While most of his experience is with new construction rather than remodels, he’s already given me a few pointers and is looking into potential referrals for me.

That's probably what I'd do first unless you just have no experience doing these deals at all. 

Events like this give the opportunity to meet and talk to investors from all over the country, doing different kind of investing, and with a varied amount of experience.

Everyone is there to learn and connect, and everyone started out with no experience. 

Quote from @Kyle Kline: Hello,I am curious if anybody has experience using short note investing to raise funds for an investment property down payment.

My experience was mostly doing SFH/Duplex/Triplex etc. and had experience in larger multifam. 

Does anybody else have experience as of lately...? 

I took the Airbnb bookings and now I'm around 80/20 Airbnb/VRBO.Based on a recent bad experience that I had with Airbnb (it's a separate thread out here), I called VRBO and asked them how I can get more booking requests from VRBO. 

I would try to tie those experiences and skill sets to your REI path.  

My actual experience has been very varied.