This week, Rick and Eric discussed recent events in their first segment. They both attended the Blue Book Showcase held at Gillette Stadium. They also congratulated all the Boston Marathon runners this year, especially those that work in the real estate industry. Rick and Eric interviewed Stephen Cole, Khara Dodds and Caitlin Palmer of City of Hartford's DONO Project in their second segment. They discussed the young and diverse demographic of the City of Hartford. The DONO project takes into account that demographic of young, educated and single population in developing both housing and nightlife, as a way to put a halt to resident attrition. The third segment continues the discussion with our guests from the City of Hartford DONO Project. They discussed the expansion of the University of Hartford and how it will affect their plans moving forward. Rick and Eric's last segment centers around discussion of the Obama Administration's Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) award. Hartford was one of three cities in chronic economic distressed awarded money to leverage new and innovative ideas. They will now have a team challenge to determine how to spend the $800,000 pool of money that has been awarded. You can see further information at www.hartford.sc2prize.com Thank you to our show sponsors: New England Restaurant Brokers, Command Security Corporation, NEBFM, City of Hartford CT. DONO project.

This week, Rick and Eric discussed recent events in their first segment. They both attended the HELP Conference and taped their radio show there last week. Eric also attended the ASHRAE Trade Show in Randolph for the first time and REFA's Crossroad for Kids in Boston -- a mentorship event. Both Rick and Eric expressed disappointment in missing ABC's event. Rick and Eric interviewed Jason Zagami of Seedling Creative in their second segment. Seedling Creative specializes in marketing for smaller organizations. Jason says that marketing campaigns that large nationals firms don't always scale down for smaller organizations. The marketing he does goes a bit outside the box by creating events, building strategic partnerships, building a Twitter campaign around small giveaways -- such as free cupcakes or seeing a high end car. Seedling Creative also does website design and video marketing creation. Jason Zagami stayed for Rick and Eric's third segment to further discuss video marketing. He talked about organic searches related to videos, where a video you create can be found online video tag words. There are also paid searches, where you would pay to have your video show up on the sidebar of related content. In the same vein would be paid commercials -- 15 seconds or so that are typically shown before your desired content is shown on YouTube. Jason, Eric and Rick also talked about the technical advances in video creation, specifically the ability to use drones for real estate videos, aerial shots of property and facade inspection. In their last segment, Rick and Eric discussed website design with Jason Zagami. He described for everyone exactly what a website is and why it's important to have a clean, usable usable website. Jason shared the importance of having a website that is optimized for mobile usage, as most people just need the most pertinent information instead of all the extra details or apps that a full site would provide. Thank you to our show sponsors: New England Restaurant Brokers, Command Security Corporation, NEBFM, City of Hartford CT. DONO project.

This week, Rick and Eric taped their show live at the HELP Conference, held at the Seaport Waterfront Hotel. Our thanks to Jim O'Connell for inviting us back again this year. Eric and Rick participated in the IREM State House Tour and had a photo with Senator Brian Joyce followed by a dinner at Cheers. Saturday was a great event hosted by ServiceMaster by Gilmore, Running For Ro. Rick Hoyt was the keynote speaker and everyone enjoyed themselves. The first segment was an interview with Karen Whitman, Senior Director of Hilton Worldwide. They discussed Hilton's branding in the Northeast region, what their marketing plan is for all the market segments, and why Hilton maintains five separate brands under the Hilton name. Andrea Foster, Vice President of PKF Consulting. They primarily do market consulting and analysis and spa and wellness consultation for the hospitality industry. Ken Ford, VP of New England Hotel Realty discussed a little background on his company and his experiences in brokering hotels in our region. Douglas Hercher of RobertDouglas discussed investment management, consulting with smaller field of clients who have a larger portfolio of needs in the hotel and hospitality industry. He also discussed opening his own company last year and what precipitated him starting it. Jim O'Connell discussed the HELP Conference, what led to its founding, why Boston was chosen to host the event, who it helps and how much emphasis is placed on content of the event. Also shared some of the various entertainment/dining opportunities that accompany registration to the event. Thank you to our show sponsors: New England Restaurant Brokers, Command Security Corporation, NEBFM, City of Hartford CT. DONO project.

This week, Rick and Eric discussed recent events in their first segment. They both attended CannonDesign's event in celebration of their 30th anniversary. CannonDesign generously gave a donation to charity in celebration. The same night, Eric went to Building Impact's Non-Gala where he participated in assembling care pages and creating blankets. Rick and Eric interviewed David Kirk of Kirk & Company in their second segment. Kirk & Company is an appraisal, litigation and counseling corporation for both private and public organizations. David discussed his experiences in dispute resolution, real estate counseling and celebrating Kirk & Company's third decade in business. David considers the Boston metropolitan area a top three investment and economic prospect on an ongoing basis, but does acknowledge that of the city as well as the western part of the state are not responding to the overall market growth. David Kirk stayed for Rick and Eric's third segment to discuss climate change and how it affects commercial real estate. Solar is an increasing trend, but perhaps not cost effective enough for businesses or individuals to do without associated tax credits. David also recommends that business be nimble -- having their employees with the appropriate access to work from home when being in the office isn't possible in inclement weather. The ability for office buildings to run on generators is also a recommended modification. Thank you to our show sponsors: New England Restaurant Brokers, Command Security Corporation, NEBFM, City of Hartford CT. DONO project.

