As we enter the bustling event season, many will attend multiple events and conferences this spring. It’s crucial not to let the whirlwind of activity disrupt the work-life balance. Let’s explore some key reminders on maintaining a balanced life, allowing positivity to flow naturally rather than being forced. Work-life integration, a concept that emphasizes blending professional responsibilities with personal interests and well-being, can be a powerful tool during the event season. It’s not about juggling but about finding a harmonious balance. Explore strategies that promote this harmony, such as flexible scheduling to accommodate personal commitments. Remote and compressed workweeks are particularly beneficial during the event season, especially for event planners. There are several apps to streamline activities and stay on track for event managers and planners, such as Eventbrite and Asana. Practice some time management techniques, such as the Pomodoro technique. This technique was developed in the late 1980s by university student Francesco Cirillo, who struggled to focus on his studies. Feeling overwhelmed, he asked himself to commit to ten minutes of focused study time. Encouraged by the challenge, he found a tomato (pomodoro in Italian) shaped kitchen timer and founded the Pomodoro technique. Cirillo wrote a book about the method, but its most significant strength is simplicity. There might be minimal places to recharge at conferences, but many now incorporate designated workstations. Using your smartphone or watch, set a timer for 25 minutes and focus on the most important task until the timer goes off. When the session ends, mark off one Pomodoro and record what was completed. Enjoy a five-minute break, do some deep breathing or stretches, then continue the rest of the event activities. Schedule regular breaks. Recharge during events and create designated “unplugged” times to disconnect from work and enjoy...

Unconventional resident events can add a fresh and exciting dimension to a property management company’s community-building effort. The benefits of stepping outside the traditional event model will help to retain residents and attract new ones. Unique gatherings can strengthen the sense of community among residents. Here are some types of think-outside-the-box events to explore over the holiday season. Spice up the community with Escape Room Challenges or Mystery Dinners. Transform common areas or vacant units into escape rooms where residents work together to solve puzzles and mysteries. Include a mystery dinner to solve the crime during the meal, then have residents go out and explore around the building. Add a scavenger hunt and have prizes at the end for the winners. Plants and Pets. Plants are so good for the environment and cleanse the air around them. Arrange a gardening event where residents exchange plants, seeds or gardening tips. Microgardening is popular in smaller apartments, so maybe provide a small basil plant to start residents out with. Don’t forget about the four-legged residents. Look for a local pet mobile photographer for the holidays so residents can get their holiday cards made. Culinary Adventures. Delve into the world of cooking classes as a resident event. Cooking classes can enhance residents’ culinary skills, foster connections and offer a fun and educational experience. Find a local chef or culinary expert to lead the classes and provide some sample recipes or themes for these classes. For example, set up some spaces in the common area to learn how to make fresh homemade pasta, which can be a romantic date night for those during Valentine’s Day. Another example would be to decorate holiday cookies together. Provide the cookies already baked, then have various colors of icing in pipping bags...

Swag, a word coined in the 1940s by an advertising executive, is a way for a business to reinforce its brand among clients, prospects and employees. Swag encompasses a vast array of complimentary items ranging from pens, mugs and mouse pads to hats, water bottles, backpacks, specialized bags for carrying tech gear, exercise mats, calendars, magnets, coasters and much more.  “Companies give out swag because it helps them create positive associations with their brands, increase employee morale, provide incentives to generate more business and encourage repeat purchases,” says Nectar, a provider of software used for employee recognition, retention and engagement. “Branded merchandise makes clients and employees feel like part of a team,” adds Goody, a platform for personal and business gifts. Data collected by the promotional products industry reveals the power of swag. For example, 72% of consumers believe the quality of promotional items reflects a company’s reputation. Fifty-three percent of swag recipients use a promotional product at least once a week, 60%  will look up the brand online and 72% say the quality of a promotional item impacts their perception of the brand. Furthermore, 59% of employees who receive their company’s swag report a more favorable subsequent impression of their workplace. Tips for success Marketing platform P2P and online comparison platform top10.com offer tips for using promotional giveaways to your greatest advantage: * Make sure your items are durable, attractive, relevant to your business, employees and customers, and clearly branded. Carefully evaluate how the products and their branding will reflect your mission and identity. * Emphasize practical items like pens, mugs, USB drives, mobile phone covers. Not only are they regularly used, they may be shared beyond the original recipient and further expand your brand awareness. * Buy in bulk to gain economies...

