The NCREC 2021 Virtual Educators Conference

After a hiatus – the result of the 2020 Educators Conference having been a casualty of COVID-19 – the North Carolina Real Estate Commission was excited to welcome real estate instructors and various education provider officials to its 2021 Spring Educators Conference on Tuesday, March 23, 2021.  With mass gatherings still discouraged, this year’s event was conducted via Zoom technology, and highlighted the theme, Back to the Future.

In order to assure a positive experience for attendees and to minimize bandwidth issues, registration for this first ever virtual conference was limited to 150 participants.  However, the entire day’s presentations were recorded and are being fashioned into an asynchronous distance presentation which will be available in early April.  Thus, even those who could not attend the live virtual event will benefit from the information shared.

Sandra O’Connor, Commission Chair, opened the conference at 8:30 with a welcome to all the attendees.  Following the welcome, Ms. O’Connor announced the creation of a new Commission award: The Industry Champion Award, which was presented posthumously to Garth Dunklin. The award was accepted by Helen Dunklin, Garth’s wife, and his children, Macy and Garth Jr., were also in attendance.

After the welcome, the day-long event featured the following presentations by Commission staff members:

• State of the Commission by Miriam Baer, Executive Director
• Updates from the Education & Licensing Division by Corean Hamlin, Director of Education and Licensing
• The *NEW* WWREA Disclosure by Stephen Fussell, Chief Consumer Protection Officer, and Janet Thoren, Director of Regulatory Affairs
• 2021 EP and Instructor Renewal by Jake Gore, Chief Technology Officer, and Diana Carnes, Systems Administrator
• The Real Estate Manual; 2021-22 Update Course Topics by Kizzy Crawford Heath, Legal Education Officer
• Updates to Prelicensing and Postlicensing Syllabi; License Examination by Deborah Carpenter, Education and Examination Officer
• Compare and Contrast:  Schools/Sponsors vs EPs by Deborah Carpenter, Education and Examination Officer, and Pamela Rorie, Continuing Education Officer
• Course Approval Process by Christine Cox, Education Course Review Officer, and Pamela Rorie, Continuing Education Officer
• Student Engagement by Len Elder, Education and Development Officer

The conference culminated with the presentation of the 2021 Larry A. Outlaw Excellence in Education Award to George Bell by Commission Chair O’Connor. The Commission established the Larry A. Outlaw Excellence in Education Award in 2016 to honor the Commission’s late former Director of the Education and Licensing Division. As this year’s recipient of the Larry Outlaw award, Mr. Bell demonstrated ongoing excellence in and outstanding contributions to real estate education in North Carolina.

The conference concluded with a final wrap-up/Q&A session moderated by Ms. Hamlin. The Commission thanks North Carolina’s real estate education community for its continued interest and support, and congratulates George Bell on his award.