John Hummer's Real Estate Report

The Steinborn GMAC Convention team had a blast at last nights closing party.  The theme:  A World Apart.  We were treated to Mexican, Oriental and Parisian cultures.  A Cirque Du Soleil mini show was performed and the live band from LA was outstanding.

Compliments of Murray's photos, here are some pics from last night:

Yesterday, we were treated to two inspiring speakers.   Charlie Plumb and Christopher Gardner.   After hearing both of these speakers, one could not help but realize that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.  Here is a summary of the speakers:

Charlie Plumb:

BIO:  Captain Charlie Plumb graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis and went on to fly the F-4 Phantom jet on 74 successful combat missions over North Vietnam. On his 75th mission, with only five days before he was to return home, Plumb was shot down, captured, tortured, and imprisoned in an 8 foot x 8 foot cell. He spent the next 2,103 days as a Prisoner Of War in communist prison camps.

During his nearly six years of captivity, Charlie Plumb distinguished himself among his fellow prisoners as a professional in underground communications, and served for two of those years as the Chaplain in his camp. Since his return home, more than 4,000 audiences in nearly every industry have been spellbound as Captain Charlie Plumb draws parallels between his P.O.W. experience and the challenges of everyday life. He has shared his message to an even wider public through appearances on Good Morning America, Nightline, Larry King Live, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

My Summary:

Imagine being beaten, tortured and spending 6 years in an 8 ft. by 8 ft. prison cell.  Not a modern cell, but a cell with a dirt floor, bucket toilet and exposed to the hot / humid conditions of a Vietnamese forrest.  

Charlie stood on the stage on an illuminated 8 x 8 square symbolizing his 6 year home.  After being released, people were amazed at how mentally stable he was.  His message, "the reason I am the person I am today is the result of what I went through".  Sometimes in life, it is good to be "blown out of the air" and face challenges.  But it is important to know, as he states, that you have two choices in life.  One choice is to survive and succeed and the other choice, which we do not like to mention, is that we have the choice to fail. 

As I sat in the audience listening to Charlie Plumb, I could not help but think how fortunate I am and put a healthy perspective on how I should deal with future challenges.  Of particular note, Charlie was in the same prison camp with John McCain.  

To learn more about Charlie:  http://www.charlieplumb.com/

Christopher Gardner:

BIO:  The amazing story of Gardner's life was published as an autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, (Amistad/Harper Collins) on May 23, 2006, and became a New York Times and Washington Post #1 bestseller. Gardner is also the inspiration for the movie The Pursuit of Happyness released by Columbia Pictures on December 15, 2006. The movie was #1 at the box office its opening weekend. Will Smith stars as Gardner and received Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations for his performance. Gardner is an associate producer on the movie.

Always hard working and tenacious, a series of circumstances in the early 1980's left Gardner homeless in San Francisco and the sole guardian of his toddler son. Unwilling to give up Chris Jr. or his dream of financial independence, Gardner started at the bottom. Without connections or a college degree, he earned a spot in the Dean Witter Reynolds training program. Often spending his nights in a church shelter or the bathroom at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland, Gardner was the sole trainee offered a job at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981. He spent 1983-1987 at Bear Stearns & Co., where he became a top earner, and then in 1987, he founded the brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co. in Chicago.

My summary:   Wow! This is the word that comes to mind after hearing Chris Gardner's story.  One might think that his rags to riches business story is the most impressive attribute of Chris.  However, that is secondary to his accomplishment as a father.  Never knowing his own father, he was committed to his number one goal in life:  "I wanted my son to know who his father was and that I would never leave him", stated Chris Gardner.

He made us all remember that home is where the heart is not the material things in life.  As he stated, his son had more love living in shelters with him than some children  have today from their parents while living in multi-million dollar mansions.     On a business note, you could not help but be inspired by his work ethic and "focus" to succeed and "never giving up".   To learn more about Chris, go to: 

http://www.chrisgardnermedia.com/main/biography.htm

We are heading back to Las Cruces today.  The  next BLOG post will have some pictures from last nights closing party.  It was a blast. 

