Archive for the 'Completed Presentations' Category
I’ve been so busy reading all the new blog posts on Voices that I’ve fallen behind on our roadshow posts! It’s been great to see some new faces on the site though, and even better to see all the interesting posts coming through.
Following the presentation in Albany on 21st Oct, we hit the road and headed North towards the sunshine! We held a presentation in Warkworth on Wednesday morning, followed by Whangarei in the afternoon and a further presentation in Kerikeri on Thursday morning.
The turnout was pretty good for all three presentations, although we did have some anxious moments. In Warkworth, we stood out front waiting for people to arrive and with just a couple of minutes to go and nobody in sight, we wondered if we’d got the wrong day. So we were quite surprised when John Pryor came up behind us and asked if we were going to join everyone! It turned out there was a back entrance to the room and people were already inside waiting for us to show up.
In Whangarei, Alistair was very tempted to scrap the presentation and just watch a movie – check out the size of that screen! It was hard work, but we finally managed to convince him that is wasn’t the right thing to do and he’d better go ahead with the presentation!
If a picture tells a thousand words, it’s clear to see that Alistair was in a very bad mood the morning of our presentation in Kerikeri – only two agents were brave enough to sit in the front row! And some poor lady in the second row left in such a panic that she abandoned her handbag and her coffee!
Thanks to all those who attended, particularly those who came from further afield and congratulations to the following winners of the 2008 Swanepoel Trends Report:
Warkwork – John Pryor, Harveys
Whangarei – Lloyd Kirkham, First National
Kerikeri – Anne Rosandich, Century 21
We had a break last week following the long weekend but we’re back on the road this week. Watch out for updates from Thames, Pauanui and Tauranga coming very shortly!
November 05 2008 | Completed Presentations | No Comments »
Tuesday afternoon’s presentation in Albany, brought to an end our Auckland roadshow sessions, which also included presentations in Remuera on 1st Oct, Manukau on 8th Oct and Henderson on 9th Oct.
Anyone who has come along to the presentation will be aware of the ‘commercial break’ during Alistair’s presentation for our Spring Promotion - offering a featured listing with a Website Telly Video for only $395! Well it has to be said, that the highlight from the Auckland presentations has been the reaction to the that video!
And just in case you have not seen one of these videos on our site, just click on the photo to the left for an example.
You can see the video is made up of still images, which are the images provided by the agent when the property is listed on our site.
This is partly what makes this video option so attractive – there is no need to visit the property, thereby causing no inconvenience to the vendor and keeping the price and production time to a minimum. So, while there is no new visual information provided, the addition of motion, music, script and professional voice-over help to stir the emotion of the viewer.
In general, we have found that agents are impressed with the quality of this production and the low price (the video is usually priced at $250). However, it’s fair to say that was not the opinion shared by everyone at the Auckland presentations. One particular agent was quite clear on her view of it - “It’s bullshit”! Her reason was that this product cannot be called a video if it is made up of only the still pictures from the listing and is not a full motion recording produced following a visit to the property. She felt it was misleading vendors, by advertising it as a video when in her eyes it is not. This view was also shared by an agent at another of the Auckland presentations!
Interestingly enough, a Google search for the definition of ‘video’ produces the following results:
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video
A series of framed images put together, one after another, to simulate motion and interactivity.
avtecmedia.com/tools/web-design-glossary.htm
So we feel justified calling it a video – because that’s what it is! However, I’d be interested to hear some more opinions on this. The agents concerned felt that the production should not be called a video and that we should come up with another name. If you can think of something more suitable let us know. There could be a free featured listing in it for the person who comes up with the best suggestion!
Congratulations to the following winners of a copy of the 2008 Swanepoel Trends Report:
Remuera Lindsay Sandes, Resort Brokers
Manukau Karen Gibbs, Professionals
Henderson Ian Batey, Harveys
Albany Bruce England, Barfoot & Thompson
October 24 2008 | Completed Presentations | 4 Comments »
This week we had the pleasure of visiting the mighty Waikato region, with presentations in both Hamilton and Cambridge on Tuesday. The Hamilton presentation took place at the Waikato Stadium, which it has to said, is a pretty impressive venue. Thankfully, nobody tried to escape from the room (not that anyone has before – honest!) to run out onto the field or explore the grounds – which is a good thing as this apparently results in a hefty fine!
Our featured listing Spring Promotion was obviously well received in Hamilton, as we’ve had a great response following the presentation and bookings are filling up. It’s not surprising considering that the featured listing and video package is worth $1,045 and we’re offering it to you for only $395!! So come on Cambridge – what are you waiting for? It’s not going to get better than that!
If you are hoping to get a listing featured in the next period, from 26/10/08 - 08/11/08 then get in quick and contact us. Remember this offer is ongoing till the end of the year though, so don’t panic if you can’t get a slot this time around!
