These creative strategies are helping associations devise classes that members are eager to sign up for—and actually attend.
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Over the past two years, Diana Colin has built a robust education program for the Portland Metropolitan Association of REALTORS® in Oregon.

As PMAR’s professional standards administrator, she oversees continuing education and professional development for the association’s roughly 7,500 members. PMAR gave Colin an open playbook to develop educational opportunities. She started by attending national conferences, where she networked with those who excel at CE and training. She also learned ways to identify good speakers and instructors.

Her approach to training involves a sense of curiosity, always seeking out the members and leaders within PMAR’s ranks to ask what they need and want, while monitoring industry trends. Her networking—honed by about 30 years in the real estate industry—has been more productive than surveys or polls.

That sense of curiosity and a willingness to try new strategies is a key component of successful education programs for REALTOR® associations seeking to offer classes that members are eager to sign up for and actually attend.

Start by Listening

Colin says she monitors professional Facebook feeds to see what members and others in the real estate industry are discussing. “I used to do surveys, but I don’t want to flood inboxes. And I also found that surveys weren’t all that helpful after presentations. I keep my ears open. I get more information from listening.”

Her interactions have led her to pull together panels and webinars on topics such as cybersecurity, social media, compensation rules, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

While Colin has found more success in networking, other associations may find value in surveying their members to design the kind of education they want and need.

To enhance communication, Whidbey Island Association of REALTORS® in Washington state uses Constant Contact’s digital and email marketing services for its newsletters. For a small fee, users can access a survey function.

The association’s recently formed Education/ Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Committee conducted a survey that included questions around members’ preferences for CE classes, lunch-and-learns and webinars. That effort garnered very specific ideas; for example, respondents requested more forums that address land-use issues. As a result, the committee has been working with an instructor from the state association to offer a CE class on shoreline and water rights.

Survey respondents also expressed a desire to hear more from affiliate members about their businesses and areas of expertise, Association Executive Paige Bates says. Because of limited sponsorship opportunities each year, the Education/ DEIA Committee is developing a program for affiliate members that would give them up to 30 minutes to promote their business through an online seminar.

“We will promote the webinar on our You Tube channel, website, newsletter and social media,” Bates says, and the first ran in early March. “It will allow us to fill in those months where we are not offering a CE or other type of virtual or in-person class.”

The Howard County Association of REALTORS® in Maryland has also seen an increase in affiliate members willing to create and teach classes at no cost to the association. “This not only saves us money, but it’s a value add for our affiliates who want to get in front of [our members],” says CEO Sarah Rayne, RCE, CAE.

Associations should consult with an attorney to ensure such activities are compliant with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA).

Consider the Timing

Association leaders note that as members’ needs evolve, the association’s education offerings have to adapt.

“Our industry is changing. A lot of our members are dual career or at least start out as dual career until they become established and are able to support themselves with their real estate businesses alone,” Rayne says. “If we don’t change with the members, we will become irrelevant.”

That means CE classes often run at night on Zoom. Attendance has been solid, but night classes also create some challenges. “While we try to offer as much nighttime virtual CE as possible, we run into the difficulty of finding instructors and staff members who are available at night,” Rayne says. “We are working to identify solutions—flex time for staff, possibly a part-time employee who can run our nighttime classes and so on.”

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HCAR serves up required classes, such as for license renewal, but also offers unique topics, such as stigmatized properties, wills and estates, and solar energy. “It’s all about meeting our members where they are,” Rayne says. That includes offering classes whenever members have the time.

Colin prefers online educational forums because PMAR’s members are spread throughout the Portland metropolitan region. Members are busy, and they get plenty of other opportunities to network through social gatherings developed by PMAR’s events team, she adds.

“I determined that virtual is the best way to go, and the feedback on that has been good,” Colin says. “When our members are looking for education, they want to sit at the computer and get it done. They want it to be quality, and they want to have it be worth their time, but they don’t want to travel.”

She recommends keeping the classes to one to two hours. “One hour is best, and two hours is a lot more commitment,” Colin explains. “With three hours, it better be some really great content. And then you need to build in a break so people can make or take calls.”

Lean on State Resources

HomeTown Association of REALTORS® in northern Illinois has a branch-licensed school through Illinois REALTORS®. It partners with The CE Shop to offer self-paced home-study education online. That partnership offers a share of the revenue from the classes.

