There is an increasing glut of proptech events and conferences coming up.

If you’re an agent and want to find out more, where’s the best place to go?

First, 2016 has seen a fundamental shift of how PropTech is viewed amongst estate agents.

Rather than being ignored or seen as a threat, proptech startups are now being taken seriously and being viewed as potential business partners and collaborators.

Zoopla has led the way by forming strategic partnerships with companies like Trussle, Landbay, Property Detective and of course the acquisition of Property Software Group.

Taking on the theme of tech partnering with estate agents is the Future Property Tech conference held in London this Thursday, May 19.

Last year’s event had the controversial Online vs Traditional agent debate, in which the HomeOwners Alliance raised eyebrows by moderating with an anti-agent bias.

Gary Chimwa, organiser of the Future Property Tech Conference, said, “The theme of this week’s event is Partner or Disrupt? Corporate/Startup Partnerships and the Future of PropTech.

“We will be looking at how well established companies and estate agents can benefit from the technology being developed by innovative startups.”

Citing last year’s attendance by Countrywide, Leaders and Alex Chesterman of Zoopla, he added, “For forward thinking agents, this is an unmissable opportunity to learn about the new technology that will make their jobs easier and improve sales results.”

The programme is headlined by speakers from Google, Countrywide and Rightmove.

There is also an opportunity for proptech start-ups to apply for one-on-one meetings with centure capital investors on the day.

Two promotional videos with Alex Chesterman and Leaders can be viewed here:

1) https://youtu.be/WyG5leCAk5k

2) https://youtu.be/cE4aSvGOO4s

While Chimwa’s event is now well-established, the rise of Proptech has seen a new type of conference emerge in the form of Propteq Europe.

Brian Brosnan, Propteq’s founder emphasised that the market is “screaming out for a different sort of conference” where networking is more important than the usual stand-and-deliver type of speaker line-up.

In fact, the event has no speaker line-up at all and focuses on ‘hosts’ leading topical discussions like the ones on ‘The future of agency’ and ‘Marketing and sales – how tech is innovating product presentation’.

Propteq Europe will be held on June 2 and also counts Countrywide amongst its sponsors.

A long list of attendees to Propteq can be viewed here, along with more details on how to attend: https://propteq.com/attendees/

From a personal stance, I’m most looking forward to meeting the US proptech entrepreneurs who are genuinely revolutionising the industry across the Atlantic and are now looking toward the UK.

Chief among them is Michael Mandel of Compstak, which allows agents to ‘trade’ lease comparable data in a way that is faster and more accurate.

It’s interesting to note how both events will be held within a short span of time and will both be attended by the great and good of the proptech world.