by Michele Gillis, Staff Writer

The smell of hot dogs cooking, popcorn popping, baked beans and pulled pork sandwiches permeated the air at the Realtor Builder Tradeshow last month at the University Center at the University of North Florida.

There theme was “Game ON” and football was celebrated. Tailgating, it seemed, was fresh on everyone’s mind and many of the 53 booths tailored their presentation to that.

“The place was packed” said NEFBA president Barbara Moore. “There was a very good turnout, good energy and a good theme. Let's do it again!”

There were a lot of mortgage, Realtor and builder vendors for those attending the event to visit and gather information to help them do their job better.

In addition to information, vendors gave out marketing items including pens, flashlights, sticky notes, luggage tags, stress balls (in the shape of footballs) and more.

NEFAR President Dane Leslie said he thought the attendance was stronger this year than in previous years.

“As I walked through, all the booths had several people talking with the company representatives,” said Leslie. “I thought the theme was well received and everyone seemed to be having a great time. I also heard several people say the presenters in the breakout sessions did a great job. Those that were involved in putting this event together should be very satisfied with the outcome.”

Those who attended gave a lot of good feedback to co-chair David Wakefield of PrimeLending.

“I got a ton of good feedback including that there was steady traffic, people were happy to see their co-workers coming for a shift change, they didn’t have time to sit down and take a break,” said Wakefield. “People were saying it’s like you could feel a buzz in the air. I think it went very well. All the vendors and booths were great. Everyone always gets behind it and is excited to dressing up and jazzing up their booths. The theme was very well received, now we need to figure out what to do for next year.”