There are a lot of things competing for a real estate agent's attention right now.

AI. Video. Social media. Lead generation. Follow-up. Negotiations. New construction. Changing buyer expectations. Changing seller expectations. And somewhere in there, we're also supposed to actually sell some houses.

That's part of the reason we created Elevate 2026, happening September 28 at the Greater Birmingham Association of Home Builders.

The idea was pretty simple: instead of another event where agents sit through hours of presentations and leave with a notebook full of things they'll probably never do, what if we put together a morning focused on skills agents can actually use?

And apparently, that idea struck a nerve. We're on our way to having more than 200 real estate professionals in the room.

The business is changing quickly

I've been in real estate for more than 25 years, and I've watched our industry reinvent itself more than once.

But the speed of change right now feels different.

Consumers have more information. Marketing channels change constantly. AI can do in minutes what used to take us hours. Video has gone from something a few agents experimented with to one of the primary ways consumers discover agents, neighborhoods and homes.

At the same time, none of those tools replace the skills that actually get a transaction across the finish line.

You still have to know how to communicate.

You still have to understand your market.

You still have to negotiate.

And eventually, somebody has to ask for the business.

That combination of new tools and old-school sales skills is really what Elevate is about.

A room built for participation

Jimmy Burgess will kick things off with a conversation about AI, video and social media — and, more importantly, how agents can actually put those tools to work in their businesses.

Then we're turning the room over to a panel of Birmingham-area real estate professionals to talk about what's working in the field right now.

And this won't be a panel where everyone gives polished answers about how wonderful the market is.

We're using interactive polling throughout the morning, beginning with one question:

In one word, what is your biggest challenge in real estate right now?

I have a feeling those answers are going to make for a pretty interesting word cloud.

We'll finish with John Palumbo and something every agent needs regardless of what happens with technology: sales and closing skills.

The other reason events like this matter

There's another part of Elevate that may be just as important as what happens on stage.

It puts REALTORS®, builders and people throughout Birmingham's housing industry in the same room.

Real estate can become surprisingly isolated. We spend a lot of time driving around by ourselves, answering texts and staring at our phones.

Sometimes you need to get in a room with other people doing the same work.

Compare notes. Ask questions. Meet someone new. Find out what somebody else is trying that you haven't thought about yet.

That's what I hope happens at Elevate.

Come hungry. Breakfast is included.

But more importantly, come curious.

The business is changing.

We might as well learn from each other while it does.