With a variety of senior living events coming this fall, leaders have the chance to explore which technology solutions are driving the industry forward. We’ll be attending a handful to share what makes the Yardi Senior Living Suite — our integrated, one-stop-shop solution — stand apart from other technology in the senior living space. In that spirit, we’d love to connect with you if you’re attending any of the below opportunities! Read on for more details about our presence at each event. OHCA Annual Convention & Tradeshow Join your fellow senior living leaders at the Oregon Health Care Association Annual Convention and Tradeshow!You’ll find our senior living team at booth 309 — feel free to stop by anytime throughout the event, or schedule a meeting with us in advance. We’re excited to be the awards program co-sponsor as well. Date and location: September 19-20, 2023 Portland, Oregon BCSLA Annual Conference & Tradeshow Meet with us during the BC Senior Living Association Annual Conference and Tradeshow, an event centered around mental health and wellness, immigration, recruitment retention and leadership. You can schedule a meeting with team Yardi before the event, or simply come chat with us whenever you’d like. Date and location: September 24-26, 2023 Whistler, British Columbia NIC Data & Analytics Conference The upcoming NIC Data and Analytics Conference is the first of its kind for the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC), set to gather data and analytics leaders in senior living to discuss important industry trends. We’re pleased to be a sponsor for this one-of-a-kind experience and our team will be in attendance throughout the event. You can book time with us here if you’d like to schedule a meeting!   Date and location: September 27-28, 2023 Minneapolis, Minnesota...

Event and conference season is charged with fresh energy for 2023. With so many conferences to attend and/or host, decisions must be made on which are the most important. Whether attending several or just one, the same rules apply to all. Here are some do’s and don’ts to remember at your next conference. DO: Take many notes. Come prepared with a pen and a journal or smart tablet. Be ready to write anything that you think is important. Repeated information is essential, so write it down. Explore the floor. Many conferences have an exhibition hall with vendors showcasing products or services. Explore the opportunities for products or services you didn’t know existed and won’t know until you see a live demonstration. Network. Conferences are an excellent networking opportunity. Sit with new people when you can. Attend different sessions when possible. It’s best not to repeat the same things if you want the most out of any conference, and yes, that includes hanging out with the same people you see every day. This is your chance to learn from other professionals in your field and gain fresh perspectives. Also, ensure you have plenty of business cards. It leaves a good impression and conveys that you are open to communication once the conference ends. Capture memories. A great way to remember conferences is to take pictures. Pictures are a great way to show appreciation to the conference group by tagging quality photos on social media. However, when attending conferences, pictures can be a tricky task to accomplish. Keep in mind the position of the camera when taking pictures. Keep the camera vertically if you want to post to social media, particularly on live stories. If you are taking a group picture, keep the camera horizontal. You...

American football season is here. Stores and stations are filled with advertisements for local city football teams and the community comes together for Sunday Funday games. The National Football League (NFL) is known all over the world, and even boasts an International Series of five games, three of which are played in London. Let’s not forget about college football, which is also a big deal. Especially if you live in one of the “Power Five” conferences. The Power Five includes the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten, Pac-12, and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). “Football works as a very effective marketing tool for universities and creates value for student housing properties,” said Jaclyn Fitts, CBRE’s director of national student housing. As a property owner or manager for a multifamily complex or student housing property, how can you market football eagerness and engage with your residents? Here are a few events you can throw this season for your football fan residents. Football season means cooking and getting together with friends. Create that fun atmosphere in your community by hosting football-watch parties in the clubhouse. People bond over football and food. Turn a boring Monday into a fun Monday Night Football watch party with refreshments and treats. Order some pizzas for a fan favorite or get creative with football-themed foods and dips. If you happen to live in one of the Power Five conferences, consider doing an event for two of the rival school games. Especially if this is a student housing property. For example, the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma are two big rival schools. In the Dallas area, they have their game played during the Texas State Fair in the Cotton Bowl, known as the Red River Showdown. Think about two universities...

The 2020 GWA Conference, like many events nationally this year, was forced to pivot to a virtual setting. Despite the quick timeline to put the online event together, GWA was able to gather a fantastic group of presenters and over 1500 attendees took part in the 24-hour production.  The prevailing themes were health and safety for both members and staff, as well as the changes the coworking industry can expect to come out of this crisis stronger and smarter. Here is a look at some of the takeaways from the global event. The office is not dead One of the interesting nuances from the pandemic has been how productive employees have been while working from home. Employers have generally been pleased with the productivity of a completely remote workforce. It is potentially a defining moment for coworking spaces, which could reap the benefits of companies who realize they don’t need to house everyone in one centralized location, and many positions could become fully remote. Previously remote workers, on the other hand, may just feel some satisfaction at what they’ve known all along. However, bandwidth limitations, distractions or lack of comfort could pose some challenges while working at home. Joe Brady, CEO Americas of The Instant Group, explained that while work from home policies have had success, coworking solves for the issues that WFH presents. Brady’s stated the 3 C’s for where people choose to work are concentration, community and collaboration. While one may achieve some aspects of that from home or with the emergence of video conferencing, the coworking industry is a hub for all three simultaneously. “The idea of innovation could be dying if everyone is permanently working from home,” he said. “The threads of culture strengthen when people come together.” Ensuring health...

