Last month, at HousingWire’s The Gathering, 850 of the most influential names in real estate gathered to share hard-won insights and strategies. It was a heady three days. Industry luminaries, ranging from Keller Williams’ Chief Leadership Officer Mark Willis to HousingWire’s own Logan Mohtashami (“Chart Daddy” to those in the know), cut through the noise and hype to deliver shrewd takes on AI, mortgages, and the housing market to a capacity crowd. HousingWire subscribers can watch sessions from the event on demand, but to get the full effect, you kinda had to be there. You can’t do deals or swap AI strategies over cocktails through a video — not yet anyway.
Of course, not everyone has the time to hop on a plane to Colorado Springs to attend a three-day real estate conference — even one at a dreamy lakefront resort with breathtaking views of the Rocky Mountains. We get it. You have deals to close and agents to recruit.
Luckily, we know someone whose job demands it. Rebecca Thomson, national vice president of learning and development at Coldwell Banker Realty, was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to sit down with us to talk about her experience at The Gathering. She provided us with five actionable takeaways for agents, brokers and team leaders that she learned from the event.
1. Women are not waiting for a seat — they’re building the table
Is the chummy old boys’ club running the show in real estate finally breaking up? Women have been patiently knocking on the tree house door for decades now, but Thomson thinks the real estate broligarchy is (finally) giving way.
Her number one insight from The Gathering was that women are no longer waiting around for their turn to take the reins. Instead, they’re leading the way in tech, marketing and the kind of big-picture thinking that our industry desperately needs to grow. Here’s Thomson:
“The Women of Influence series on the last day of the event was obviously something I was personally involved with and am very passionate about. Throughout the event, I saw women leading brokerages and leading the industry through change. We’ve made some bold commitments to women at Coldwell Banker, so it was refreshing to see so many women like Liz Gerhinger and Ginger Wilcox really leading the way. Women are not waiting for a seat — they’re building the table.”
2. Brokerages that evolve will own the future
Thomson’s next most significant insight from The Gathering will be familiar to anyone who has struggled to figure out how to incorporate AI into their workflow. Innovation is hard, but let’s be clear — our industry is facing not just one, but multiple seemingly existential threats today. Thomson’s takeaway for brokerages was sobering: evolve or get left in the dust.
“Nearly every panelist discussed how we have had to adapt, and we’ve had to adapt quickly. For me, evolution is not necessarily survival of the fittest. It’s those who adapt fastest. And the ones that are doing it well were not just surviving—they were dominating. We’re seeing it even with legacy brands that have that agility, culture, or operational sophistication — all of that is critical now. We need to start building it today, and not necessarily waiting for it to be perfect, but having agents come on this journey with us as we evolve, because it’s moving so quickly.”
3. AI won’t replace agents, but agents who use AI will win
Tired of hearing about AI? Well, I have bad news for you. Our industry may be a bit slower than most to adopt new technologies, but the AI warning bells you’re hearing are not only justified; they might not be loud enough. They may be underselling the risk to agents and brokers who are still sitting on the sidelines, waiting for AI to become “good enough.” Scary, right? It should be. The best time to learn AI was 3 years ago. The second-best time is today.
“AI won’t replace agents, but the ones using it are going to win. Hands down. We’re already seeing how AI is supercharging the agents and teams who use it. Brokerages that train their agents and leaders on AI are the ones that are growing the fastest and the biggest. But it’s also the agents who are leaning into AI and coming at it from a place of curiosity who are winning.”
4. At conferences, hallway conversations matter as much as the panels
Thomson was quick to point out that although she gleaned critical insights from the bold-face names hashing it out on panels and delivering rousing keynote speeches, her most valuable learnings from the Gathering came from impromptu hallway conversations.
At an event where you couldn’t swing a lanyard without hitting a CEO or other C-suite executive, the hallways at conferences are where the real magic happens. As HousingWire CEO Clayton Collins put it on LinkedIn, they’re “…where deals are done and lifelong connections are made.”
Thomson agrees wholeheartedly:
“The hallway conversation at any event HousingWire puts on are everything. One of my favorite parts of The Gathering is the conversations that you stumble upon, where you pick up that idea, that nugget. In a world that is so dominated by video calls and virtual meetings, the ability to be together in one place is the perfect catalyst for talking about innovation, ideas and collaboration.”
5. Authenticity outperforms automation
Thomson’s final takeaway was her most insightful. It’s a message that should be taped onto every agent’s bathroom mirror and recited at every sales meeting: AI might be a civilization-altering tool, but it’s still just that — a tool. Automation might get you in front of buyers faster, but it’s authenticity, and only authenticity that will keep you there. Here’s Thomson:
“As much as we talk about technology and AI, authenticity still matters — now more than ever. AI is just another tool; authenticity is the true differentiator. It’s about how agents show up in video and storytelling — whether they’re telling the story of their personal brand or the brand they’re affiliated with. As brokerage leaders, our social strategies and agent coaching must reinforce this: tech fluency and a strong brand voice empower agents to show up powerfully and personally.”
To learn more about The Gathering 2026, visit https://events.housingwire.com/the-gathering-2026.
