APTvirtual

How we connected

By Lee Ann Stiff on Nov 11, 2020 in Events, News

The apartment industry met online at APTvirtual, powered by NAA, from Nov. 2-6 to forge more powerful connections with each other and the technology that will take us forward as we stay connected at home. With the theme “Yardi keeps you and your residents connected” we were there to share, learn and spark inspiration together.

What we shared

It was a pleasure to not only hear your voices but also see your faces, including through the virtual mosaic that allowed attendees to be together in spirit. Thank you for sharing your photos to help build this fun digital community — look closely to find your friends and colleagues.

How we learned

We hope you joined our educational sessions, but if you missed them and were a registered attendee, you can watch them on demand until Dec. 4.

Big Data, Benchmarking and Forecasting: A Tale of Two Studies
With advances in big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence, the ability to manage your business with laser precision and shape future outcomes has never been greater. In this session, industry leaders share how they use operational benchmarks to identify opportunities and predictive analytics for marketing and leasing to make timely changes and realize gains. Here are a few sound bites:

“Using machine learning, we’re able to pick out patterns and trends in a much broader pool of data. We have lots of data points, including around spending on SEM and how it correlates to leasing ratios. Seeing the data reinforces decisions about when to spend marketing dollars to meet our leasing and revenue goals,” said Shawn Cardner, executive vice president at Grubb Properties.

“Our asset management team takes a very active role in the budgeting process, and benchmarking is extremely important to them. Being able to look at a region and do comparisons — down to spending on plumbing and landscaping — gives us visibility down to budgeting line items,” said Joe Anfuso, chief financial officer at MG Properties.

Emerging Issues: Looking Ahead to the Post-Pandemic Future
Even as we deal with ongoing economic and societal impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all thinking about what the future might look like. Universal truths for our industry will persist: people will still need to rent apartments. “What we’re seeing from our RentCafe.com surveys is that renters want more choice with self-guided and virtual tours. I think these options for more convenient touring will persist long after the pandemic,” said Esther Bonardi, vice president of marketing at Yardi. Bonardi was joined by Garin Hamburger from Pinnacle, Pei Pei Mirabella from Bozzuto and Ian Mattingly from LumaCorp to share forward-thinking ideas for multifamily’s post-pandemic future, including marketing and leasing.

Where we talked tech

Thanks for visiting our booths to chat with Yardi experts and tell us what you’re excited about! Big data and self-guided tours are leading the way into 2021, and according to our polls, 69% of respondents are most excited about self-guided tours.

Asset IQ, part of Yardi Elevate, uses big data to deliver predictive analytics and prescriptive actions to lower costs and increase revenue. RentCafe Self-Guided Tours helps operators meet the demands of a changing market, giving prospects the ability to tour at their own pace and maintain social distancing. Booth visitors also learned about RentCafe Chat IQ, an AI-powered chatbot that learns and adapts to fit each community.

Who we met

We hope you enjoyed hearing from Anant Yardi himself during the Connect with Yardi Executives session. In addition to talking about the state of the industry and tech trends, Mr. Yardi said, “Relationships with our clients are so important to us. I’m looking at all of you and so many memories of working together over the years are coming back. Thank you for dedicating your time to this.”

How to connect with us now

Missed us at APTvirtual? Contact us, and we’ll show you what you missed.