Walker Webcast going strong with the 150th episode

Walker & Dunlop is pleased to announce that our Walker Webcast is celebrating its 150th episode in July. It’s a Walker & Dunlop milestone worth marking because of the uncertainty of the world at the time we started and the perseverance it required to get us here. A project our CEO Willy Walker started during COVID has morphed into an award-winning platform that offers deep insights on a wide range of subjects from a variety of industries.

As the producer of the Walker Webcast, I’m delighted to see how much this amazing brand flagship has grown and the strengths it embodies — proving that times of crisis are catalysts for creativity, innovation, and new success stories.

Why we started (and keep producing) the Walker Webcast

You can pick your platform and opt to register and watch the Walker Webcast live or at your leisure on YouTube, listen to the content as a podcast, or read a summary in our weekly insights recap where you can glean the most salient soundbites in word form.

A particularly important “baby” of Walker & Dunlop (W&D) Chairman and CEO Willy Walker, the Walker Webcast aims to offer something beyond vanilla business advice and the same trite insights making their way around the web. There’s no better way to go about it than sharing first-party data and conversations with our very own W&D leaders.

Willy chooses his guests from his extensive network. Conversations feel natural, making each episode an easy listen. Guests come from a variety of industries, with a variety of interests to discuss. My personal favorites are the ones focused on CRE, but we’ve also covered topics like elevating your team, unleashing greatness in the workplace, and the current state of air travel, among many others.

No matter how you choose to connect, the end goal remains the same: For us, it’s to shine a light on our internal perspectives on all things business, commercial real estate, the economy, leadership, and more. And for you and many others like you, it’s to collect first-hand wisdom you won’t find anywhere else.

A look back at 149 episodes (and counting)

In the early days of the Walker Webcast, COVID was a hot topic. We speculated about how cities could flourish again, how the pandemic would impact the markets, and the rising role of Amazon during lockdowns. Since then, we’ve honed our production process for this multi-channel asset, ensuring our listeners can engage however they wish. Our webcast and podcast are produced and edited 24 hours post-live event. Our Insights recap quickly follows for those who prefer to read or skim.

Out of 149 episodes (soon to be 150), our most viewed segment features Dr. Peter Linneman’s Most Insightful Hour in CRE. Built on a 10-year friendship between Walker and Linneman, this series beats our all-time record of 260,000+ views and continues to attract new webcast viewers and subscribers. Inside the conversations, Dr. Linneman shares the most pressing economic issues, pandemic repercussions, and predictions for the markets, among other topics. As one viewer wrote, “One of the best Walker Webcasts yet! Keep 'em coming.”

We’ve toured through talks on how to build a billion-dollar brand (courtesy of Trek Bicycle Corporation’s John Burke), the importance of authenticity in business (thanks to Stio CEO Stephen Sullivan), and the economic effects of longer lifespans (courtesy of Albert Ratner). We’ve been inside the minds of athletes, female executives, retail experts, and sustainability leaders. Each hour-long episode ties back to current headlines, recent developments, and actionable next steps so that listeners and viewers leave with much more than they envisioned.

What makes the Walker Webcast one of a kind

We’ve garnered a large following in the CRE community over the past three years, and I believe it’s because the Walker Webcast has become an example of what happens when experts and innovators unite to bring knowledge and goodness to the world.

Though I may sound biased, I’m not the only one who thinks so. For example, we have also been named in two categories for the Shorty Awards. Real estate is an obvious one. We were also in the running for the use of the YouTube platform, placing us alongside another top contender, Yellowstone (yes, the Yellowstone).

The “Location, Location, Location” mantra in real estate also applies to the achievements of our webcast. We’ve found success at the intersection of far-reaching expertise, topic diversity, and technology. Together, we have all the tools we need to share information that makes an impact. It’s the people that make the real difference — a bevy of guests keep every episode interesting and unique while providing them with a platform to share their accounts and experiences with people who want to hear them. Mutually beneficial relationships always go farther than one can go alone.

What’s next for the Walker Webcast

We continue to produce new webcasts almost every Wednesday. If you’re feeling a bit of FOMO, rest assured you can enjoy all of our previous episodes via YouTube or Apple Podcasts and catch the recaps on our website. If you’re a forward-thinking, glass-half-full kind of person, you can sneak a peek at our upcoming Walker Webcast guests and sign up for notifications and updates.

We look forward to having you join us for our 150th episode and beyond.