The NYSCAR board met on Sunday, October 4 at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona. We had a great meeting and covered many items including committee reports, legislative update and chapter reports. Congratulations go out to the following officers and governors who were elected to serve in 2016:  officers: president, Brian DiNardo (Rochester); first VP, Guy Blake, CCIM, (Hudson Valley); second VP, James Walker, CCIM, (Hudson Valley); treasurer, Ed Gallacher, CCIM (Hartford) and secretary, Dana Crocker (Syracuse Area). Governors:  Richard Ferro, CCIM (Greater Capital), Karen Klecar (So. Tier), Mark Rohlin (Rochester Area) and Robert Strell (WNY). Counseling Course to be held in Syracuse, NY! On November 12, NYSCAR in cooperation with the Syracuse Area Chapter of NYSCAR will offer “Effective Counseling and Representation of Real Estate Clients,” a 7 hour continuing education class, taught by NYSCAR board members Bob Giniecki, CCIM and James Walker, CCIM. This course will also be taught at the Triple Play Conference in Atlantic City in December. The client counseling session helps clients to more fully understand their situation and be able to objectively determine their best alternatives.  This course covers how to: ask the right questions to determine a client’s goals; recommend methods of achieving their objectives; convert time-wasting into income-producing actions; utilize effective client profiling; and much more. You’ll learn how an effective strategy can be developed, by combining the client’s qualifications with the property characteristics, to help the client achieve a successful transaction. (Email: [email protected] for full details) National Association of Realtors - 2015 Conference & Expo November 13-16, San Diego, California There are many reasons to attend the NAR Annual Conference in beautiful San Diego. There will be 400 exhibitors under one roof;  20,000 realtors and guests from all over the world; 100 education sessions and top entrepreneurs. A great place to network and get referrals, there are many programs of interest to commercial practitioners including economic issues and trends sessions, social media, global opportunities and networking sessions, just to name a few. Please go to www.realtor.org to see a full schedule and to register. Realtors Triple Play Conference, Atlantic City, NJ Triple Play, sponsored by NY, NJ and PA Associations of Realtors will be held December 7-10 in Atlantic City, NJ. This is another good opportunity for some commercial courses and networking. There will be several commercial courses and a commercial marketing/investment session. Please go to www.realtorstripleplay.com for more information and to register. John Lavelle is the president of NYSCAR and is an associate broker, commercial at RJ Smith Realty, Pine Bush, N.Y.