RE/MAX EVOLVE on 19th May was the real estate network’s first Australia and New Zealand-wide event to be hosted via a purpose-built virtual platform.
“This wasn’t just a standard Zoom call,” said Michael Davoren, Managing Director of RE/MAX Australia. “The event was held on a purpose-built virtual event platform which made the experience unique and highly engaging for attendees.”
More than 350 RE/MAX members from across Australia and New Zealand participated in the event, oscillating between presentation mode with key speakers and networking mode where they could move freely from table to table and engage in face-to-face table and private chats.
“The ‘new normal’ gave us a star-studded speaker line-up we’d not otherwise have had access to,” Mr Davoren said.
“We had our global head, Adam Contos, with us ahead of a three-day Inman Connect event where audiences of many thousands are expected. We had the internationally renowned Josh Phegan; leading real estate commentator and market analyst guru, Tim Lawless; the highly acclaimed Marcus Chiminello; and the exceptionally insightful Michael Furlong.
“General consensus is that this was one of the best, if not the best, speaker line-up we’ve offered our networks. The opportunity came out of a global crisis, and the ability to adapt.”
Mr Davoren said the event signified the adaptations and the strengthened connections that were occurring through the COVID-19 crisis, and the two countries’ thriving networks emerging from the unimaginable.
“The pandemic gave us opportunities, just as our mission statement says… ‘to create and facilitate the experience of unlimited opportunities’ and we now must continue to adapt and adopt the new.
“To go back to the ‘old normal’, which I’m seeing some in the industry already doing, would be a big mistake.
“In my years of experience, there have been five or six major events, including this one, and every time, there have been agents left behind by going back to old ways. Agents must step up and use what they have learned in the past two months; and the things we take forward will be our points of difference … in the way we meet more diversified customer needs.”
RE/MAX New Zealand CEO, Don Ha, agrees saying, “ This is a time for agents to do things that nobody else does, to be available as a positive force at a time when consumers need them more than ever, and to take their local market to the country and the world through smart technology.
“The way we’ve adapted to do business over the past couple of months will further increase our opportunities into international markets, and we are in an enviable position with a global network to tap in to. The ‘new normal’ is an exciting real estate landscape for us and our customers.”
“There is nothing virtual about the real estate landscape we are in,” said Mr Davoren. “This is real, but we are adapting to accommodate both face-to-face and virtual in our business and in events.
“All 2020 events are being governed by restrictions on people’s movements and the size of gatherings … just as these things are affecting the way we conduct business in the real estate industry.”
He suggested more of RE/MAX Australian and New Zealand members were likely to experience the phenomenon of the global RE/MAX R4 held Las Vegas each February by doing so remotely in 2021.
Both RE/MAX leaders say they are proud of the way the Australian and New Zealand networks have conducted themselves through restrictions.
“We thank all RE/MAX members for heeding advice and following our guidelines in doing business in what’s been tough times,” said Mr Davoren, “and while I believe it will be the second half of the year before we see our business income pick up, this second quarter of 2020 is where it all begins.
“Consumer sentiment is rising, and good agents are responding – and the result will be more stock on the market, better property marketing and ultimately a return to a dynamic real estate market.”
Media contact:
Lyn Cox, Public Relations – M. +61 418 793 096, E. lcox@remax.com.au
About RE/MAX: From a single office that opened in 1973 in Denver, Colorado, RE/MAX has grown into a global real estate network with more than 130,000 sales associates in more than 110 countries and territories. Its entrepreneurial culture affords its agents and franchisees the flexibility to operate their businesses with great independence.