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National Association of Realtors on-site reporter Traci Mitchell Austin used to begin her coverage the day before REALTORS Conference & Expo began, as the show floor was being assembled — lighting, carpets, booths, an entire village marketplace going up, plus the excitement of thousands of people rushing in when the doors opened. “But we got away from that pre-show coverage,” Austin said, “because the speakers were so phenomenal that we couldn’t get it all in.”
These days, Conference Live focuses on speakers and content more than the bells and whistles of setup. Another key change is that NAR no longer films the entire presentation of its extraordinarily popular chief economist, Lawrence Yu. Instead, Conference Live features a short interview with him after his session. “He’s a visionary, and they hang on his every word,” Lombardi said. “But we found out when we recorded his sessions, we were not getting a lot of views. It’s tough to hear 90 minutes of an economist on YouTube. Instead, we switched to a few minutes of highlights after he’s done speaking, a recap. They love that media clip.”