Once that theme was established, the business leaders at the lecture were able to ask questions about their personal challenges and discuss specific solutions.

Talk with the local business community leaders and find out what they "SEE". 

There's a company down here in San Diego that has senior leaders who live there, headquarter the company there, but spend most of their time in San Diego (rent here) because that's where a good chunk of the operational infrastructure is.  

They are well priced especially for being the leader in this space. 

As the CEO of another turnkey outfit in Birmingham, AL, I can assure you that MI is one of the industry leaders.

My logic went, if the founders/leaders are legitimate, the company and employees should also be good.

You will learn the most from area leaders this way. 

When your a Landlord your a leader, and you must LEAD.

I don't know how common this was, but at the beginning of the meeting the leader named off some occupations and asked people to raise their hands if thats what they do.

Many call this being a though leader.