“Through that partnership, we offer CE and pre-license for real estate brokers and managing brokers, as well as appraisers and lenders,” AE Heather Wiedrich, RCE, C2EX, says. Members who cannot attend the scheduled virtual classes have an option to learn the lessons on demand.

Like HomeTown, the Tacoma Pierce County Association of REALTORS® in Washington state, works with the state association to offer CE training. AE Sean Martin says Washington REALTORS®’ programs are a great service because TPCAR doesn’t have the capacity to offer the CE that meets state requirements.

Our industry is changing… If we don’t change with the members, we will become irrelevant.”

– Sarah Rayne, RCE, CAE

For other smaller associations, it can also be more efficient to use those resources rather than build their own seminars. The local boards can work with the bigger associations to get a deal for their members and then heavily promote the classes to stimulate attendance.

“The state programs make it easy for us to coordinate and book CE with confidence and set things up for our members to provide the education that we know is going to be of value to them,” Martin says.

Members can also log onto TPCAR’s website and find numerous training opportunities provided by OnlineEd, including courses in real estate, mortgages, appraisals, career enhancement, and human resources training and compliance.

“They can take all sorts of classes through OnlineEd,” Martin says about TPCAR’s nearly 1,800 members. “Of all the stuff we have done over the past few years as far as member benefits, people overwhelmingly love it.”

Colin also taps the resources of the state and national real estate groups, realizing that it can be more efficient to use those resources rather than build her own seminars.

Wiedrich adds that state associations are not the only resource available. To develop some of its virtual CE and professional development sessions, HomeTown Association of REALTORS® has collaborated with other local associations in Oak Park, Peru and Quincy, Ill.

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Get Them to Show Up

Attentiveness is a must. HCAR has had problems with members who don’t follow the strict class participation guidelines stipulated by the state real estate commission for virtual CE.

“All class participants must keep their cameras on and stay engaged. They cannot drive or do any other activity during the class,” Rayne says. “It can be challenging sometimes for staff to enforce the rules and sometimes deliver the difficult news that a member is not receiving credit because they did not follow the guidelines, despite being reminded throughout the class by staff.”

Likewise, PMAR has found that people often will not show up for free seminars, even though they registered in advance. However, when there’s a small fee, people usually understand that there is a cost to putting on an online seminar and are more likely to attend. 

“They have a little more skin in the game,” Colin says. “When it is free, we get lots of registrations but only half show up. It is almost to their benefit to charge them a little bit.”

HCAR limits the number of members in its classes due to classroom capacity and regulations surrounding online CE, Rayne says. “So, if members sign up for a class and they don’t show up, they are using a seat that could have been occupied by another member. For that reason, we’ve started charging a $25 ‘no show’ fee.”

The fees are attached to a member’s records and must be paid before that person can register for more free classes. “Our staff has discretion and generally lets it slide if the member has an emergency or if it’s their first time missing a class,” Rayne says. “But any member with repeated absences is generally charged the fee.”

Rayne says that HCAR, which has about 2,000 members, has not received backlash so far for its fee. “Our members understand that we are trying to be good stewards of their dues dollars and association resources,” she says.

Creative Thinking Works

At Whidbey, the new Education/DEIA Committee was designed to offer various educational opportunities, including CE classes, designation and certification courses, and awareness of DEIA for the association’s 105 members.

“Toward the end of last year, the committee members chose to get an early start on a wish list of classes and instructors,” Bates says. She worked with the committee to find instructors and begin scheduling dates for 2025. “Based on a survey last year and the committee’s approved budget, the committee has been working on a mix of virtual and in-person classes.”

This year started off with a class on the federal 1031 tax exchange program. The instructor offered free CE credits to attendees and didn’t charge the association for teaching the class. (Again, it’s advisable to consult counsel to ensure RESPA compliance whenever value-added services are provided.)

 “It was a great way to kick off the new year,” Bates says.

In Oregon, as a licensed CE provider, PMAR can develop classes that are of interest to its members but also meet the standards set by state regulators. For example, a finance class might not meet CE requirements. However, if Colin adds components that include managing a brokerage, the class will work for CE credit. In other states, regulators might require that classes first get state approval, she notes.

All along, she says, the focus is on PMAR’s members. Colin says she continually asks herself, “What can I do to help members?” “How can we be of value?”