This weeks show is hosted by Rick Kaplan and Eric Wilson . Talk about the opportunity for developers with the DONO project in North Hartford, CT. Rick and Eric also talk about Events of the past week and their new show NEREJ Radio with New York and New Jersey guests and news. Rick and Eric interview Jake Laskin president of NextSun Energy. Jake talks about leasing roof tops and ground space and turning it into revenue producing space with solar energy systems. NextSun Energy works with many municipality and property owners with min. of 40,000 Sq. Ft. and can take the unused space for a solar system that will now be a new revenue source for the property owner and for NextSun Energy. Closing the show Rick and Eric discussed upcoming events: March 30 -- April 4 -- BOMA Conference April 7& 8- Help Conference at the Seaport Waterfront Hotel, Boston Thank you to our show sponsors: New England Restaurant Brokers, Command Security Corporation, NEBFM, City of Hartford CT. DONO project

This weeks show is hosted by Rick Kaplan and Eric Wilson . In their first segment, Rick and Eric discussed the list of retail chains closing stores throughout the world. Retailers are struggling with the changes of the industry over saturation and online shopping. Rick and Eric interview Dennis Serpone of New England Restaurant Brokers and discuss how a restaurant broker works for you. Dennis talks about some of the needs a restaurant must have to be successful and what the broker can do to find locations, restaurants or bars. Dennis also talks about how a broker can help with the valuation of a restaurant or bar. During the interview with Dennis Serpone he mentions his firm is extremely busy and is looking to hire new brokers to his firm. Closing the show Rick and Eric discussed upcoming events. March 20 -- Cocktails & Conversation -- Dress for Progress at Mr. Sid's March 30 -- April 4 -- BOMA Conference April 7& 8- Help Conference at the Seaport Waterfront Hotel, Boston Thank you to our show sponsors: New England Restaurant Brokers, Command Security Corporation, NEBFM, City of Hartford CT. DONO project

This weeks show, hosted by Rick Kaplan and co host Eric Wilson. In his first segment, Rick discussed details of NEREJ's next networking event. Cocktails & Conversations -- Dress for Progress will be held at Mr. Sid in Newton, Mass. on March 20th from 6-9 PM. Tickets for the event will be $29. Rick and Eric also talk about the opportunity for developers with the DONO project in North Hartford, CT. Rick and Eric interview Jon Ciffolillo principal, Chris Connors branch manager, and Hans Wentrup business development from Greenscape Land Design. Jon and Chris discuss how they plan budgeting and manage landscape and snow removal for the many clients they service throughout New England. Closing the show Rick and Eric discussed upcoming events. March 20 -- Cocktails & Conversation -- Dress for Progress at Mr. Sids; March 30 -- April 4 -- BOMA Conference; April 7-8- Help Conference at the Seaport Waterfront Hotel, Boston Thank you to our show sponsors: New England Restaurant Brokers, Command Security Corporation, NEBFM, City of Hartford CT. DONO project

This week, Rick hosted the show without his trusty sidekick, Eric. In his first segment, Rick discussed details of NEREJ's next networking event. Cocktails and Conversations -- Dress for Progress will be held at Mr. Sid's in Newton, Mass. on March 20th from 6-9 PM. Tickets for the event will be $29. Rick also talks about last weeks guest discussion on the DONO project in North Hartford, Conn. Rick interviewed John Stagnone of The Friends of the State Theatre in Stoughton, Mass. John discuss the revitalization of the the Stoughton theatre that originally opened in 1927 and has been vacant since 2007. Revitalizing the theatre will be a great for the downtown Stoughton area and surrounding towns and bring business opportunities for restaurants, retail and nightlife for the downtown area. Second interview Rick talks with John "Jack" Peckham founder and CEO of Peckham Boston Advisors LLC ( Originally Data Realty Corp, which he grew to be New England's largest income property brokerage firm). jack is the author several real estate books. Jack is known as the fuzzy slippers broker and closed over $40,000,000 in sales on the internet recently in 20% of his working time. Now he spends the other 80% mentoring other brokers and agents with the Income Property Masters Program. Closing the show Rick and Eric discussed upcoming events. March 20 -- Cocktails & Conversation -- Dress for Progress at Mr. Sids March 30 -- April 4 -- BOMA Conference April 7& 8- Help Conference at the Seaport Waterfront Hotel, Boston Thank you to our show sponsors: New England Restaurant Brokers, Command Security Corporation, NEBFM, City of Hartford CT. DONO project