Keller Williams Family Reunion 2017 Survival Guide

At Family Reunion, Keller Williams associates gather with thousands of top agents and leaders for four power-packed days of networking and training. This is your opportunity to reenergize and take your business to the next level; learn from the best in the business, attend powerful sessions and immerse yourself in KW culture.

24 Hour Opportunity

If you've never been to Family Reunion before, you are in for a treat!  This year 70 hours of education and training are packed into 4 days - for you to make the most of.

From new agents to the most experienced, there is no shortage of valuable education.  From technology to the brass tacks of your business you can find what's right for you.

Family Reunion can be broken down into two different types of events; group sessions and breakout sessions.  The group sessions are for everyone and are high energy and highly informative.  This years group sessions include Gary Keller's Keynote, the Vision Speech, the State of Your Company, and the Inspirational Brunch.  Scattered amongst the group sessions are the breakout sessions, and this year there are 8 breakout session time slots.  During each breakout time slot there are between 20-28 available classes where you pick what you want to learn.  Think of it as a Choose Your Own Adventure!
​For the full list of breakout click here.

Tips for Family Reunion

What is your ONE Thing?
What is the ONE Thing that you want to learn or take away from Family Reunion this year?
Focus on this and put it in the form of a question.  Is it "How to get more listings", or "How to increase my lead conversion ratio", or "How to own my farm" - then put it in question form - "What do I need to do to successfully farm?".  Now ask that question to everyone you cross paths with at Family Reunion.  Ask them how they farm or what they did to successfully farm an area and notice how many of the answers align and are fundamentally similar.

Plan your breakout sessions around your ONE Thing to maximize your education.
The more you focus on one topic the more you will learn and retain regarding it.  If you try to learn a little bit about everything out there, you will will come back with some notes, but no real retained information.

Keep an Open Mindset
Be humble and admit that you don't know everything.
Start the event out right and be open and willing to try out new things in your business.  Be open to look into different ways to do things or different systems for your business.  This is how you will learn the most - you can't outgrow Family Reunion because there is no magic button or tool that works for everyone.  Every moment is a learning opportunity.
Carpe diem.

Engage
​Actively participate in the Q&A sessions in the breakouts.
Take notes, record audio - do whatever works for you...do it, as Shia LeBouf would say.  Introduce yourself to others in your breakout sessions and sit with people from other areas at lunch.  Where else would you get opportunities like these?

Breakouts
There are 207 breakout sessions this year!​
During each of the 8 time slots there are between 20-28 different breakout sessions offered.  That is a lot.  But, if you focus on your ONE Thing, it will make it a lot easier to decide which ones are right for you.  Check out the full list of breakouts and make a short list of the ones that interest you first, and it's okay to pick up to 3 from each time slot.  In fact, I would recommend that you find at least 2 breakouts for each time slot; a primary choice and a secondary choice.  This way in the event that your primary choice is full, or you are running behind and won't make all the way across the convention center in time, you have a backup session already selected so you don't waste 10 minutes flipping through the booklet trying to select another breakout.  Also, many of the breakouts are repeated so if you can't decide between two sessions, look to see if either of them are repeated at another time.

Divide & Conquer
Team up with someone else & plan your breakouts together.  Go to the ones that interest you the most and they can go to the ones that interest them the most, but don't go to the same ones! Then you can share notes later.

Networking - Who Do You Want to Connect With?
Is there someone you want to connect with or meet up with?
Contact them today to try to schedule a time for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or drinks to connect.  Do it quick as schedules fill fast at Family Reunion.  With over 12,000 people in town for Family Reunion, this is a great time to connect with people!

Pack your business cards, then grab another stack and pack that too!
This is an excellent time to network with others and build your referral network, its not about how many cards you can give out, its about how many cards you can collect!

Exhibit Hall
This is where the vendors live, at least for 5 days a year.
All the big vendors will be here, from technology to books, to marketing materials, to apparel.  You can find it all here, visit all of the vendors to get free stuff and have them scan your badge to get entered in many drawings - including a free BMW! (Which will be given away on Sunday, February 12th)

Want free stuff? Get there early!
If you're headed to Family Reunion for free stuff, you better get to the Exhibit Hall early.  Come on Sunday or Monday and do a quick walk to see how much you can collect.  Then you can scope out the place to see what vendors you want to come back and visit with later.  If you are looking to talk with the vendors, mornings are best because it's typically much quieter in the hall in the morning.

Budget Ahead.
Set your budget ahead of time so you don't get shiny object syndrome and end up with buyer's remorse.  Figure out what you need, and plan accordingly.  Many vendors will offer Family Reunion pricing, but often the pricing doesn't end on the last day of Family Reunion, but check with them to make sure.

Don't forget to check out the KW Technology booth to see what cool stuff KW has in store for the future...rumor has it there is a new "Agent Platform" that will be available to see! (Agent Platform = CRM!)

When the Sessions are out....
After the days events are over the city doesn't sleep.  Check out the hotels close to the convention to find out which hotel lobby or bar becomes "the one".  This happens every year, and it's nothing official - its organic and just happens.  This is where some of the greatest master-minding and connections happen, in an impromptu setting.  (Just don't get too crazy because the breakouts come early at 7:30 AM!)

Red Bash
Join Keller Williams associates for the biggest party of the year and listen to Gary Keller's band rock out.  Break out your best costumes and enjoy a night of games, music, dancing and fun! This will be a celebration you don’t want to miss.

Inspirational Morning
The best part of Family Reunion
Many people duck out early and don't hang around for the Inspirational Morning, but for those that do stay, they will tell you this is the most powerful and moving part.  I don't know how many people have told me this is their favorite part and that those who leave early don't know what they are missing!

Conclude your Family Reunion experience with this heartwarming session in which Mo Anderson and her special guests share stories of strength, perseverance and inspiration. Inspirational Morning is the most powerful display of Keller Williams culture and how it affects people around the world. Together, our associates share in this moving and uplifting presentation before returning home to their families and businesses.

NEW THIS YEAR- to include even more of our KW family in the Inspirational Morning experience and to do our part in reducing food waste, we will be offering a healthy grab and go breakfast followed by general admission theater seating for this session.