Next week, we’re doing something big. Chicago Agent magazine is hosting its first-ever full-day real estate event, called the Accelerate Summit, on Tuesday, March 5 at the Merchandise Mart.

Why now? Well, we saw a need, as the market is beginning to shift in new ways.

Of course, the Chicagoland market ramps up pretty much every spring, requiring agents and brokers to compete more aggressively for leads, listings and the attention of buyers and sellers. But as people who interact with real estate professionals every day, we’ve been hearing about a larger trend: This particular spring marks a pivotal moment for agents and brokers, and it’s time to prepare for change in the market. We created the Accelerate Summit to offer a space to build relationships, identify best practices, and gain the necessary knowledge to execute a successful real estate career in changing times.

We did something a little different with registration by restricting it to licensed real estate practitioners only. That was part of an intentional design that allowed us to really focus programming on the needs of working agents and brokers. We’ve lined up an incredible collection of expert speakers and educational sessions, a few of which we’ve highlighted here (see the schedule to the right).

But as many seasoned agents and brokers can attest, much of the magic will likely come in the moments before, after and between sessions, when we’ll all get time to network and trade ideas and points of view with each other. Our writers and editors are particularly looking forward to hearing from attendees and panelists alike on the stories and developments we should be covering over the next year and beyond.

We hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a fruitful day of learning, networking and fun. As of today, there are still tickets available for the summit — as well as tickets to the after-party at the Mart’s Marshall’s Landing. Be sure to check in with us on Facebook or Twitter for the latest news on that, or check the event site for more information.

If you can’t make it, be sure to check out ChicagoAgentMagazine.com next week to read all the takeaways our writers glean from the event. It all fits in with our mission to bring readers news and information that will help them improve their businesses. And with the wide variety of subjects being tackled Tuesday, there’s sure to be something for everyone in our roundup coverage.