The National Association of REALTORS' Frank Sibley, who is in charge of publications and conventions, says that his challenge is to make the annual NAR convention compelling enough for all Realtors to want to attend.

"We want the members to get the most benefit out of their trade organization," says Sibley. "It's about education and finding resources for them that they can't get anywhere else."

Sibley has a challenge. Convention traffic is failing to grow all around, and the trouble began way before 9/11 when other conferences were canceling due to lack of attendance or failing to be profitable. This year's attendance, was "about the same," as last year's, says Sibley, which is somewhat surprising considering how the organization has burgeoned from about 740,000 members to about 840,000.

High costs are curtailing some vendors, and the impression that the convention will be "just like last year" is preventing more attendees from coming. NAR has the additional challenge of overcoming sameness. The organization is only able to use convention towns that feature large hotels adjoining the convention center for governance meetings. The adjoining hotels also have to be able to accommodate as many as 20,000 to 25,000 Realtors and vendor support staff.

Toward that goal, the leadership has reached out to other organizations to bring their meetings into the NAR fold. An example of this is the Power Broker meeting, sponsored by RISmedia, which used to be held separately. Says Bob Goldberg, "They are among our biggest members. We should be welcoming them to be part of the NAR convention."

Sibley says the organization is also spending big bucks to bring in the rank and file member with more going on in wired classrooms and on the tradeshow floor.

Want to learn how to use e-mail more efficiently? Send mass e-mail newsletters? Learn to turn on a computer? You can, at special classes that the NAR had in New Orleans, and plans to have available every year at upcoming conventions.

Hats off to Sibley, Stacey Moncrieff, and the staff of REALTOR Magazine, which debuted its zippy new look at the trade show entrance. Also take a look at the redesigned Realtor Mag online and its new emphasis on technology information and learning tools.

On the trade show floor, a big booth called the Innovation Showcase is operated by Realcomm for the NAR. It has a unique business testing hardware and then showcasing brands of digital cameras, tablet computers, and more to Realtors. The staff is trained to ask you how you plan to use a digital camera, and then will help you test-drive a few models that are in your range. Nothing's for sale, but you leave the convention knowing a lot more about what you want to purchase.

Refreshing to see were vendors with older products revamping them specifically for Realtor use. Most notable were MS Publisher, a desktop publishing product that has been around about ten years. Now the product is being heavily promoted to Realtors with a colorful, quick demonstration of how you can create your own professional postcards and other marketing materials and either print them on Avery papergoods or e-mail your file to your favorite print goods vendor. And, of course, they are e-mailable to clients. "See how I'm marketing your home!"

Hewlett-Packard is a REALTOR VIP partner of the NAR, and was on hand to showcase its new tablet PC. This is a clever variation on the laptop that allows you to input information with a stylus onto the tablet-like screen, or you can use the stylus to write or draw, or you can twist the screen around and out pops a 3/4 size keyboard. When you take notes, you can either save the notes in your chickenscratch, or the smart save feature will convert it to a font of your choice.

The most startling but welcome change was the new Realtor.com. At previous shows, the booths were all about Homestore. This time, Realtors were front and center. Nowhere did the the brand Homestore appear at the booth. Inside, marketing changes are happening, too, as Realtor.com announces the unbundling of its marketing products. The story that hasn't been told yet (see tomorrow's Agent News) is that Realtor.com is changing from being a Web site vendor to a marketing medium. That means you can have your Web site of choice (if you can beat Realtor.com's prices and features) and attach it to the listings (a connection subscription does apply) that Realtor.com promotes for you for free. Marty Frame, vice president of product development, has an impressive plan for next year's roll-out of services.

There was a lot more to be upbeat about this year. At Homes.com's booth, CEO Tom Orsi and his right-hand man John Perkins say they were glad to get the opportunity to tell everyone that Homes.com is growing and concentrating on product development and refinement. Like Realtor.com, Homes.com is repositioning itself as an online marketing specialist for Realtors.

In public affairs, Steve Cook is anticipating that the lame duck Congress, now with a Republican majority just might have the vote swing to keep banks out of real estate.

We're still waiting for the other shoe to drop on the VOW (virutal office Website) issues. The NAR leadership voted to postpone its adoption of a VOW policy, because many present believed that there would have to be amendments. For one thing, the current policy proposed does not address advertising issues, which is key to the VOW dispute. NAR general counsel Laurie Janik says, "It's complex, and there will certainly be amendments when the proposal is adopted." She says the NAR always reserves the right to make amendments as new information comes to light.

So between politics, technology, education and marketing tools, there was plenty to do and see.

Next November, make plans to go to San Francisco and attend the NAR convention there. You owe it to yourself to see what's new in real estate.