The Eminent International Partnership

By Bill Fowler | September 30, 2024

Last year’s International MLS Forum in Paris was a life-shifting experience for me, and not just because of the jet lag. I was fortunate enough to be asked to speak on a few panel discussions in a room of US and multi-national real estate tech experts, but the real value wasn’t as a speaker, but rather as an observer.

Not that speaking wasn’t a highlight, it was. I think I brought my own particular wisdom on how markets overseas will benefit from centralized data sources, wrapped in RESO standards. That was easy enough to advocate for, and I know my words resonated. But it was when I stepped off the stage and walked quietly among the attendees during the breaks and after-meeting receptions that proved well worth the cost of being there.

We are all the same. Meaning, the same problems that persist here in the US are just as prevalent in Europe and beyond. We all want greater efficiency. We all want transparency. We all want to find the delicate balance between the regulatory safeguards and market-level freedoms that turbocharge an industry. We all want these things. We all said as much, repeatedly over great food, even better wine. Upon departing the event hotel, we all agreed that something meaningful was going to happen, and soon.

It’s now time to make good on what we established in Paris. We will convene again next week in Milan, and the conversations will be sparked again. Smart people will gather and share contact information. They will form friendships around like-minded work and concepts to bring opportunities to reality.

This is a critical point of maturity for The International MLS Forum.

As an industry, we have no shortage of conferences hosted at beautiful locations, featuring excellent content, famed speakers, garnished with the lavish trappings necessary to keep a complex audience like ours engaged and entertained.

However, based on my experience in Paris, I believe Milan will offer all of these things, but also something else: action. Milan will prove to be a critical crossroads in both timing and purpose. We may not change the world at the 2025 International MLS Forum, but we will most certainly set the wheels in motion to do so.

My own work in Milan will focus on how to bring data into one place; a critical and often-overlooked “step one” in developing any partnership between organizations where data is the lifeblood. We covered this work in Paris. Now however, it’s our time to take these conversations out of the hallways and receptions and onto regular calls and online meeting rooms.

It’s time to get to work. See you in Milan.