A steady Texas rain couldn’t dampen the energy at the RESO 2026 Spring Conference. Hundreds of attendees arrived at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa ready to trade poolside lounging for packed sessions, sharp conversations and real business momentum.
Let’s recap the week that was!
RESO Spring Conference Kickoff with RESO CEO Sam DeBord.
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The Head in the Cowboy Colada, Left: Steve “the Swizzle Stick” Byrd.
Day 0 Highlight
Welcome Reception (Sponsored by Canopy MLS) – Per tradition, the conference kicked off with a casual meetup for innovators, standards pros and curious minds. The networking provided the kind of unexpected collisions that RESO is known for – undoubtedly sparking new projects from good businesses. Bonus: The Steve Byrd Swizzler!
Day 1 Highlights
Welcome & RESO Today – RESO Board Chair Rebecca Jensen (MRED) opened with leadership lessons inspired by Jim Collins’ flywheel concept. CEO Sam DeBord followed with RESO’s own flywheel – fueled by surging Data Dictionary certifications, accelerating Web API adoption, member growth in 20 countries and a full slate of new 2026 products.
Innovation at RESO – Al McElmon (Cotality) showcased the expanding suite of RESO tools built to speed development and strengthen the real estate tech ecosystem.
From Standards to Speed: The Power of Infrastructure – Dan Troup (Broker Public Portal) demonstrated how shared infrastructure turns standards into real‑world velocity, shortening time to market and boosting vendor collaboration.
First row, left to right: Rebecca Jensen, Sam DeBord, Al McElmon, Dan Troup and Angie Baker. Second row, left to right: Joe Schneider, Andrew Coca, Daniel Jones, Patrick Pichette, Ali Attar, Liz Sturrock, Shayne Fairley.
Unlawful Distribution and What Standards Can Do About It – Joe Schneider and Andrew Coca (SourceRE) joined Daniel Jones (Hive MLS) for a candid discussion on MLS data misuse – and how standards help identify and shut down bad actors.
GDX: The New Global Standard – Patrick Pichette and Ali Attar (Realtyfeed) teamed up with Liz Sturrock (MIAMI REALTORS®) and Shayne Fairley (Stellar MLS) to reveal how the Global Data Exchange (GDX) is creating a RESO‑standard, API‑driven network for global listing connectivity.
New Standards for Buyer Data – Angie Baker (MIBOR BLC) delivered one of the conference’s standout sessions, making a compelling case for adding buyer‑side data to the Data Dictionary to improve pre‑transaction clarity.
Inconsistent Licensing Undermines Interoperability – Bill Fowler (Voiceflip), Chris Haran (MRED) and Marinda Neumann (Neumann & Associates) unpacked the challenges of navigating multiple MLS licenses – and how consistency unlocks interoperability.
First row, left to right: Jason Darrough, Bill Fowler, Chris Haran, Marinda Neumann, Michael Wurzer, Joseph Szurgyi, Al McElmon. Second row, left to right: Kurtis Cicalo, Matthew Nagy; James Rogers, Matt Fowler; Nina Dosanjh, Sean Soderstrom, Jeff Bosch.
Source MLS – Michael Wurzer (FBS), Al McElmon (Cotality) and Joseph Szurgyi (MLS Grid) explored how trademark badges and tracking tech can reinforce trust in listing data.
RESO Recognition – Leading Edge Award winners and Workgroup Contributor honorees were celebrated for their impact across the standards community.
The MLS Is an Attack Vector – Kurtis Cicalo (Voiceflip) and Matthew Nagy (Doorify MLS) walked through a realistic AI‑driven attack scenario, showing how malicious instructions can hide in listing remarks, filenames and metadata – and what MLSs can do to defend against them.
Broker Advisory Spotlight – Jeff Bosch (IRES MLS) and Nina Dosanjh (Vanguard Properties) interviewed Sean Soderstrom (Courted) about the value of roster data, recruiting insights and broker‑driven standards improvements.
Left to right: Rick Herrera, Gayle Ludemann, Al McElmon.
Standards as Strategic Leverage – James Rogers (RealReports) and Matt Fowler (Doorify MLS) shared how RESO compliance and analytics can be used as strategic product differentiators.
Data Dictionary Workgroup – Jason Darrough (RESO), Gayle Ludemann (MRED) and Al McElmon (Cotality) highlighted new fields, lookup updates, subgroup progress and the evolving major/minor versioning cadence.
Pain Points (Sponsored by MLS Grid) – Rick Herrera (Constellation Data Labs), Jason Darrough (RESO) and Sergio Del Rio (Templates4Business) tackled member‑submitted challenges – from data quality to authentication overload to OData aggregation – and outlined how workgroups will address them throughout the year.
Pain Points highlights that workgroups will address over the rest of the year include:
- Data Quality Issues
- Too Many Ways to Authenticate
- Expand-Only Resources
- Deletes
- Multiple Feeds / Client
- Not Enough Mandatory Fields
- Providing Fields in Metadata But No Actual Data
- Support for Points and Shapes
- Capabilities Resource
- Support for OData Aggregation
- Debugging Endpoint – Why the Listing Is Not in the Feed
Community, Color and Collaboration
Fiesta Reception (Sponsored by FMLS) – Bright attire, live music from the Low Standards Band (powered by RESO members!) and guest vocalists made for a lively evening.
