This year Mega Camp (MC26) tightened its name and its focus as thousands of KW-affiliated associates returned to the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio for four days built around one directive: Lock in. Level up.
Split into two tracks, MC26 offered a path for agents chasing top-level production, as well as one for Market Center leaders looking to concentrate their systems — all while presenting sharper main-stage sessions and more opportunities for role-based masterminds led by MAPS Coaches.
Market Update
Gary Keller, now a big-time coffee guy, opened with his much-anticipated state-of-the-U.S. economy address; joined by the familiar likes of Chief Industry and Strategy Officer Jason Abrams, VP of KW MAPS Coaching Cody Gibson, and Chief Economist Ruben Gonzalez. The TL;DR is that unemployment has ticked up to around 4.1%, GDP growth has cooled to roughly 2% annualized, and inflation sits near 2.9% (which is still elevated, but a world away from 2022’s peak). More to the point, existing home sales have held steady in the 4–4.15 million range, with inventory hovering between 3.5 and 4.7 months of supply. In short, the market isn’t in crisis, it’s just in balance.
One particular stat worth highlighting: Over the last decade, the share of buyers using an agent has slipped from roughly 89% to 77%. This is a market where representation has to prove its value every time. But as Gary put it, “there’s enough real estate being sold for any one of you to hit the goals you’ve established for yourself.” The job isn’t to wait for the market to get easier. It’s what he called, bluntly, “a price and beauty contest,” and winning starts with the right mindset.
FearFit
And in true KW fashion, that mindset has a name: FearFit. Gary made a point to distinguish that there is a difference between being fearful and being FearFit. The question isn’t whether or not you feel fear, but rather does fear have you or do you have it?
“Fear is your mind predicting something bad could happen,” he told the room. “The difference between average and extraordinary isn’t the absence of fear. It’s what we do with it.” It’s never been about eliminating fear, so much as making sure that fear “has less influence over your choices.” Gary hammered it home saying that “confidence doesn’t come before action. Confidence comes from repeated action.”
Optimization vs. Scaling
On Day Two, Gary built off that mindset with a helpful framework (and challenge) that in order “to become someone we’ve never been, we must do things we’ve never done.” With that, he drew a line between two ideas most people never separate: optimization and scaling. To put it simply, optimization is getting the most out of what you’ve already got, whereas scaling is taking that and building it into more. “If you fail to optimize, you’ll fail to scale.” The best path forward is to make it work, make it better, and make it last.
A Fireside Chat with Simon Sinek
As one of the MC26’s biggest draws, Simon Sinek sat down for an intimate and illuminating conversation with Gary and Jason. When asked what a career studying human behavior had taught him, Sinek’s answer cut straight to relationships. “People are remarkably consistent,” he said, “and the difference between a bad salesperson and a great one often comes down to curiosity” — adding that bad salespeople ask about one-fifth of the questions a good one might. “Have genuine interest and care,” he said, “and the skills transfer everywhere — business and life.”
As you can imagine, the center of the conversation was why. Sinek has built a career on the idea that “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it,” and he pushed the room further: agents who chase success as a what (i.e. a number, a title, a deal) often hit it and realize it’s not enough. “A real why,” he explained, “is an act of service, and not a scoreboard.” He went on to state that a why is mostly set by the time we’re in our late teens, living less in the decision-making part of your brain (prefrontal cortex) and more in the part that can’t quite put itself into words (the limbic brain). “It’s how it feels,” he said. “It’s not a tagline you invent, but one you discover.”
He closed with some relational wisdom, explaining that clients can tell the difference between someone who shows up to take and someone who shows up to give. “Don’t sacrifice relationships for money,” he told the crowd. “The relationships will last better.”
The Voices of MC26
This year’s CEO Summit kicked things off with Craig Zuber’s “10 Year Letter” exercise, Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones longevity research, and Amy Porterfield’s reminder that “if you’re not getting consistent leads out of social media you’re not marketing — you’re volunteering.” Additionally, Cameron Herold walked leaders through hiring an effective second-in-command (with an admonishment to “delegate everything except genius”), Sarah Reynolds delivered six keys to winning the conversation around pricing, and Leslee Owen challenged agents not to be “the invisible giant” — one who’s strong in person, but a ghost online.
Bringing It Home
Beyond the copious notes, agents were able to purchase and take home an early copy of the MREA Playbook Vol. 4, with new sections on AI, newsletters, and social media, alongside timeless and familiar models such as the 5 Ps of Scale and the Circle of Trust. True to form, it sold out within the first day.
Houston, We Have a Reunion
Mark your calendars as FR27 heads to Space City, Feb. 19–22.
