Special report, Part III: NAR conference in a nutshell

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This third installment of former Chicago Tribune staff writer Mary Umberger’s take on the National Assn. of Realtors gathering in Orlando, Fla., would have been longer, but she couldn’t miss Friday’s performance by Lionel Ritchie.

Or miss hearing Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France winner, deliver the keynote speech about ‘Choose to a Champion in Life’ on Saturday. So here’s her Reader’s Digest version on the overall:

No surprise here: Attendance is down at this convention, though not as much as organizers anticipated. The NAR hopes to see 23,000 attendees by the time it wraps up on Monday. Earlier, they had pegged attendance at 20,000, according to the trade group’s public affairs staff. Last year, 25,000 gathered for the confab in Las Vegas.

Besides the usual sales rally, new technology and inspirational fare, the conference program includes such titles as ‘How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times,’ ‘Creating Buyer Urgency’ and ‘Beyond Survival in a Changing Marketplace.’

-- Lauren Beale

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