Angry eyebrows and other observations

A technician at a spa in Boston asked me in all seriousness if I've ever considered waxing/shaping my eyebrows. Said it would make them look "less angry". Now, I'm usually not one to analyze every word -- but less angry seems to say they'd still look angry. Why is it when something is brought to your attention it stays in your mind?

News from the NAR AE Institute:

1. Others blogged too - Dave Phillips on the Gateway; Ben Martin on his course slides/handouts; and Nick Kremydas posted 4 videos (under 1 minute each) with various conference speakers using a little flip camera - also includes link to the new Strategic Issues document. Dave combines (for now) his personal and association blogs. Nick has a great name for a real estate site - Dirt 31, noting it's his association's "unofficial official blog".

2. Announcements - Dave Phillips is the 2009 NAR AE Committee Vice Chairman; and 6 New Bud Smith AE Leadership Society Award recipients announced - Andrea Bushnell, Bob Hale, Bob Hamilton, Kathy Feldpausch, Jules Wade, and Tracy Huotari.

3. NAR is going to have a float in the next Rose Bowl parade.

More observations:

1. The day after any colleague retires there is this really healthy glow about them. I'm not sure any of us fully realize the physical impact of a stressful occupation. Definitely like seeing colleague can leave after several decades - by choice, with no regrets. A retirement event (pic) reminds we really develop very deep friendships in this profession - from all the years of sharing, travel and working together.

2. The person on stage is sometimes not the same person you have lunch with. A political commentator was really entertaining as a lunch speaker, but cranky and somewhat non-communicative at lunch. I realized this when saw people trying to talk with him when he came into in the room, so knew exactly which empty chair I didn't want filled. And he filled it. And I wasn't wrong.

3. Don't try to do a live auction during a huge cocktail party. Liquor and paying attention don't mix.

4. Remember the iPhone. Probably the most industry-wide embarrassing moment (in my opinion) was when the owner of a large company on one of the panels commented that many of us do not build our systems to work well with the iPhone.

5. PAC (political action committee) success is a culture, and staff plays a key role. One AE at the RPAC Major Donor reception mentioned she has a 700 member organization and 61 of them major donors last year (i.e., gave at least $1000); and another AE of a 6,000 (or so) association mentioned she was the only major donor. It takes real effort, and continuous effort to get volumes of givers. AE is the absolute key to success.

6. Is a way to solve the problem removing the one thing that everyone likes? A problem with a recognition pin was the (fake) diamonds so popular many would not want to move up to the next level -- so they took the (fake) diamonds off all the pins, and replaced it with text. Let's see how that works.

7. Events reachable without needing to board a shuttle bus a big plus.

8. The Question Box a good addition to the Town Hall Forum. For those who like to be anonymous or who don't like speaking into a microphone in front of 1300 peers, allowed option to drop a question into a box prior to the lunch, which was read onstage to national senior staff for response.

9. Aren't we friends on Facebook already? Yep, said that to someone I hadn't formally met until this conference.

10. Be ready and willing to change. Except eyebrows.