Congratulations to all of our Steinborn GMAC Award Winners (REALTORS and Company):

Premier Service Diamond Elite Sales Partners (minimum 97% customer satisfaction rating, 30% response rate, at least 10 surveys):

* Derek Graham

* Janice Gutierrez-Ehly

Premier Service Diamond Sales Partners (minimum 95% customer satisfaction, 30% response rate and 5 returned surveys):

* Jennifer Goude

* Eileen Hernandez

* Becky Mitchener

* Laura Reynolds

Top 10 (Nationwide) Total Closed Units:

* Evelyn Bruder

Top 100 (Nationwide) Total GCI:

* Evelyn Bruder

* Grady Oxford

* Kaye Miller

Top 100 (Nationwide) Total Closed Units:

* Grady Oxford

* Elsie Bonfantini

* Derek Graham

* Kaye Miller

Top 10 (Nationwide) Office Production - GCI:

* Steinborn GMAC Real Estate

Top 10 (Nationwide) Office Production - Closed Units

* Steinborn GMAC Real Estate

PHOTO GALLERY:

At tonights awards banquet, GMAC Experience 2009 location was announced.   We will be cruising Feb. 1 - 6, 2009 on the Norwegian Jewel (see link below).   Tomorrow a web site will be posted on how to reserve your cabin. Check the mygmac.com site.  From my first review of the costs, this Convention will be very cost effective.   The cabin fee covers the room, food and possibly conference registration (need to confirm this).  An inside state room will run $299 per person and a balcony stateroom will cost $525 per person.  They will have excellent speakers and professional development sessions.  Airfare is not included.  We will sail out of Miami.  More details will be forthcoming!   Looking at the ship, it has a Sushi / Saki lounge, martini lounge, cigar bar.  And of course plenty of other leisure activities. 

Link to Ship Information:  http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/fleet/shipInformation.html?shipCode=JEWEL

Hello Everyone.  Today was another day of excellent speakers and workshops.   Here is a recap with some photos follow:

The morning started out with a very powerful keynote from John Bearden, CEO of GMAC Home Services.   His theme was "Let The Future In".   He provided an excellent state of the company speech.  Of particular importance, he chose this morning to announce some very exciting, progressive and valued added tools coming to all of us in the near future.  I attended a workshop this afternoon that dove deeper into the details of these soon to be released tools.  Here is a brief overview:

There are three new initiatives:

* Market Advantage Program -  this will be rolled out to all companies and Realtors in April of this year.   This is a web based platform that provides the following services to you:  new marketing items (brochures, digital newsletters, flyers, HTML email formats and much more) that can be customized by the agent with simple clicks.  In addition this platform provides a client management system for client follow-up, email campaigns, newsletters, animated flash photo shows for listings and more.   The great news is the cost of this new program to you is:  $0.00.  Yes, zero dollars.

* Grassroots PR Program - we all know that the best advertising is word of mouth, relationship building and "grass roots" efforts.  This is a web based, online templates that can be customized for each office.  It provides auto delivery to local media outlets.  Basically, it is a means to be proactive and aggressive in sharing market news, information about our company. But more importantly, about each of our team members as they make news in our community via volunteer, professional or civic activities.  Again, the cost is:  $0.00.   Amy signed us up today at the Expo.

The next development, titled R/E Connex Mobile Workstation, will be rolled out over the next 6 months.  To set the stage and describe this new tool: How would you like to turn on your computer in the morning, log in with one code,  and see the following, web based (accessible anywhere and anytime), "desk top" format right in front of you:

* Outlook Email / Calendar

* CRM Database (customer relations database with all your clients)

* MLS Interface

* Toolkit CMA

* All RANM ZipForms (auto populating information when accessing client)

* Connex2 Leads (GMAC lead management system)

* Market Advantage Program (see above)

* Real Estate News Headlines (Inman, RSS, etc...)

* Report Generator (source of your clients, productivity, contacts, etc....)

* Your online communities (active rain, facebook, etc.....)

* And More

Basically, everything you need to conduct a professional business is featured on "one" desktop with links to  all these areas listed above.   What GMAC undertook this past year was intensive development of a one stop online platform.  They found a vendor that could "plug in" the best of the breed (e.g. TopProducer, ACT and other systems you may already be using) technologies into one platform.   It is what they call a "mash-up" of best of breed systems that will communicate seamlessly with each other.

