A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be one of the dozen undergraduate students to attend the ULI Fall Meeting in Dallas, Texas, as a recipient of the Wells Fargo ULI Scholarship.

My week started with the Women’s Leadership Initiative’s reception at the Nasher Sculpture Centre, which features a beautiful garden space. Afterwards, I checked out one of Dallas’ best public spaces: Klyde Warren Park. Here, I met with a fellow Wells Fargo Scholar from California at the Savor Gastropub, which takes up prime real estate at the centre of the park.

The next day was full of inspirational talks from international minds. Global strategist and author Parag Khanna spoke about how people interact, the future of the world and breaking down barriers to cope with a new phase of urbanization. Next in the speaker series was Trumbull Unmanned founder and CEO Dyan Gibbens, an ex-air force pilot with extensive knowledge of drone technology and how this innovation is shaping the real estate industry. To conclude the inaugural day, there was a dense panel on the Globalization of Capital: The Short and Long-Term View, which generated an intriguing and informative discussion on the geopolitical and macroeconomic effects on global real estate.

The evening social held on the rooftop patio of the hip NYLO hotel was a great way to unwind after an eventful first day and meet fellow student delegates. There was a large cohort of master’s students from Columbia University’s Master’s in Real Estate Development and Finance, as well as New York University’s similar program. With a W Hotels’ ambiance with an outdoor pool and deck, the Dallas skyline was dashing from such heights.

Wednesday started with a proper breakfast, sponsored by our good friends from Wells Fargo Dallas. It was an honour to meet the other scholarship winners, who hailed from across the US, from California to New York. There were also representatives from the Dallas’ real estate team at Wells Fargo, who came to speak with us. It was great to learn about their experiences of becoming involved in commercial real estate finance.

The rest of the day offered many amazing speakers and panels. However, there was one that struck a chord: the panel about experts’ forecasts for the next three years. It was very educational, providing deep micro and macroeconomic analysis on what the data was showing today and their thoughts on the future. Although there was little attention paid to Canadian markets, the analysis proved to be worthwhile as the state of American real estate is often compared to Canada.

The evening ended with the ULI Canada reception, where I had the opportunity to meet professionals from Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and beyond. It was a great reception to network and meet Canadians, of course, as many ULI Fall Meeting attendees were American.

The final day came quicker than expected and was accompanied by bittersweet feelings. I started the day on the hospitality side at the panel on Urban Resorts Reimagined. Architects, developers and interior designers flaunted their flashiest and latest projects that were designed to connect the private space of, for example, the hotel to the public space of the surrounding streets. It made for a lively question and answer period which I very much appreciated.

The evening that followed featured a special guest speaker from Singapore, Ms. Cheong Koon Hean, who was certainly one to admire. As the CEO of the Housing and Development Board of the Government of Singapore, Ms. Hean spoke about Singapore’s revolutionary system that incents home ownership while keeping mortgage and debt rates at an affordable level. The well-tempered city is something that many Southeastern Asian nations, such as Singapore, have succeeded in developing. It is in these cities that North America can look for precedent.

As a student, it was an immense pleasure and honour to have such an opportunity to meet fellow students, like-minded individuals and, of course, people who I could aspire to become. ULI brings together the best of the real estate world, truly, from the architect who draws the building to the developer who implements, to municipal representatives who administer and the financial institutions who support. The spectrum of professionals was impressive to say the least, and I am looking forward to be a part of this growing community as I step into the commercial real estate realm in Canada, and internationally in the future!