Create buzz and develop your relationships
EXPO REAL: What I heard from some leaders
35,000 attendees just left Munich after a three-day show. "The gloom of EXPO 08 has been replaced with unbowed stoicisim" commented CNBC Mark Faithful. Leaders were busy preparing for the future with a fresh set of eyes. When I caught up with Greg Cooke, UK Chairman of BNP Paribas Real Estate, he felt that London prices over-corrected a year ago and that investors were now taking advantage of that (which may lead to UK brokers hiring again in Q1).
Others said they would not rely on global economists who did not see the train coming at the end of the tunnel! When I asked Eurohypo Chairman Dr. Frank Porscke what he would do different, he candidly answered that this was the last time he believed anything that he did not understand.
Here are some of my personal favorites (in addition to conversations with CREOpoint members like Marc Lhermitte E&Y Partner, Jeff Finn CEO NAI Global, Rudjer Nooij who runs Prime Pitch and David Doyle from Property Week):
- We remain alert to opportunities triggered by the economic climate - CEO Unibail-Rodamco Guillaume Poitrinal
- We want to buy risk – CEO Allianz RE Olivier Piani
- The stimulus is like giving a patient a high dose of medicine. At some point you have to stop or he’ll die - Aberdeens head of Investment Strategy Alessandro Bronda
- Nobody knows where things will end. I don’t see the European market recovering before 2011 or 2012 - CEO ING Finance Hein Brand
- Time to stop “green-wash and geek-speak” - Sir Stuart Lipton, ULI Trustee
- A large part of FDI in Europe comes from North America (31%) and Asia (12%) - E&Y Partner Dr. Jan Siemons
- German funds/Asian developers are getting ready for a US investment push in Q1 - Steve Collins, JLL MD
- There is a decline in participants, particularly from the US, the Middle East and Russia because of the limit on travel expenses - Eugen Egetenmeir, Deputy Manager of Munich Trade Fairs (who encouraged people to start arranging hotels and flights to Munich for October 4-6 October 2010)
Andreas Quint, CEO of JLL Germany commented that the exchange of views with other members of the industry has become vital. I found new association leaders more open to new ways of doing things: ULI Chairman Jeremy Newsum recently insisted on the importance of more sharing in the industry. The new Presidents of RICS and NAREIM Max Croft and Steve Renna told me they were respectively interested in communicating widely through blogs and other approaches leveraging new technology.
Expo Real representatives (whom I thank for their hospitality) and others were curious about why we were immediately sharing key take-aways on Twitter. Thousands of CREOpoint members and other professionals who could not make the show benefited from the exposure. Commenting about CREOpoint in a recent article (see below), Mark Kingston, CEO of ARGUS Software remarked that the speed of new CRE information has increased beyond what traditional in-person communication can deliver and that professionals want real-time intelligence and quality networking.
Do you also agree that tools like CREOpoint are an increasingly important complement to large CRE events?
Best, JC Goldenstein, CREOpoint Founder
© Copyright CREOpoint 2009. All rights reserved. You are free to forward, adapt and distribute as long as you give attribution to CREOpoint.com
Fad or Future? Online Networking for Commercial Real Estate
By: Jennifer Brenner, Editor, ARGUS Software’s Global Viewpoints Newsletter
If you went to ICSC in 2009 or MIPIM or any of the other various trade conferences, you will have noticed that the crowd was significantly lighter. Attendance for all of the numerous events within commercial real estate have suffered this year with slashed travel budgets, rolling waves of lay offs and the general state of the industry, which if you haven’t been tuning in, is in a deep state of darkness. The conundrum of course is that now more than ever, people need to network.
As one wise business development guy put it, “We have successfully been fishing off the same pier for years, and now the fish are gone and we need to find a new pier.” The current hunger within the industry for new partnerships, deals and business makes the biz dev activities of the past seem like amusements, novelties that were additive more than substantive. While these days obtaining new business is like finding an oasis in the desert.
Enter online professional networking.
Companies that use these applications say they've seen clear benefits, according to a McKinsey three-year survey of 1,700 executives. The September 2009 McKinsey Quarterly states: “69% of those surveyed said their use of social networks had increased innovation, improved their marketing plans and given them access to new information. The survey found that companies that made the most use of social technologies tended to see the largest benefits… it is clear that this expertise is becoming a required skill for all enterprises.”
A survey published in Real Estate Forum in August 2009 indicates that of the 85% of the CRE professionals who use online networking sites, 41% say it has helped them make new industry connections or generate or augment their business. This idea of networking online has occurred to more than the commercial real estate crowd. In the past year, LinkedIn has attracted 42 million global members, up from 18 million in 2008 as more people search for jobs and broader networks. [Interesting side note: LinkedIn has secured more than $100 million in funding from some pretty highbrow investors at a $1B valuation.]
The great thing is that it is novel and new and cheap and widely available, of course then, that’s also a bad thing as we all lose patience with scams and get tired of endless notices about “triple-net leased properties available in [insert any tertiary city here].” Tony Graziano Jr., an executive with Integra Realty Resources headquarted in New York, remarks: “A vast majority of the people on LinkedIn NEED to meet someone. They are there to network for business, but their existing networks may not be particularly deep (that's why they're there).”