One speaker gave this vision:  You are driving down the road, you get a text, email or voice message that you have a contact via yours/our website.  You contact the client quickly.  Their data is automatically loaded into your database.  When you get to a computer you add information from your conversation.  Customer gives description of what they are looking for and that they are not ready to move for 12 months.  So then you access your follow-up system that will send any new listings that meet their criteria automatically.  You set up a follow-up reminder / email system.   Twelve months comes, they are ready to make offer.  You pull up contracts on the system, they auto populate data from your contact management system, you email the contract and a copy is placed in the clients database automatically along  with any and all emails/correspondence that went to them through out the process. 

What GMAC stressed is that they will roll this out and beta test in key markets over the next 3 months.  Then, they will provide "training" on the tools featured on the desktop.  They will not launch this without training on the tools.  This is very smart on their part.

There is much more information to come on this.  It creates some questions on our current lead tracker system.  As for cost?  There will be a cost.  Once they roll this out, I will share with everyone.   It is their goal to demonstrate that what you may be spending today on your contact management systems and other technologies, not to mention time wasted and inefficient communications with clients, is costing you more than what this will cost annually.   Again, there is much more information to come.  Hopefully this provides you with a good summary.  I'll share more next Tuesday.  In addition, they announced a new website product for GMAC and member companies.  I will share more on this too.

Personally, it is good to see GMAC focused on investing resources on the development of the above tools.  In my opinion they are spending the money where it can best be helpful to building our business and, most importantly, serving our customers.

Next Keynote Speaker:  Jeffery Gitomer

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The New York Times best seller The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling. All of his books have been number one best sellers on Amazon.com, including Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Patterson Principles of Selling, and his latest best-selling books The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, and The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude. Jeffrey's books have sold millions of copies worldwide.

We were all inspired by Jeffrey Gitomer today.  He gave a keynote address as well as a workshop in the afternoon.   Here is some snippits from his presentation:

* Think Globally and Act Locally is a Lie!  Rather we should Think Locally and Act Personally.

* Put your brand on everything!!!

* If you will interview your top 10 loyal customers and document "their" buying motivations, their story on why they chose you, their call to action......write all this out in a testimonial, have a video testimonial if they will agree and then put on your website or other communication mediums.  If you do this, seriously do this, you will double your business. 

* What is your Google Factor?  Google yourself.  See what other see when they Google you.   Get your name on Google!  He gave some tips on this.

* He showed us picture of Peter Best.  You may not recall but Peter Best was the lead drummer for the Beatles who quit several months before they invaded America because he found a "better" job.  This decision cost him $2 Billion Dollars!  Lesson:  Don't quit too soon.  The pastures may not be greener.  Become the best "not" Peter Best.

Again, great speaker.  Great author.  Great motivator.  Gave great tips during his afternoon workshop. His website is:  www.gitomer.com

Here are some pics from today:

Grady is up bright and early making sure he gets a seat:

 As a Premier Service Award Recipient, Jennifer got to March in with a Tamboreen and all the other Premier Service Recipients:

 George and Kaye Ready to Go:

Good evening everyone!  We had a great dinner tonight at Il Mulino's of New York at the Forum Shoppes at Cesars Palace.   Fun was had by all.  In attendance tonight was:  Murray and Evelyn Bruder, Grady Oxford, Derek Graham, Sharon & Jim DeBraal, Jodi Juliana, Laura Reynolds, Joe & Donna Martin Howell, Kaye and George Miller, Brenda and Arlen Parish, Jennifer Goude, Arlene Ehly, Amy and John Hummer.

 We toasted everyone back at the office tonight! For us, tonight was Thirsty Tuesday!  Here are some pics:

PRE-DINNER DRINKS AT THE WYNN:

DINNER AT IL MULINO of NEW YORK

AFTER MY TOAST, MURRAY OFFERED UP A 4 PART (DRINK) TOAST (SORRY VIDEO COULD NOT BE UPLOADED):

Today is a full day of speakers / workshops.   Tonight is the awards banquet.   Will update you later today on all the days events.

Here is an overview of our two excellent speakers today:

1.  Michael Russer (also known as Mr. Internet) - The New Consumer: The Technology Generation

* Russer provides us with some handouts/articles that I will bring back to the office.