Once again, we had a prize draw at each presentation for a copy of the 2008 Swanepoel Trends Report. The lucky winners were as follows:
Sue Brooks Marion Nunns
Lugtons, Hamilton Century 21, Cambridge
So you know who to get in touch with if you’d like to read it. I’m sure they’d be more than happy to let you borrow it – if you ask nicely!
It was great to catch up with a few of our Voices bloggers in Hamilton – Kathie Shepard, Greig Metcalfe and Duncan Munro. Hopefully I haven’t missed anyone? We also had the pleasure of meeting Mandy Robinson at the Cambridge presentation. Mandy is a regular contributor to the forum, so it’s great to be able to put a face to the name now!
The roadshow continues next week with our final Auckland presentation taking place in Albany on Tuesday. That’s followed by Warkworth and Whangarei on Wednesday and Kerikeri on Thursday morning. We look forward to meeting more of you on our travels so come along! Full details here.
October 16 2008 | Completed Presentations | 3 Comments »
We had a great turnout in Christchurch last Wednesday with almost ninety people attending either the morning or afternoon session. Many thanks to Fay at the REINZ office in Christchurch for helping us to boost those numbers!
There were a few grumbles about the 8.30am start for the morning session though - you can blame Alistair for that one. It certainly wasn’t my idea! And the afternoon session may have gone on a little longer than expected but again, you can blame Alistair for that (spot the trend)! Although, I guess you should all take some of the blame for that one as you did have quite a lot of questions to ask! Anyway, he was just having so much fun he didn’t even notice the time go by, so I suppose that’s not a bad thing - is it?!! We just hope there weren’t too many school kids stranded on the streets of Christchurch wondering why their parents weren’t there to pick them up! Direct all complaints to Alistair please. If you need his details, just google him!
Congratulations to Joe Butler and Cheryl Magon who both won copies of the 2008 Trends Report by Stefan Swanepoel. We hope you enjoy the read and don’t forget to pass it on to your colleagues afterwards!
We’ve already seen a few Christchurch blogs appear since the presentations and we’re looking forward to reading all the new content that will be added over the coming months. Remember, you could score yourself a $100 petrol voucher by winning our esteemed ‘Blogger of the Month’ award – so don’t waste time! Check out our recent winners here.
October 01 2008 | Completed Presentations | 3 Comments »
Having reached Timaru early last Tuesday afternoon, we took a break to enjoy lunch in the sunshine before setting up for our next presentation. It was a beautiful day and the city was bustling. Judging by the turnout, we’re guessing that people were so busy they forgot to come along to our presentation!
As I said in my previous post, we’d been worried about the turnout for Oamaru as only seven people had registered. We usually find that a small percentage tend to get lost on their way to the presentation, so we thought we may have only had three or four in the end! As it was, we had an impressive turnout of fourteen people in Oamaru and ended up with less than that in Timara, where twenty people had registered! What happened?!!! I hope you were all out making the most of the fine weather!
Having said that, we are looking forward to seeing a few new blogs after the presentation in Timaru, as a couple of people showed a keen interest in getting started. Come on, you know who you are – we’re waiting!
As always, if you have any questions about any of the topics discussed at the presentation or you have any comments to make, please let us know.
September 30 2008 | Completed Presentations | No Comments »
Early mornings just don’t agree with me, they never have. Tuesday morning was another classic case, which only confirms that I should never rise before 9am! Myself, Alistair and Peter left Dunedin at the 7.30am to give ourselves plenty of time to get to Oamaru, set up and possibly visit the offices to drag some people along to our presentation – registrations were not looking too good!
So with plenty of time up our sleeve we stopped off for a coffee on the way at the Moeraki Boulders Cafe. After a short break we hit the road again and headed onwards. After some time Alistair’s phone rang and he turned to ask why I was calling him! Now I know I was half asleep but with my phone nowhere in sight I was pretty sure that it wasn’t me. It took about a minute to sink in what the hell was going on – I’d only gone and left the bag containing my camera, wallet and phone at the cafe!
So a quick U-turn later and we’re heading back the way we’ve come. Luckily we hadn’t got too far away, thanks to the quick thinking of Patsy at the cafe – a big thanks to you!
To be honest, we weren’t sure if anyone was going to turn up for the presentation in Oamaru but when we finally parked at the hotel there were groups of women flooding in the door. Myself and Peter thought, “here we go again, Alistair’s fan club has arrived”! Once we got inside though, we realised there was a Lovely Ladies Convention* on in the hotel at the same time!