The burning question, then, is what is the real place of social networking in business and in commercial real estate? And maybe it would just be smart to skip ahead to that place.
Shooting ahead of the duck, as they say, the next important and most productive use of networking will be in the exclusive online “clubs” that are already starting to form. Outside of the gargantuan social networks, smaller, focused industry networks are also gaining momentum.
CREOpoint.com is CRE’s growing incantation of this. According its own admonition, CREOpoint is focused on making the time investment for its users productive by avoiding the clutter and noise of larger sites. This unique global community is the inspiration of JC Goldenstein, the former head of NAI Global Solutions and founder of Ernst & Young’s International Real Estate Consulting Practice. It is an invitation-only free site that aims to provide quality members with a meeting point to see what’s on their peers’ minds, identify experts in specialty fields and unfamiliar markets, and initiate new contacts and deals. Contrary to LinkedIn, discussion threads are searchable so it’s easy to discover research and best practices.
CREOpoint also offers the largest library of CRE videos on the web and a very relevant Twitter feed with breaking industry news. The average user clocks over six minutes on the site during each session, an unusually long time in the online world and membership is steadily growing mainly through word of mouth. For example Steve Felix, Head of Real Estate Client Relations for Aviva Investors which has $30Bn in real estate assets under management globally including $5.1Bn in real estate multi-manager mandates comments: “CREOpoint is something that is very close to us; it's our industry and it's up to us to support it. We are living in unprecedented times and it requires unprecedented action in support for those things and people we believe in. The industry professionals who are members of CREOPoint are, by nature, networkers. This is the new water cooler where industry networkers congregate.”
As with all new technology, once the buzz has died down and the dust is settled, it will be the networks and groups that simplify and enhance the working environment of the average Joe, Yoichi or Dietmar real estate executive that will endure. No one needs another advertising platform, however, we will accept advertising as a positive side dish when the main course makes us more successful or more wise or preferably both.
Smart online professional networking can today in various forms serve as a way to differentiate oneself, a way to stand out from the crowd, a way to say, “we are so much more than a logo or a six figure booth at a tradeshow, we are a meaningful conversation that keeps going and strengthens relationships.” Mark Kingston, CEO of ARGUS Software remarks: “The speed of thought and dialogue has increased well beyond what traditional in-person communication vehicles can deliver. CRE professionals want quality networking and valuable real-time intelligence.”
The near future vision is that one will use networks like CREOpoint to find quality people to meet with at events like ICSC and engage in conversations online before meeting up in Vegas or to continue the conversation after Vegas. And maybe then what happens in Vegas will not stay in Vegas…
Others said they would not rely on global economists who did not see the train coming at the end of the tunnel! When I asked Eurohypo Chairman Dr. Frank Porscke what he would do different, he candidly answered that this was the last time he believed anything that he did not understand.
Here are some of my personal favorites (in addition to conversations with CREOpoint members like Marc Lhermitte E&Y Partner, Jeff Finn CEO NAI Global, Rudjer Nooij who runs Prime Pitch and David Doyle from Property Week):
- We remain alert to opportunities triggered by the economic climate - CEO Unibail-Rodamco Guillaume Poitrinal
- We want to buy risk – CEO Allianz RE Olivier Piani
- The stimulus is like giving a patient a high dose of medicine. At some point you have to stop or he’ll die - Aberdeens head of Investment Strategy Alessandro Bronda
- Nobody knows where things will end. I don’t see the European market recovering before 2011 or 2012 - CEO ING Finance Hein Brand
- Time to stop “green-wash and geek-speak” - Sir Stuart Lipton, ULI Trustee
- A large part of FDI in Europe comes from North America (31%) and Asia (12%) - E&Y Partner Dr. Jan Siemons
- German funds/Asian developers are getting ready for a US investment push in Q1 - Steve Collins, JLL MD
- There is a decline in participants, particularly from the US, the Middle East and Russia because of the limit on travel expenses - Eugen Egetenmeir, Deputy Manager of Munich Trade Fairs (who encouraged people to start arranging hotels and flights to Munich for October 4-6 October 2010)
Andreas Quint, CEO of JLL Germany commented that the exchange of views with other members of the industry has become vital. I found new association leaders more open to new ways of doing things: ULI Chairman Jeremy Newsum recently insisted on the importance of more sharing in the industry. The new Presidents of RICS and NAREIM Max Croft and Steve Renna told me they were respectively interested in communicating widely through blogs and other approaches leveraging new technology.
Expo Real representatives (whom I thank for their hospitality) and others were curious about why we were immediately sharing key take-aways on Twitter. Thousands of CREOpoint members and other professionals who could not make the show benefited from the exposure. Commenting about CREOpoint in a recent article (see below), Mark Kingston, CEO of ARGUS Software remarked that the speed of new CRE information has increased beyond what traditional in-person communication can deliver and that professionals want real-time intelligence and quality networking.
