I have also been a guest speaker at the GA REIA on two occasions.

No sales pitches, just quality networking and short guest speaker segment to help us learn.

@Collin Golden  go to RAREBIRD   Mike Nuss runs it.. quality content without sales pitches.and I am not just saying that because they had me as a speaker once... 

Our speaker will be Dana Rose, the Administrator of the City of Columbus Division of Code Enforcement.

Its a ZERO guru networking event with solid speakers.

They've got a slick website, but it kind of seems like the whole thing is an homage to the lady who runs it...and her husband is a real estate speaker whose "seminars" are given away for attending the meeting.I'm all for networking events, but this one is making my spidey-sense tingle.

These meetings have a usually have speaker or panel.

I don't know a lot about their operation or their pricing but I have worked with a very good fix and flip investor that was one of their speakers, I've used some of their deal analysis tools and I attended a day of one of their seminars as the realtor who opened doors on the tour bus.The info they shared prior to our tour was good info, especially to someone that was new. 

There is also a REIA in Dedham which I have not been to, but they asked me to speak so I will see how it is tomorrow (at least I know the speaker will be good!

As someone who wasn't even sure about what real estate investing was about at the time, I had no less than 30 people just throw their business cards at me, barely even giving me their name or leaving a good impression.Furthermore, after paying $30 to get in, there was a speaker for an hour and at the end it was a sales pitch to get us all to buy their $1200 Business in a box.I have a friend who keeps forwarding me the CTREIA event invites because he wants to start going, but my time and money is way too valuable to spend on a sales pitch.Can anyone shed some light on the actual benefits of joining a local REIA?