Connect Magazine September/October 2018 | Page 9

If you read the article in our last issue about the annual Florida Realtors® Convention & Expo event – yes, folks, it was magical! This year’s theme was Making Magic, and the Convention’s events did not disappoint! From the Opening Session’s Magicians & Illusionists to the Major Investor’s night out to watch The Blue Man Group delight & entertain us with our private, Realtor®-only performance at Universal Studios – magical was, indeed, the right word to use! In between those two events, our awesome Convention Committee welcomed 1,300 members to just the Expo event! Close to 1,000 of our fellow professionals chose to attend the full conference, which also included the days of Governance meetings, and over 900 attended just the classes & expo events. That’s an awful lot of beautiful, intelligent, like-minded folks filling up the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel & Convention center from all over our state – and beyond! by Florida Realtors® for members in their time of need. Sunday’s Directors meeting found our state level leaders voting on many important issues, including electing a new 2019 Secretary - congrats to Mike McGraw of the Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association - and voting on several bylaw and policy matters. I am confident those involved voted with their hearts and brains in their quest to serve each one of our members effectively! While I had an enjoyable week visiting with my state friends, attending my own committee meetings, and filling my brain with great knowledge, it was fantastic to fall asleep in my own bed at the end of the week. Now to get to work, implementing all that each of us learned! Won’t you join us next year?! I’d love to see YOU at the 2019 Convention & Expo! The speakers were, as always, educational, informative and - most importantly – enjoyable to listen to. If you attended even one of the classes or speaking events and did not walk away re-energized professionally and personally, you somehow missed out big time! While I attended many of these sessions, a couple truly caught my eyes & ears, and I walked away with many new ways to relight that proverbial fire in my own professional belly! The great thing about many of these nationwide speakers: you can easily take what they are teaching and use their plans and ideas even in your personal life goals! How’s that for getting an extra bang for your buck? As in years past, our own Royal Palm Coast Realtor® Association sponsored a bus trip to and from the Expo for a day. More than 30 of our own members took advantage of this opportunity, and I was thrilled to run into many of you during your visit that day! Everyone was grateful to our local Board of Directors for once again providing this opportunity to allow members to get a taste of what the convention is all about in the hopes that those members will become that much more engaged and involved within our industry. PHOTO SUPPLIED BY: HOLLY MARTH & ROSEN SHI NGLE CREEK During the annual Awards Luncheon, our very own Past President Jason Jakus was honored by Florida Realtors® with the 2018 Realtor® Achievement Award. That award recognizes a Realtor who serves as manager, broker of record or officer in his or her company, and acknowledges the winner’s previous three years’ contributions to the community, local, state, and national Realtor® Associations. Personally, I also had the distinct honor of being part of our District 5’s annual charitable check presentation to Florida Realtors® Silent Angels Trustees, Moe Veissi & our own Cynthia Shafer. Our annual bowling tournament, night out at the baseball game, and other donation opportunities allowed us to provide $2,000 to this incredible charity, run RPCRA.ORG | SEP/OCT 2018 9