As the snow thaws and daylight lingers through the evening, your residents will be itching for fun ways to get outdoors and spend time with loved ones. Catch their attention with your community events! This guide will offer quick and simple steps for launching your events towards success. Before the Event After you’ve planned the event, you’ve got to get the word out. Use Yardi RentCafe to create a blog post about the event. In the post, provide helpful details such as: Date, time and location Admission costs, include an early bird discount to create urgency and motivate the sale Number of non-resident guests that may accompany residents Relevant age restrictions Parking provisions Recommend attire or dress code Details about any items that guests should bring Don’t forget to give the event plenty of personality! Do this through the tone of your text and the Featured Image that you select on the blog post. Once the blog post is complete, use RentCafe to connect Facebook and promote your event. You may choose to pin the post to the top of your newsfeed so that all new and returning visitors will see it. Next, create at least one new visual per week that you can use to promote the event on social media (in addition to your blog post). Fresh visuals are important because they may capture the attention of residents who did not respond to the Featured Image on the blog post. The visuals can be videos, illustrations, or pictures with text. In the latter, limit the text to 20-30 percent of the total image surface area. If an image is too wordy, it will be ignored. Distribute these images on your preferred social media platform(s) each week to spread the word of your...

The warm weather months are kind to leasing agents. Residents don’t need much incentive to come to the outdoor community parties. The colder months, however, can bring the fun of an active community to a grinding halt. How and where can onsite staff host resident events during the colder months? We’ve got four fun community event ideas that are indoors, affordable, and sure to build a sense of community and belonging for your residents. Lease renewals, anyone? Local Gym During the winter, many people are planning or executing their New Year’s fitness resolutions. Local gyms are eager to recruit new members and you’re eager to find an affordable, fun place to host a party. Pick the best equipped gym near your community and let your interests combine! Work up a deal with your local gym: request free guest passes (which most gyms offer anyway) and you’ll supply their potential, future members. Get residents together for games of basketball, racquetball, or popular Zumba and yoga classes. The more that the gym has to offer, the more opportunities your residents have to bond and maintain their New Year’s resolutions. The best part: residents will likely join the gym and find workout buddies amongst neighbors, adding two more reasons for them to love your community. Aquatic Center Who says you can’t swim in winter? Check out your local aquatic center, often hosted by the county. Many centers, especially those constructed within the last decade, have indoor pools, heated indoor pools, saunas and hot tubs. Space rentals are often quite affordable, especially in the winter when business is slow. All that is left for you to do is supply a few light snacks (because no one wants to swim on a full stomach). Dave and Busters D&B offers...

Looking for a new way to bring prospective residents to your property? One innovative approach, tried out successfully at numerous communities, involves everybody’s favorite meals on wheels: Food trucks! At a largely student-populated apartment complex in Gainesville, Florida, bringing together 12 food trucks for an afternoon this April resulted in resident fun, great local media buzz, and a handful of new leases. Stoneridge Apartments’ Super Sunday Funday Food Truck Festival wasn’t just a success – it was an epic success. “We had a turnout of approximately 500 people and our residents loved it. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback as well as requests for more food events like these,” said Denise Snyder, Regional Property Manager, CAM, for The Emmer Group. “The food ranged from awesome cupcakes, to ice cream and doggie ice cream, and there was Thai food, Cajun food and gourmet grilled cheese.” Snyder had a strong feeling that food trucks would go over well with her residents, and not just because many of them are college students who love to try new things. Stoneridge’s popular Perks Program, which gives residents discounts at local restaurants and other businesses, has been a big success. “Our residents (and staff) love to eat!  We plan to host another big event this fall, and delectable treats will certainly be a huge draw,” she said. Harnessing the power of social media before, during and after the event, word-of-mouth from residents and local businesses drove prospects, friends of residents, and the simply hungry to Stoneridge. Once they’d wandered the truck lineup and sampled some tasty treats, there was no reason to leave – a beer garden was set up on site, next to a lake on the property and under some shade trees. There was live music and...

Summer is here! Rental communities across the nation have speckled their event calendars with group fitness classes, barbecues, and game nights to entertain youth and adult residents alike. While such events may seem to serve only one purpose—fun!—they can be an important tool towards improving tenant retention. By hosting resident appreciation events on the property, owners and leasing agents can establish the sense of community that many tenants crave. Residents mingle, form friendships, and cut loose with a few light-hearted games and activities. Additionally, the property has the opportunity to showcase premiere amenities such as the pool and sundeck, media room, clubhouse, and fitness center. Resident appreciation events remind tenants of the community’s best features and reestablish the value of the property. Take a look at a few resident initiatives that cater to success: Apartment Communities Kick-Off Summer with a Splash Perhaps the most popular summer solstice celebration is the pool party and cookout combo. It’s the quintessential way to demonstrate resident appreciation in the warmer months. Residents are invited down to the community pool to cool off from the summer heat. Leasing office staff members serve tenants burgers, hot dogs, chips, and live music by a local DJ. To promote a more relaxed atmosphere, staff may decide on a themed event involving decorations and costumes. Stonegate Villas opted for a luau theme to their summer kick-off pool party. Student Housing Celebrates Independence Day Student communities near university campuses are hosting a variety of events for Independence Day, providing students with party options close to home. By bringing live entertainment, fireworks, and budget-friendly meals onto the campus, many student housing committees aim to decrease risks to student drivers while simultaneously forming a tighter sense of community among residents. As a Resident Life and community...