The 2013 Appraisal Institute Annual Meeting drew nearly 450 attendees to Indianapolis, July 23rd-25th. The event featured five informative general session speakers, more than 30 different education sessions and 16 hours of continuing education credit and state credit, in addition to exhibits, awards and networking events. The Chapter Leadership Program and Joint Regions Meeting also took place in Indianapolis this week. The slate of speakers included keynote speaker Ron Insana, a prominent commentator and business reporter with cable networks CNBC and MSNBC; Steven Elliott, SRA, MRA, chair, The Appraisal Foundation Board of Trustees; Mark Linné, MAI, SRA, chief executive officer, ValueScape Analytics, Inc.; Rene Circ, director of research, industrial, Property and Portfolio Research (a division of CoStar Group); and Jack Huntress, managing director, residential, Environmental Data Resources. Five appraisers were honored during an awards dinner July 25th: * Harry Holzhauer, MAI, SRA, SRPA, formerly of Lake Oswego, Ore., posthumously received the AI Lifetime Achievement Award; * Robin Amorin, MAI, of Austin, Texas, received the Outstanding Service Award. President's Award recipients were: * Roscoe "Rocky" Shiplett, MAI, of Charlotte, N.C.; * William "Otto" Spence, MAI, of Louisville, Ky.; and * Sandra Adomatis, SRA, of Punta Gorda, Fla. Local chapter member and current Appraisal Foundation Board of Trustees chair Steven Elliot, SRA, MRA, addressed the general session on the future of the appraisal profession. Elliot told attendees that, even as the real estate market continues its slow recovery, the valuation profession still faces numerous challenges, including market conditions, government intervention, and client expectations. Elliot also took a look into the future to postulate how appraisers will respond to these challenges, and went on to discuss potential opportunities that may exist for appraisers. "One in every three babies born today will live to be 100 (years old). Think of all the construction," Elliot said. He also discussed his views on issues such as professional standards, qualifications, designations, education, ethics and methodology practices. Elliot met with AI's national leaders and spoke to the board over the course of the three day meetings in Indianapolis. On the Chapter level, we have several timely panel discussions and educational events planned for the fall. As always, the generosity of our sponsors assists in the support our operations. We thank our 2013 premier sponsors, Joseph J. Blake & Assoc., Inc., CBRE, and Narrative 1, for their continued support, which helps in producing quality education and events. Please join us for the upcoming course, Advanced Income Capitalization on August 19th-23rd, as well as a superlative panel event, "The Relocation of Providence Interstate 195: From Concept to Reality" on September 10th. Check it out on the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Chapter of the Appraisal Institute website. We look forward to seeing you there! Karen Hanlon, MAI, MRICS is the 2013 president of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Chapter of the Appraisal Institute and executive managing director of Centurion Global Realty Advisors, Boston, MA.