Realtors from across North Florida gathered at the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Convention Center on Friday, Oct. 30, for the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors’ annual Real Estate Bar Camp, a daylong event built around peer-led discussion, industry vendors and, this year, a Halloween theme.
Association Executive Melissa Skoniecki, who spoke with Get The Coast that morning as attendees filed in, said about 600 people were on hand this year.
- ECAR bills RE Bar Camp as “the un-conference” and the largest peer-to-peer real estate event on the Florida Panhandle.
The day opened in a vendor village filled with industry sponsors, which ranged from home inspectors and home builders to realtor.com.
From there, attendees moved to the keynote. Skoniecki said ECAR put a twist on its usual keynote speaker this year by bringing in SongDivision, a team of musicians that collaborates with an audience to write and perform an original song in real time. She said the act was a surprise to guests and that the song would focus on the importance of hiring a Realtor, what it means to be a Realtor and what buying and selling property looks like now.
“They’re going to ask certain questions about what their job is like now and what it means and the importance of hiring a Realtor,” Skoniecki said.
The musicians would then take the crowd’s input behind the scenes, put the song together and return to perform it for the group, she said.
After the keynote, attendees split into breakout sessions. Skoniecki said the education portion of RE Bar Camp does not follow the typical format of instructors teaching best practices to a room.
- “This is set up where Realtors are in the room, and they’re talking and collaborating with each other,” she said. “So we have facilitators in the room that carry that conversation on.”
Attendees choose the topics they want to discuss, from insurance and affordability to working with buyers and marketing. Skoniecki said sessions run about 20 to 30 minutes. When the timer stops, attendees take notes, share ideas and move on to the next topic that interests them.
From 50 people to 600
RE Bar Camp started in 2019 inside ECAR’s association building on Hollywood Boulevard in Fort Walton Beach, where organizers set up small breakout rooms inside the education room. Skoniecki said maybe 50 people attended that first year.
The event has grown every year since, and the association now has a task force dedicated to putting it on.
This year’s task force chair is Realtor Jennifer Hannigan, and the vice chair is Shelby Baker. Skoniecki said they pulled the event together with Education Director Paula Cook.
Why the costumes
This year’s RE Bar Camp fell the day before Halloween, so organizers gave the event a Halloween theme. Skoniecki said the theme fits the event’s goal of getting attendees to relax and speak freely.
“Today is all about being authentic, and people being relaxed and open-minded,” she said. “You go to a conference and it feels stuffy, and sometimes people are afraid to talk and afraid to open up.”
That openness is what the breakout format depends on, according to Skoniecki.
“We need people to be open-minded and fearless and very present and free to share their ideas without being judged,” she said. “So it’s a different take on a conference completely.”
Demand keeps it going
Skoniecki said the fast pace of change in real estate is a big reason Realtors keep returning.
“Our industry changes so much and so quickly year after year that there is always something very important and very new to learn in the real estate world,” she said. “So as long as we keep this a very uplifting event and fun, high energy event, the feedback is, ‘I can’t wait to come back next year.’ And they do come back next year.”
ECAR has more than 5,000 Realtor members, according to Skoniecki, who said the past year has been a tougher one for the industry and that Realtors are working through a lot of challenges to help buyers and sellers succeed.
“This is a very difficult business,” she said. “So this is a really great place where they can let loose and be free and open-minded.”
