What I Learned Attending CREi Summit in 2024 and 2025 (And Why Every CRE Broker Should Go at Least Once, But Twice is Ideal)

CREi Summit is a commercial real estate conference built around networking, content creation, and community, not just deal making. After going in both 2024 and 2025, the single biggest value I got wasn’t a session or a swag bag. It was the people. Two years of conversations with brokers, investors, and marketers from across the country changed how I think about my own business in Los Angeles.

Here’s the story of why I keep going back, what changed between the two years, and what I’d tell any tenant rep broker considering it.

Why I Went to CREi Summit in the 1st Place

Linda Day Harrison of The Broker List raved about it and said I must attend. Glad she did.

I’d spent years building my tenant rep practice here in LA, negotiating office deals for clients, mostly heads down, market by market. What I wasn’t doing enough of was stepping outside my own market to see how brokers elsewhere were thinking about growth, content, and relationships. CREi Summit kept coming up as the place to do that.

  • It’s known as one of the more community driven CRE conferences, not just a stage full of panels
  • It pulls together brokers, investors, developers, lenders, and operators from every corner of the industry
  • The focus is as much on relationships and personal brand as it is on transactions

2024: Walking in Not Knowing Anyone

My first year, I went in with zero expectations beyond learning something useful. What actually happened was different, and better.

What stood out in 2024:

  • The sessions were practical, not theoretical.

Note: First time being introduced to AI and how to apply it in CRE

  • Everyone was easy to talk to. People I’d only known from LinkedIn were suddenly sitting next to me at breakfast.
  • The best ideas came from hallway conversations, not the main stage. A 5 minute chat between sessions taught me more about LinkedIn than an hour of posting did.
  • I left with a list of people, not just a list of ideas. Names I’d follow up with, brokers whose markets I’d watch, connections I still use today.

By the end of the 1st day, I’d already changed how I thought about the conference. It wasn’t about collecting information. It was about collecting relationships I could keep learning from long after I flew home.

2025: Going Back Changed Everything

Attending a 2nd time is a completely different experience than the first. You’re not scanning name tags anymore. You already know who you’re looking for.

What was different in 2025:

  • I showed up with a plan. Instead of wandering into whatever session sounded interesting, I sought out the people I’d met the year before and picked up conversations right where we left off.
  • The advice got more specific. In year 1, the conversations were about how I think about content. In year 2, they were about exactly what worked in Q3, and what didn’t.
  • I could finally give back, not just take. Brokers who were newer to the conference asked me what I’d learned the year before, and answering those questions clarified my own thinking.
  • The community had grown, but it hadn’t changed. Same openness, same willingness to share what’s actually working, just more familiar faces in the room.

I loved the session on the importance of having a Google Business Page.ย  And now I learned how to add all my blogs to it thanks to Linda Day Harrison of The Broker List.

Why the Value of CREi Summit Isn’t What You’d Expect

If you’re deciding whether a CRE conference is worth the flight, the hotel, and the time away from your desk, here’s my honest take after two years:

  • You don’t go for the sessions alone. The sessions are good, but they lead to the real value: the people you meet because you’re all in the same room.
  • You go to learn from people who aren’t your competitors. A broker in another market will tell you things a broker in your own backyard never would.
  • You go to be reminded you’re not the only one figuring it out. Commercial real estate can be a solitary business. A room full of people solving the same problems makes it easier to keep going.
  • You go because relationships build over time. The person you meet at a coffee break in year one becomes a resource, a referral source, or a friend by year two.

Should You Go to CREi Summit?

Short answer: yes, especially if you’re serious about growing your CRE business through relationships and not just transactions.

Go if:

  • You want to learn how brokers outside your market are building their business
  • You’re open to sharing what’s working for you, not just taking notes
  • You value long term relationships over one off networking
  • You’re willing to follow up after the conference ends, that’s where the real value shows up

My takeaway after 2 summits: the sessions taught me things, but the people taught me more. If you’re a broker in LA, or anywhere, wondering whether it’s worth the trip, my answer is simple. Go once, then go back. The second year is when it really pays off.

Looking forward to CREi Summit 2026 in Savannah this year!