So we got set-up and time ticked on by, but no one had turned up for the presentation with only about five minutes to go! When some more ladies appeared in our room we assumed they were passing through to the other meeting but no – this time they were there for us! By the time the presentation started we had thirteen women and not a male in sight. We were actually starting to wonder whether something had happened to the male population of Oamaru! Then Peter turned up along with our ‘Token Male’ for the day - Lyndon McLay of LJ Hooker. He didn’t seem too comfortable with the situation but we refused to let him leave so he had no choice but to grin and bear it! We hope it wasn’t too painful Lyndon!
We really enjoyed the presentation and had some good discussion with the group, particularly around the pros and cons of displaying addresses on listings. For the record, we say ‘DO IT’ but it’s clear that not everyone agrees with us!
It was also pretty clear to us that the women in Oamaru are not to be messed with. Good on you ladies – may you continue to dominate for a long time to come!
* The name of the convention may have been changed to protect the ladies’ identities 
September 25 2008 | Completed Presentations | 1 Comment »
…I wish! Week one of our roadshow came to a close last Thursday, following our presentation in Queenstown. Any day is a good day to be in Queenstown, but I have to wonder why I didn’t organise that presentation for a Friday and then stay on for the weekend. I must have been having an off day when planning that one!
Our press release last week, in regards to the Queenstown property market (see latest update on Unconditional) generated a lot of interest and comment, so we had anticipated quite a big turnout for the presentation. As it turned out, numbers were a little on the low side - leaving Southland the clear winner for the week!
Having said that, there was great participation from the group and those who stayed behind to talk to us afterwards were very positive about the site and the work we are doing on their behalf. So thank you for your support Queenstown!
This week we’re off to the REINZ AGM and conferences in Rotorua on the 18th &19th, followed by the Residential Property Management Conference on the 20th & 21st. So, if you’re there, do come to our stand and say hello to us!
Next week we’ll be back on the roadshow circuit, visiting Oamaru, Timaru and Christchurch. Click here for further details. We should also have some more dates confirmed later this week so watch this space!
September 15 2008 | Completed Presentations | No Comments »
We had planned to leave the miserable weather behind in Dunedin yesterday morning but unfortunately it wasn’t to be! The mixture of grey sky, incessant rain and intermittent static on the radio did little to encourage optimism on our journey. The mood picked up momentarily when we reached the Presidential Highway, only to hit to a new low after a few minutes, when we realised it was no different to the rest of the highway. Shouldn’t their faces be painted on the road or something? I mean at least put up a picture!
In an effort to cheer ourselves up a bit we reflected on Tuesdays’s presentation in Dunedin. That led to talk of the low turnout and we began to consider the possibility of nobody turning up, or perhaps only one or two salespeople, for the presentation in Invercargill. So that didn’t really help! Anyway, we at least managed to make it to the presentation on time ourselves, having narrowly avoided the paparazzi in Gore!
It was soon clear that we had wasted our time worrying - the Southland folk impressed us once again with a great turnout. Our thanks to all those who came along to yesterday’s presentation, particularly those who came from further afield, including Shirley Smith who traveled from Te Anau and Diane Smith from Stewart Island.
As always, if you have any questions or comments about the presentation please let us know. It’s worth highlighting an interesting question, which was raised after the presentation yesterday. The question related to Alistair’s comments in the recent edition of the REINZ magazine. Those comments were in response to concerns raised in regard to the statistics which are now available on our public site for individual listings. I’m sure there are others out there who share these concerns, so I’ll hand over to Alistair now to add his comments…
September 11 2008 | Completed Presentations | 3 Comments »
Well, we officially started our roadshow today in Dunedin. Overall, it was a positive start but it wasn’t without it’s disappointments, not least the rubbish weather that greeted us off the plane this morning! If I have to get up at 5am, the least I expect is a little sunshine at the end of my journey! But hey these things can’t be helped. I’d have to say the turnout at the presentation was a bigger let down though. Check out all those empty seats – what happened Dunedin?!!
You can’t help but feel a little panicked when nobody has turned up and there are only five minutes to go before your event is due to start! Luckily, a small group finally surfaced at the top of the stairs just before kick off and so we cancelled plan B, which was to head straight to the pub and drown our sorrows, and got the presentation underway!
Thankfully, those who did turn up were an inquisitive bunch and seemed genuinely interested in the
content of the presentation, which in our minds made up for the lack of numbers. Of course I could be totally wrong on that! This is your chance to let us know - so if you did attend today’s presentation, please leave your feedback below so that we can take it into account for future presentations!
It’s on to Invercargill tomorrow morning for an 11am presentation at the Civic Theatre, so we look forward to meeting more of you there.
Remember, realestate.co.nz is your website and we’re holding these free presentations to help support you. We appreciate your support in return.
So, our thanks to those who made the effort and came along today. We hope that you did find the session interesting and if you have any questions that you did not get to ask today, please feel free to post them below. Oh, and don’t forget to let us know if you found anything interesting when you googled yourself this evening!!
September 09 2008 | Completed Presentations | 4 Comments »
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