By Jessica Husband
It was great to be back yesterday with REINSW’s first big event for 2023 - the 16th Women in Real Estate Conference (WIRE) which took place at The Star Entertainment Centre, Pyrmont.
The event, hosted by REIA’s Deputy President Leanne Pilkington, was enjoyed by more than 300 attendees from real estate and associated industries, enjoying a day of inspiring presentations from some amazing speakers.
This year’s event titled Where to now? aimed to inspire and help the attendees through the transitioning property market as the industry embraces a whole new outlook during 2023.
Consumers are expecting more and more of us in the post-COVID world and members of the predominantly female audience were asked by Ms Pilkington ‘What are you doing to make your customer’s life easier?’ She went on to say, “We’ve got so many things to offer customers to make their lives easier and at the same time provide some revenue back to our businesses. Really consider what might make a difference to your customers?”
" What I really loved about today’s event is it’s truly about women supporting women. There’s always a theme and a message and this year it was about being authentically ‘you’ and just giving it a go!"
- Amanda Gould, HighSpec Properties
Amanda Gould began the day with a fabulous Q&A with Amy Young from Laing + Simmons Young Property who told us about her venture The Studio – a real estate and art gallery hybrid located Avalon. Amy urged us all to ‘Dream big and go for it! And to remember that being a female in this industry is your superpower.’
Nic Fren wowed us with his social media prowess - his experience selling homes on Facebook lead him to start his company Bespoke Media in 2020, which took off when agents turned to social media marketing in order to survive the COVID lockdowns.
One great speaker after another spoke the topic of resilience and what it meant to each to each of them. Virginia Brookes (Resolver Recruitment) took us on her breast cancer journey and she reminded us to seize the day as tomorrow is not guaranteed. Carolyn Mitchell (REA Group) taught us how managing our energy is critical to our performance and to remember to refuel ourselves along the way. Samantha McLean from Elite Agent, discussed the Chat GPT revolution and used the characters from Downton Abbey to remind us that AQ is the new EQ!
"Anytime you see an Olympic athlete that is as accomplished as Jana as well as a politician with the high calibre of Julie Bishop at an event, you know that glass ceiling is truly shattering!"
– Lauryn Meredith-Rettie, Blackshaw Manuka
"I use events like this to reset. I’m taking home a whole book of notes from today’s speakers. They’re always so inspiring and today was no exception. When you lose that little bit of ‘where you’re going and what you’re doing in your career and heading into a bit of tunnel or a black hole, events like WIRE remind you ‘Where should I really be?"
- Angela Workman, Clarendon Homes
Thanks to Trina Jones from Homelessness for her powerful talk - agent attendees have since been stepping up to see how they can offer help as first responders to the housing crisis taking place around the State. Caroline Bolderston, Director of Being Bold, lead a lively panel discussion with CBRE's Su-Fern Tan, REIA's CEO Anna Neelagama, and Kristen Porter from O*NO Legal on the topic of ESG and energy efficient homes.
The event was rounded out by fantastic keynote speakers including the truly energetic Olympic Athlete Jana Pittman who encouraged the audience to ‘be like a bumble bee’ (despite their wings being way too small for their bodies they still succeed in the ability to fly); and lastly former politician the Hon Julie Bishop who, after a fascinating look into both national and International politics urged us: ‘Don’t let others define you. Set your own standards!’
Ms Pilkington remarked on the success of this year’s WIRE and the inspiration that the audience took away with them.
“Today was absolutely phenomenal. Jana Pittman and Julie Bishop were the standouts for me, they deserve the reputations that they have. They really are phenomenal women but we also had some incredible industry speakers including Sam McLean…’Chat GPT here we come’ and Nic Fren…TikTok, apparently it’s going to be a thing for real estate agents…it was one speaker after another…just an incredible day!”
Leanne left us with the reminder:
“Keep adapting, keep up with everything that’s changing around you. You can do anything you put your mind to, so just have a crack and keep going.”
"I use events like this to reset. I’m taking home a whole book of notes from today’s speakers. They’re always so inspiring and today was no exception. When you lose that little bit of ‘where you’re going and what you’re doing in your career and heading into a bit of tunnel or a black hole, events like WIRE remind you ‘Where should I really be?"
- Angela Workman, Clarendon Homes