Run Club, Left to Right: Harman Gill, Maria Dalarcao, Bill Andrews, Michael Lucarelli, Matt Casey, Brian Alford, Janine Sieja, Olga Ermolin. Low Standards Band, Left to Right: John Heithaus, Dan Ray, Hud Bixler, John Breault, Katie Smithson, Bill Fowler.
Day 2 Highlights
RESO Run Club – The group has been going for ten years strong, and not even a downpour could stop the sunrise joggers and walkers, especially in the age of AI.
Roundtables (Sponsored by RentSpree)
This spring delivered a diverse set of roundtable topics, including:
- RENEW: Lessons from the Books That Raised Us – Rediscovering childhood stories and the values they still shape today.
- From Dangerous Pain Points to Consensus Standards – Turning recurring technical frustrations into actionable RESO solutions.
- New RESO Tools – A look at the new desktop client, reference server, sandbox server and more.
- RESO Educational Courses – Expanding RED courses and future training opportunities.
- From Data to Deals: Activating MLS Data for Member Success – How MLSs are helping agents turn standardized data into visibility and business.
- Scaling Forward: Practical RESO API Migration: 1.7 → 2.0 → 2.1 – Real‑world lessons from implementers navigating version transitions.
- Global Data Exchange (GDX) – Using RESO standards to bring international listings home.
- What’s Next for Data Dictionary 2.1, 2.2 and 3.0 – Faster minor versions, roadmapped majors and new data elements.
First Row: “RENEW: Lessons from the Books That Raised Us”; Second Row, left to right: “From Dangerous Pain Points to Consensus Standards”, “Global Data Exchange (GDX)”.
The MLS Data Advantage: How Standards and Startups Deliver Real Member Value – Ashley Stinton (REACH), Elizabeth Koneru (NAR) and Liz Sturrock (MIAMI REALTORS®) showed how standardized data accelerates startup innovation and MLS member value.
Machine‑Readable Rights: AI Governance and LLM Risk – Ethan Bailey (Cotality) provided an in-depth exploration of how AI systems can respect content rights through transparent, machine‑readable usage flags.
The Industry’s Plumbing Problem – John Heithaus (Ocusell) delivered a lively take on why strong standards are the key to fixing the industry’s “leaky pipes.”
First row, left to right: Ethan Bailey, John Heithaus, Jessica Hickok, Greg Fischer, Andy Taylor. Second row, left to right: Ashley Stinton, Elizabeth Koneru, Liz Sturrock, Liz Gunski, Michael Lucarelli, Mike McKay, Mike Murphy.
The Invisible Risk in Licensee Compliance Data – Jessica Hickok (ARELLO) highlighted the importance of reliable licensee verification as the foundation of marketplace trust.
Assumable Loan Standards: A Key to Affordability – Greg Fischer and Andy Taylor (RetroRate) made the case for new Data Dictionary fields to support assumable loans – after Fischer received a surprise pink cowboy hat inspired by the Low Standards band’s cover of “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan.
Beyond the Transaction: Extending RESO Standards to Reflect Market Behavior – Liz Gunski (RPR) moderated a panel of “Mikes” ((Michael Lucarelli of RentSpree, Mike McKay of Greater Alabama MLS, Mike Murphy of Central Texas MLS) on how RESO standards can evolve to capture pre-transaction signals like saves, tours and application volume.
Workgroups in Action
Research & Development Workgroup – Greg Moore (RMLS) and John Breault (State‑Wide MLS) reviewed business cases around AI, disaster mitigation and appraisal standards.
Interoperability Workgroup – Chris Haran (MRED) and Catharine MacIntosh (Listed) discussed progress on Offer Management and the Unique Licensee Identifier (ULI).
Transport Workgroup & Certification Subgroup – Sergio Del Rio (Templates4Business) highlighted major advances in transport and certification powered by new development tools and a lot of human ingenuity – with help from an AI “guy” called Claude and a real person called Patrick Coca (Modern.tech).
First row, left to right: John Breault, Greg Moore, Patrick Coca, Sergio Del Rio. . Second row, left to right: Paula Nash, Chris Siebarth, Megan McFarlane, Joe Schnieder, Crystal McCaslin, Manny Mendez, Andrew Coca, Chris Haran, Catharine MacIntosh.
Closing Ceremonies
Final Cocktails (Sponsored by SourceRE) – After three days indoors, attendees were thrilled to unwind outside and reconnect with actual sunlight.
Morning Golf (Sponsored by Solid Earth) – The final group standing took on 18 holes at the outstanding Canyon course at TPC San Antonio – three putts, triple bogeys and sand traps included.
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Onward to Colorado Springs
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Thanks to every attendee, sponsor and contributor who continues to push RESO standards and the industry forward.