* "Engagement" is the key to your website.  If the consumer is not "engaged" they will leave and most likely never come back.  

* What is "hip" is not necessarily "hot" for real estate.  Don't fall for every online gimmick as it may not add any value to what you are doing.

* Russer has his doubts about the value that Facebook, Second Life (other social networks) will play in real estate.  Reason?  Consumers have more money than time.  These sites are time intensive.  Advice: choose your playing field carefully.

* Russer stated that the way to beat 98% of your competition (meaning REALTOR out-position 98% of other REALTORS) is to choose one specialty (new home buyers, elegant homes, land, ranches, investment property) and "own" it and claim it as your market.  Build your image around this and other business will follow.

* Don't chase the consumers rather attract them.  Don't shotgun out emails hoping to hit some consumers, rather target your audience and give them a "reason" to come to your site.

* The traditional sales (face to face) model is counter to dealing with the Internet Powered Consumer (IEC).  IEC's are in control and they like it that way.  IEC's want privacy.  IEC's value saving time / want rapid service.  IEC's eventually will get what they want.  IEC's will not do business with you until they trust you completely (re: being responsive, asking them what they want and how they want to be serviced), you have the expertise that they are looking for and you have their best interests at heart.

* Do not confuse the internet with technology.  If you can use a web browser and email proficiently, you have mastered the essential skills needed with technology.  

* Russer challenged us to audit our strategic direction with online capabilities.   In reviewing his list, I felt very confident that Steinborn GMAC is well positioned in terms of online access, lead generation and internal technological services.  Our soon to be upgraded website will provide even more "engagement" for the consumer and empower them even more with the search / selection process.  But with all things, we will need to stay abreast of new and innovative means to connect with our consumers.

Again, I will bring back some excellent handouts and articles from this session.

 2.  Dr. John Izzo - The Sales-Partner: The Engagement of a Generation

 I really found this talk to be the best for me personally.   Dr. Izzo focused on the importance of leadership during times of change and provided excellent examples of companies who bleed with "passion".  

He gave many examples of excellent companies but one stood out:

1.  Umpqua Bank:   Izzo's friend is the CEO of this bank.  When he came to the small bank it had 140 million in assets.  Today, 12 years after his arrival, it has over 7 billion.  Passion and attitude  is what grew this company.  To read more about this unique player in the banking industry, click here:

http://www.bai.org/bankingstrategies/2006-nov-dec/UmpquaSustains/

Izzo also provides us with an excellent and detailed journey into the psychology and makeup of Generation X and Y generations.   His take away, in summary, is that even though we sometimes have difficulty understanding this generation, it is important as REALTORS, servicing this generation to "accept" their values.  He reminded us of a famous quote as follows (paraphrased):

"The youth in our society do not respect authority......they are not hard workers......for this I am deeply concerned" 

Guess who stated this?  Socrates of ancient Greece stated this.  This highlighted the fact that every generation looks at the upcoming generation differently and not as hard working or focused as our own generation.    The message he provides us is that Generation X and Y have differing values....not all bad, just different.

We also received a handout addressing how to "connect" better with this Generation X and Y via our websites and other outreach techniques.   I will bring this back too.

Tonight is our group dinner.   I may try to take some video clips of "Murray Live from Vegas" and include in tomorrows blog! 

Good morning everyone!  I gambled a bit last night.   How did I do?  Let's just say I cannot retire.   Today's leadership forum features two speakers:

1.  Michael Russer - The New Consumer: The Technology Generation

Russer will focus on specifics within a variety of trends that impact the consumer. The Young, Daring and Smart, asserts that Internet-savvy Echo Boomers (Generation Y) will change the industry by demanding a higher level of service and technology capability.

 2.  Dr. John Izzo - The Sales-Partner: The Engagement of a Generation

Dr. Izzo will discuss how your company can become THE destination for the required new breed of real estate professionals. His presentation will include:

• Approaching, recruiting and appealing to the Echo Boomer professional
• Developing the new generation of real estate professionals - capitalizing on their strengths and overcoming their weaknesses
• Opening and shutting the Swinging Door
• Keeping great performers engaged
• Promoting activities that keep Sales-Partners ahead of the competition

Following the presentations, there will be interactive workshops to focus on strategies in more detail.

