President's message: Don't miss our annual conference!

We are looking forward to another successful conference this year! If you have not yet registered for The 7th Annual NYS Commercial Real Estate Conference, June 16-18, at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, please do so today! Joseph Rowley, Jr. of CB Richard Ellis, Rochester will chair the event. Many thanks to our platinum sponsor, Pyramid Brokerage Co. Our gold sponsors are CB Richard Ellis-Upstate Offices and OREXCO 1031; silver sponsors are GE Financial Services, Key Bank, La Bella Associates, PC, New York Real Estate Journal, Northern N.J./NYS Chapter of CCIM, NYS Upstate and Downstate Chapters of SIOR and Wilber National Bank. A one and one half day commercial marketing session will kick off the conference on June 16 (starting with a noon lunch), moderated by James Wilson, CCIM, SEC (Fla.) and Bill Stonaker, CCIM, SEC (Tex.). Jim and Bill did an outstanding job last year with the session and they are looking forward to another great event. Also on the 16th, golf chairman Tim Conley, CCIM will run the annual golf outing on the world-class Shenandoah Course, sponsored by OREXCO 1031. The marketing session will continue on the 17th at 9 a.m. (breakfast at 8 a.m.). This year there will be an Office & Industrial Leasing & Marketing Roundtable at 2 p.m. on the 17th. There will be a discussion on the impact and effect of today's economics. This will include sharing ideas and brainstorming of effective marketing techniques and practices. The networking will continue at the Welcome Reception (5:30 -7:30 p.m.). This is a great opportunity to meet colleagues from across New York State, as well as from other states. Last year, there were representatives from 15 different states! NYSCAR, SEC and the Northern N.J./NYS Chapter of CCIM will hold their organization meetings during the conference. June 18 will feature six education courses (five of which are pending for real estate continuing education credit). Morning programs which run for three hours include the following: "Comprehensive Due Diligence is Key in Real Estate," by Tim Conley, CCIM; "Intro to Creative Marketing of Commercial-Investment Real Estate," by Robert Giniecki, CCIM, SEC and James Wilson, CCIM, SEC and "Code of Ethics" training by Patrick Reilly, RCE. For the luncheon, networking session, sponsored by Pyramid Brokerage Co., we are pleased to have Herbert Krumsick, CCIM, SIOR as the keynote speaker. Herb is sr. VP, JP Weigand &Sons, Inc., Wichita, Kans. We will also have a legislative update from Mike Kelly, director of government affairs with NYSAR. CCIM first VP, Charles McClure, CCIM and SEC president, Steve Eustis, SEC, CCIM will give updates from CCIM and SEC. I will give an update from NYSCAR. The three-hour afternoon classes include: "Getting, Working & Keeping the Commercial Brokerage Business," by Joseph Larkin, CCIM, SIOR; "Negotiation Skills," by William Burgess, CCIM, SIOR and "Commercial Real Estate Financing (Understanding How it Works and How to Close), by James Runko and Jacqueline Conti, MAI, JD. Maureen Wilson, CCIM, SIOR is the 2008 president of NYSCAR, Albany, N.Y.