In a little over a week I get to play the part of an expected father, the birth of a massive baby;  Mortgage Forum 2012 officially opens on Sunday, November 25th, in the beautiful city of Vancouver. This is year two of the conference transformation or rebirth if you will.  The teeth gnashing and nail biting was far more intense last year.  I guess that’s because you’re never 100 per cent sure if and how the change will be embraced.  I received many compliments during the Forum last year but I had this nagging doubt that people were just being polite.  Therefore, attendees true feelings and thoughts would be captured by way of survey results.  I waited with baited breath to get the results, and what a satisfying exhale it was when the results came in.  The results were off the charts, and it was there in black and white, the changes were embraced.  Many the of the survey respondents commented, “How are you going to top it next year?”  All modesty aside, we’re going to do it.

I’ve been to many conferences so I think I’m a pretty good judge of determining conference dollar value.  Pound for pound, dollar for dollar or any other cliche you want to use, The Mortgage Forum is bar none the biggest bang for the buck.  Speakers like Mitch Joel, Kevin O’leary, Biz Stone, David Usher, Randi Zuckerberg,  Joe Theisman , Scott Stratten, industry panels and hosted by Amanda Lang – enough said.  The value and importance of the Forum is the reason sponsors participate.  Extraordinarily generous, and without the sponsors generosity the Forum doesn’t happen.  Ask any association and they will tell you that sponsorship dollars are harder to come by.  Times have changed, and we’ve seem more lenders exit the market than enter. That’s why I want to thank all the sponsors for supporting this event when it could have been easy to say, ” not this year.”  I also want to acknowledge the broker firms who stepped up and said we’ll do our part to support this event.  Thank you to Dominion Lending Centres, TMG, VERICO and Mortgage Alliance/Mulit-Prets.  Leadership has responsibility, and you generously accepted yours.

Mortgage Forum 2012 is going to be a great event, and if you haven’t already done so, please join us.  It’s your event, it’s your celebration.
http://www.mortgageconference.ca/

Until next time

 Cheers