Real Estate Forum RealShare Downtown event. With 14 online events planned for 2009, RealShare Virtual Conferences will provide commercial real estate professionals with many of the same educational and networking opportunities available at RealShare in-person events while reducing attendance and travel costs, according to a release.

The series will kick off with the RealShare Downtown New York Virtual Conference at 11 am on Thursday, followed on April 8 with the RealShare Multifamily Virtual Conference. Attendees will be able to select conference sessions, listen to speakers, participate in Q&A sessions and network with their peers, all online via their desktop computers. Complete details are available at www.RealShareConferences.com/virtual.

Each RealShare Virtual Conference will be structured similarly to the in-person events, with keynote addresses from industry leaders, Town Hall sessions and other expert panels and interactive discussion opportunities. Thursday's Downtown event, for example, will offer a "chat room" to post questions and have them answered immediately. Participants will be able to click on online tools to attend sessions, ask questions and meet their peers, with simple, intuitive navigation and online support. No special training or technical skills will be required.

Along with the chat-room discussions, which will be led by high-profile industry professionals, Virtual Conference attendees can also communicate via message boards or through exchange of v-cards. All attendees will have two-way access to conference message boards for postings and responses, providing opportunities to promote services, provide information and list jobs. Each attendee can tailor his/her profile to enhance or limit networking. Sessions and chat recaps will also be available for four business days following the live event date.