour (but it couldn’t hurt). Here are the details:

When: Thursday, February 14 • 5:30 - 6:45 p.m. (or later if you’re not attending the Hall of Fame Reception)
Where: The ground-floor bar at The Tobacco Company • 1201 East Cary Street
How to find us: Look for people wearing “Virginia is for Bloggers” stickers, like the one you see above

Please feel free to spread the word. If you have questions, please e-mail Ben *at* VARealtor *dot* com.