? by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Millie Kanyar of Watson Realty, the president of the Jacksonville Women’s Council of Realtors, wanted to try something new.
This year, instead of holding the annual Affiliate Trade Show at the usual San Jose Country Club meeting space, she moved the event to the Adam’s Mark Hotel. She also changed the time from a luncheon to 4-7 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails and allowed vendors who are not WCR members to have a booth at the event.
“I have to credit Lisa Sawyer for having the courage to put an all-out effort into a new format,” said Kanyar. “This is the first time we have held such an event in the evening and at venue like the Adam’s Mark. Lisa and her team worked very hard to ensure that all preparations were made ahead of time and that adequate promotion was given to the show. I was very pleased with the effort to inform our members. This is the first time that our affiliates were given quality time to spend with those that attended the show. In years past all the Realtors just stop by booths and off they went to eat lunch. This year we wanted to correct that problem because it is important that our affiliates actually get a chance to not only provide information for Realtors to use but also build relationships that we hope will be beneficial to all.”
Twenty-four vendors set up booths with give-a-ways and door prizes for the visitors to enjoy.
The affiliates made a good effort to inform and entertain visitors to their booths. Some even had games set up for visitors to play and win a prize. And all had door prizes to give away.
“The affiliates were wonderful,” said Kanyar. “They were enthusiastic, creative, and very generous. We certainly could have had a better day for the event. But with all the other meetings that were scheduled on that day I still feel very good about the turn out. We can only improve from here. I strongly feel that the affiliates were given better exposure than in previous years and we did try our best to address the concerns they expressed in the past.”