Real Estate, Marketing, Software

On March 18, Roseanne Zaleschuk (MLS/Association Account Executive) and I were in St. Louis, MO to attend the Mid America Regional Information Systems (MARIS) Vendor Fair.  Having never been to St. Louis, we were both excited to meet Paul and Katie from MARIS, talk to their members, and get a chance to see the famous Gateway Arch!

We embarked on our journey on March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day.  Being Irish on my Mother’s side, St. Patty’s Day is always a fun day for me…although I was in the minority among my fellow travellers.  There was a suspicious lack of green and “Erin Go Bragh”‘s around us, although one fellow traveller indicated that he had grown his leprechaun-like beard for us.  Now that’s the spirit!

That night, MARIS had a meet-and-greet for the vendors in attendance, which provided a great opportunity to meet everyone else, as the tradeshow the next day was incredibly busy.  Plus, it is always interesting to meet people outside of the working environment and learn more about where they are from, their kids, and their life experiences.  We had several parents, some surfers, and some serious shoppers in our midst!

Thursday brought the Vendor Fair.  Point2 had a booth where we met with members of the Point2 community, answered questions about Syndication Dashboards and websites, learned about the local real estate markets and agents, and provided Syndication Graphic hand-outs.  A number of agents indicated that they use this graphic as part of their listing presentation with buyers and sellers to explain the advertising benefits they receive through MARIS and Point2, as well as how they are working to market their listings.  One agent even indicated that she prints off small copies of the graphic and adheres it to her business cards.  Great idea!

Besides having the booth, we also offered two education sessions throughout the day.  If you think I get excited over talking about the Syndication Dashboard in my online Education Session, you can imagine the smile on my face while doing it live!  We had a great turn-out, so thanks to everyone who attended with their questions.

Attendees were able to free-flow though the vendor booths, two presentation rooms, and enter their names in the draws for giveaways and prizes.  Our booth prize was a gorgeous Bulova watch (Roseanne has great taste), which was won by Patti.  Congratulations again!

Kudos to Paul, Katie, and everyone else at MARIS for putting together a very well-organized, informative, and fun event.  Your efforts and attention to detail were apparent & greatly appreciated by all!

After the Vendor Fair, Roseanne and I bid adieu to Katie and headed out to see St. Louis a bit.  First stop: Busch Stadium to pick up a hat for a coworker.  I’m a hockey girl, but seeing the sheer size and importance of the Stadium made me realize that maybe I should diversify my sports interests.

The Gateway Arch loomed in the distance and we were pretty excited to see it after reading about it online prior to starting the trip.  Words and pictures do not convey how large the Arch is, so if you ever get a chance to go to St. Louis, I encourage you to check it out!  Unfortunately we were there too late to go inside, but we were told it has an elevator and you can ride to the top.  Can you imagine the view?

Having read Mark Twain’s stories about Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, it was also pretty exciting to not only see the Mississippi, but also to dip my feet in it.  What can I say?  I’m lame!

We flew home on Friday, and while it was a short trip, it was a good one.  We thoroughly enjoyed going to St. Louis and meeting the employees and members of MARIS.  We’ll be back!

One Response to “On The Road Again”

1. adam says:

   July 24, 2010 at 1:42 pm

   We were glad to have you in our great city. I hope the arch did you well, and I hope that Katie took good care of you, she is always very nice.