Stay tuned, I will report back later today.  Looking forward to seeing the Steinborn GMAC team later today.  Tonight is our group dinner at Il Mulino's.  I'll blog on that too.

 John

 NOTE:  I'M BREAKING HERE.  IT IS 5:30 and TIME FOR COCKTAIL RECEPTION..... I'll FINISH THE POST on Don Peppers LATER TONIGHT "OR" IN THE MORNING......

OK I'm Back......

Speaker Three:  Don Peppers - Thriving Amidst Change, "Paradigm Power" and "The Hangover"

Don Peppers had a unique approach to creating value for our business.  His theme was tied to these main themes:

1) Only Customers Create Value for Us

2) It is all about creating Trust with our customers.

If we do not have customers, we have no business.  How we treat customers today affects their long term value to us in the future.

Why do customers choose us (you)"

* Trust

* Confidence in us (you)

* Strength of our (your) relationship with them

His overriding theme was "creating" trust with the customers.  Focus on building and maintaining a reputation for trustworthiness!

No matter how good we are, we will never be perfect (after all we are human), we should constantly strive to improve......note: he commended our company efforts to survey and seek feedback via our Premier Service survey process........there are very few Realtors and Company's doing this on a disciplined and consistent basis.

End of Day One.  Stay Tuned for Tuesday Blog.

John

Day One (Monday) Continued......

Just returned from our three speakers.  I will provide a brief overview of their presentations and touch on a few of their points that were of note. 

Speaker One:  John Bearden , CEO of GMAC Real Estate

John Bearden opened up the leadership forum with a personal talk about the importance of leadership during this unprecedented time of change.  He challenged us to not wish away the current climate in our national industry but rather confront the brutal realities that are facing our industry and make smart strategic decisions.

His theme was "Change creates uncertainty and knowledge crafts the opportunities."

His message to the principals focused on our attitudes, courage and overall ability to communicate to our teams.

All in all it was a very good kick-off message and set us in a good frame of mind.  He then introduced Stefan Swanepoel.

Speaker Two:  Stefan Swanepoel - Top 10 Trends for 2008

Stefan, with his British accent and excellent sense of humor, kept our attention for 75 straight minutes of his Top 10 trends for 2008.  We were the first real estate group to receive his 2008 Trends presentation as it was just printed several weeks prior to the meeting (p.s. I purchased a copy for the office and will bring back with me).   I will list his top 10 trends and provide a few take away stats.  A lot of this information you may already know.  But with any motivational speaker, it is always good to be reminded.  Here is his top 10 trends for 2008:

10.  Shattered Glass - Women, the Youth and Minorities Step Up to Leadership Roles 

* Women have always constituted a large number of REALTORS but now, more than ever, women are taking leadership positions in real estate companies.

* Women are the largest single economy (52% of population, purchase 85% of products, purchase 67% of healthcare, open 89% of bank accounts).  Focus marketing efforts on women.

*  By 2050, minorities will be 1/2 of the population.  Of particular focus - Hispanics.  As of July 06, there were 44.3 million Hispanics, will increase 70% by 2020. Estimated to be 100 million by 2050.   Focus on recruiting more diverse Realtor base.  Focus on creative outreach.

* Youth.  One click away.  Do not ignore the virtual world (myspace, facebook, etc....). It is a reality and growing. 

9.  Thought Reform - The DNA of a New Breed of Real Estate "Professional"

* He reminded us that in a recent Harris Poll, REALTORS were the lowest trusted Professional.  Why?  Well, one example is that it takes 1,200 credit hours to become a barber in California versus 120 hours to become a REALTOR.  What is more complex and creates more liability?  We created this image and we must be part of changing it.

* Do not focus on designations but rather the "knowledge" that comes with the designation.  If a course does not qualify for CE but is a "quality" course, take it! 

* Acquire business skills if you do not possess, become Internet confident, understand that this business is and adult education industry and must be self help oriented.   These were some tips he gave.

* He challenged us to implement more learning at our offices.  Note:  I felt good about our Advantage Training, Success Series, CRS onsite, and REI.  Not to say we can always do more.  The offices who do this will become part of changing the quality and trustworthiness of REALTORS.

