Rudy, the Trulia Guru (yeah, it actually says Guru on his business card - that is too cool) was such a doll at RETech South that he shot some great candid video of speakers and hosts behind the scenes.

Check out the blog post and video over at the Trulia Blog. It's a great little behind the scenes look at the conference and what the speakers are really like. Enjoy.

However, I need to tell you this post is a total bribe. Rudy did send me this video of Jimmy Kimmel !$*@-ing Ben Affleck to complment my Matt Damon Sarah Silverman video.

For those of you that were not at RETech South in Atlanta, GA, you missed out. Almost unbelievably Brad Nix and Matt Fagioli put together a full technology conference covering blogging, SEO, social networking, widgets, video and IDX services in less than a month. The event was hosted by blogger and Domus Consulting Co-Founder, Kevin Boer who did a stellar job of keeping the conference entertaining with his unparalelled wit. RSS Pieces was lucky enough to have sponsored a portion of this kick-off event. I had a total blast sitting on the SEO panel discussing the downsides of recprocal links, 3 way links and blogroll. We also touched on how Realtors need to attract consumer traffic instead of Realtor traffic and how to safely build authority with Google through backlinks.

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OK, I never do this, because I think it is L-A-M-E, but I am going to pass out link love to my dear friends in the industry that made RETech South a total blast:

Dustin Luther for livin' the Malibu lifestyle and hanging with celebrities and having the kind of stories you can tell on Letterman. And yes, he is way too cool for all of us.

Kevin Tomlinson for always stirring up trouble wherever he can with his mini diet cokes, popcorn and totally devious sense of humor.  And yes, I am just using him for an intro to Ann Coulter.

Rudy (no last name necesary) for catching my ode to Sarah Silverman and Matt Damon on camera and being such a trooper even though he lost his voice

Mike Simonson for having the personality of a rockstar and keeping me entertained.  He is one cool cat!

Pat Kitano for always being such a cool and sharing visionary in the industry and taking time to sit down and chat

Jonathan Washburn for keeping the rest of the motley crew just slightly grounded.  Congrats to the whole ActiveRain crew for their successes!

AND A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO TOM OF THE REAL ESTATE BLOGGERS FOR SAVING RUDY AND I FROM M.A.R.T.A. AND TAKING US TO THE AIRPORT!

The Sarah Silverman Video for those of you that missed it:

From everyone here to everyone out there, may you have a wonderful Easter.

May the Lord Bless you,

The RSS Pieces Lake Park Team: Tom, Paul, John, Mary, Brian, Big Jeremy, Wayne, Andrea, Nicole, Dee, Brandon, Noah, Pedro, Little Jeremy and Angel.

 

Whether you love Greg Swann or you love to hate Greg Swann, one thing is clear... he engages people.  He knows something most people don't.  Humans are emotional junkies and the more outrageous you are the more people will flock to you.  Why? Because engaging is sometimes enraging!  People love to be happy, mad, sad.  It is one of the first things you learn when studying sociology.  Don't believe me?  Just look at how many people subscribe and read his blog daily.  Look at how many people kill themselves to write on Greg's blog so they can experience just a sliver of his popularity fallout. 

So, what did I do to stir up some Greg Swann fallout?  With my coveted invite to Unchained (I'm not stupid, I never would have done this if I didn't have that yet and yes, this blog is a shameless plug for the event), I thought I would do what I do my best, stir up a little controversy.  And where better to do that but on Real Estate Radio?  So, with the Barrys in tow and my Unchained invite in hand, I said the most outrageous thing I could think of about the most contentious celebrity of the real estate blogosphere.  I said, "Greg is my favorite fremeny, he is the Nicole Richie to my Paris Hilton." Then to add more fuel to the fire, I called out my compadre in crime, Brian Brady by disagreeing with him about who really needs a blog!  Why on earth would I do this to these two respected guys? Because it drives traffic back to me.  It gets me read, it gets me subscribed and moreover, it gets me trust. People trust people who are not afraid to speak their minds and say unpopular things. 

"I consider myself the Ann Coulter of the real estate blogosphere - outrageous and thick skinned.  Are you an Ann Coulter or a Princess Diana?"

You are not a dog, you don't need pats on the back or behind to keep your tail waggling.  You need traffic and leads.  This is a lesson many a Realtor or real estate tech pundit needs to get their head around.  You can't always be loved.  To be popular and I mean wildly popular you have to have a few dissenters.  Hold fast to your opinion even if people disagree with you.  I'm sure you all remember my first rails against blogrolls and single property websites. (and YES NikNik, I have changed my mind on SPS')

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Want to hear me call Greg Nicole Richie and possibly tell him I was bringing a leash to Unchained?

 Mary McKnight from RssPieces.com [44:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

And Greg, you know I am just pulling your chain, right? 

For anyone who wants to know more about the Unchained event, get all the info here:

From my keyboard to your ears: You are not anyone if you are not at Unchained.  Get your ticket now because I'm pretty confident this event won't be an industry circle jerk.  It will be the real deal.  Technology presented by people that speak their minds, know their stuff and give you solid knowledge on how to improve your business with it.  Real Estate Radio and BrokerIPTV will also be there to make this a total multi media event.

Social Media Marketing Conference
for real estate professionals
May 18-20, 2008, Phoenix, AZ
Click here to learn more