Do you also agree that tools like CREOpoint are an increasingly important complement to large CRE events?
Best, JC Goldenstein, CREOpoint Founder
© Copyright CREOpoint 2009. All rights reserved. You are free to forward, adapt and distribute as long as you give attribution to CREOpoint.com
Fad or Future? Online Networking for Commercial Real Estate
By: Jennifer Brenner, Editor, ARGUS Software’s Global Viewpoints Newsletter
If you went to ICSC in 2009 or MIPIM or any of the other various trade conferences, you will have noticed that the crowd was significantly lighter. Attendance for all of the numerous events within commercial real estate have suffered this year with slashed travel budgets, rolling waves of lay offs and the general state of the industry, which if you haven’t been tuning in, is in a deep state of darkness. The conundrum of course is that now more than ever, people need to network.
As one wise business development guy put it, “We have successfully been fishing off the same pier for years, and now the fish are gone and we need to find a new pier.” The current hunger within the industry for new partnerships, deals and business makes the biz dev activities of the past seem like amusements, novelties that were additive more than substantive. While these days obtaining new business is like finding an oasis in the desert.
Enter online professional networking.
Companies that use these applications say they've seen clear benefits, according to a McKinsey three-year survey of 1,700 executives. The September 2009 McKinsey Quarterly states: “69% of those surveyed said their use of social networks had increased innovation, improved their marketing plans and given them access to new information. The survey found that companies that made the most use of social technologies tended to see the largest benefits… it is clear that this expertise is becoming a required skill for all enterprises.”
A survey published in Real Estate Forum in August 2009 indicates that of the 85% of the CRE professionals who use online networking sites, 41% say it has helped them make new industry connections or generate or augment their business. This idea of networking online has occurred to more than the commercial real estate crowd. In the past year, LinkedIn has attracted 42 million global members, up from 18 million in 2008 as more people search for jobs and broader networks. [Interesting side note: LinkedIn has secured more than $100 million in funding from some pretty highbrow investors at a $1B valuation.]
The great thing is that it is novel and new and cheap and widely available, of course then, that’s also a bad thing as we all lose patience with scams and get tired of endless notices about “triple-net leased properties available in [insert any tertiary city here].” Tony Graziano Jr., an executive with Integra Realty Resources headquarted in New York, remarks: “A vast majority of the people on LinkedIn NEED to meet someone. They are there to network for business, but their existing networks may not be particularly deep (that's why they're there).”
The burning question, then, is what is the real place of social networking in business and in commercial real estate? And maybe it would just be smart to skip ahead to that place.
Shooting ahead of the duck, as they say, the next important and most productive use of networking will be in the exclusive online “clubs” that are already starting to form. Outside of the gargantuan social networks, smaller, focused industry networks are also gaining momentum.
CREOpoint.com is CRE’s growing incantation of this. According its own admonition, CREOpoint is focused on making the time investment for its users productive by avoiding the clutter and noise of larger sites. This unique global community is the inspiration of JC Goldenstein, the former head of NAI Global Solutions and founder of Ernst & Young’s International Real Estate Consulting Practice. It is an invitation-only free site that aims to provide quality members with a meeting point to see what’s on their peers’ minds, identify experts in specialty fields and unfamiliar markets, and initiate new contacts and deals. Contrary to LinkedIn, discussion threads are searchable so it’s easy to discover research and best practices.
CREOpoint also offers the largest library of CRE videos on the web and a very relevant Twitter feed with breaking industry news. The average user clocks over six minutes on the site during each session, an unusually long time in the online world and membership is steadily growing mainly through word of mouth. For example Steve Felix, Head of Real Estate Client Relations for Aviva Investors which has $30Bn in real estate assets under management globally including $5.1Bn in real estate multi-manager mandates comments: “CREOpoint is something that is very close to us; it's our industry and it's up to us to support it. We are living in unprecedented times and it requires unprecedented action in support for those things and people we believe in. The industry professionals who are members of CREOPoint are, by nature, networkers. This is the new water cooler where industry networkers congregate.”
As with all new technology, once the buzz has died down and the dust is settled, it will be the networks and groups that simplify and enhance the working environment of the average Joe, Yoichi or Dietmar real estate executive that will endure. No one needs another advertising platform, however, we will accept advertising as a positive side dish when the main course makes us more successful or more wise or preferably both.
Smart online professional networking can today in various forms serve as a way to differentiate oneself, a way to stand out from the crowd, a way to say, “we are so much more than a logo or a six figure booth at a tradeshow, we are a meaningful conversation that keeps going and strengthens relationships.” Mark Kingston, CEO of ARGUS Software remarks: “The speed of thought and dialogue has increased well beyond what traditional in-person communication vehicles can deliver. CRE professionals want quality networking and valuable real-time intelligence.”
The near future vision is that one will use networks like CREOpoint to find quality people to meet with at events like ICSC and engage in conversations online before meeting up in Vegas or to continue the conversation after Vegas. And maybe then what happens in Vegas will not stay in Vegas…
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