8. Clash of The Titans

Basically, the message is that the large Real Estate Companies (12 he mentioned, of which GMAC is one of the top 6) are all poised to do well in light of online companies such as Zillow, Trulia, RedFin, etc.....

7. The Tug of War Has Started Again - The Evolving and Changing Real Estate Business Model

Stefan commented that there are 10 to 20 new Real Estate business models (online , offline) created every 30 days.   His message is "do not worry about these new models".  Watch them, learn from them, but there is no evidence that the Trulia's, Zillow's, RedFins, are going to replace the traditional agent who is in the community interacting face to face with customers.  What is most important is that your model fit your local community. 

6.  Gone in 60 Seconds - Identity Theft

He provided some sobering statistics about how real ID theft has become and the need for each of us (companies and individual realtors) to make sure our data is secure.  If TJ Max records were heisted, don't you think your (Steinborn GMAC) customer data could be taken?   Message:  Don't horde files.  Destroy files that are no longer legally needed.  Secure your data!  The more prominent you are in your market, the more attractive your data will be for an ID thief.

5. In Search of Productivity - Growing Market Share on a Slippery Slope

* At best, there are 700,000 too many realtors nationwide.

* In a recent MLS database of 10,000 transactions, approximately 50% of the realtors had "zero" transactions.

* Stefan stated, Are your non-performing REALTORS focused on building their business?   It is up to them to make it happen.  There are buyers out there.  Are these REALTORS actively working the buyer market, working their sphere of influence "daily".   Your agents must "maximize" the technology made available to them, have a business plan. 

4. Four Weddings and a Funeral - Changing Borders and Boundaries of MLS

Provided an update on the current consolidation and changes in MLS.  Dept. of Justice issues and consolidation examples.  Will bring more info back with me.

3. The New Digital Currency - Livestock, Land, Gold, Oil and Now Information

* Advertising for Real Estate Companies / Realtors Nationally is as follows:  35% Newspaper, 33% Internet (note: this will surpass print media next year), 12% Yellow Pages, 7.7% TV (tv is a waste), 7% Radio (radio is a waste).

* He has some great graphics that speak to the information explosion and trends.  He provided a Listing Promotion Pyramid.  I will bring all this back with me.

2.  Pop Goes the Weasel - The Housing Bubble Tightens It's Grip:

* "When the tide goes out, you find out who has been swimming naked" - Warren Buffet.   This sums up the subprime and foreclosure mess.

* Brush up on short sale and REO knowledge.  There is a market here.

1.  Two Worlds; One Industry - The Evolution of Online Communities and Networks

* Browsing, Searching and Sharing.  Sharing is the future.  Online communities are here and growing.

* Online communities are almost parallel universes existing next to reality

* 5% of "all web traffic" goes to 20 social network locations (re: myspace, facebook,).

* It took Top Producer 10 years to get 70,000 users.  It took ActiveRain 48 months to get 70K members.

* If you do not understand the virtual communities, you need to start today learning and understanding how to connect and operate in this world.

* Some of us will adapt, while others will just watch the events unfold on YouTube.

 NOTE:  I'M BREAKING HERE.  IT IS 5:30 and TIME FOR COCKTAIL RECEPTION..... I'll FINISH THE POST on Don Peppers LATER TONIGHT "OR" IN THE MORNING......

Speaker Three:  Don Peppers - Thriving Amidst Change, "Pardigm Power" and "The Hangover"

Greetings to everyone at Steinborn GMAC Real Estate.   Given that not everyone will be able to attend Experience 2008, I decided to create a daily blog to fill you in on all the speakers, events and other happenings.  I will also include some pictures throughout the week.   I hope you enjoy.  So, here we go:

 Day One (Monday):

My lucky day.  I arrived at the The Wynn Hotel at 7:30 AM this morning and was happy to find out that they had a room for me immediately versus waiting for the proverbial 3 PM check in time.  Monday and Tuesday is the Leadership Forum for company principles.   The rest of the gang is coming Tuesday afternoon.

Today, we have two keynote speakers.  The first is Stefan Swanepoel, a futurist, who will comment on 10 current trends in the industry.   Following Stefan, will be Don Peppers, who will comment on the trends presented by Stefan and then provide strategies amidst the change happening in our industry.   I will report back on each of the speakers and share some of the highlights later today.  Stay tuned!