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THE PREMIER MULTIFAMILY EVENT IN THE MIDWEST!

Schedule (2016)

A
All
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Leasing
PM
Property Manager
MK
Marketing
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Maintenance
RS
Regional Supervisor
6:30am-7:30am

Yoga

9am-10am

Opening Session

Gigi Butler

The inspiring story of Gigi Butler captures the heart of those who meet her as she’s living her own American Dream. Gigi opened her first Gigi’s Cupcakes location on a whim just off the famed music row in Nashville, TN in 2008. In six short years Gigi’s Cupcakes has grown to nearly 100 locations across 19 states and is now the largest cupcake franchise in the country. Join the entrepreneur and founder of Gigi’s Cupcakes as she admits her story of success is full of sweet irony and discover her personal journey and life lessons she’s learned along the way.

10:15-11:15am

VAK Leadership

Heather Blume

This class focuses on using the theory of learning channels as a communication method to increase the effectiveness of leadership. VAK = Visual, Auditory & Kinesthetic learning (learning through the sense channels).

VAK Leadership Handout
M
PM
RS

Über-Closing: Mastering the Art of the Invitation

Leah Brewer

Ask for the commitment.  Sounds simple, yet many leasing consultants are fearful of being perceived as pushy and rude, so they just don’t lead their prospects to a natural commitment.  Learn the “how”, the “why” and the “when” of easy closing techniques, designed to take the fear out of asking, and increase the “YES” answers.  Apply sure-fire closing techniques to your leasing presentations that can double or triple your closing rates.

 

In this class, you will learn to:

  • Take the fear out of asking for the commitment
  • Identify four styles of closing and know when to use them
  • Discern when to speak and when to remain silent
  • Integrate closing questions throughout your leasing presentation
  • Find new “user-friendly” closing questions to fit your style
  • Discover what is and what is not a “close”
  • Take 7 determined steps to Overcoming Objections
Uber Closing: Mastering the Art of the Invitation Handout
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SMARketing - Student Housing Edition

Megan Orser

The Smart Approach for Low Cost Marketing ideas to the academic minded resident. 

Every day, you are in front of university students, sometimes without realizing it.  Are you taking advantage of these hidden marketing opportunities?  Do you understand how the 4 P’s of marketing change when it comes to providing housing to students?  Are there others involved in the decision about housing?  Does your community demonstrate the best message to your customer? Join us for this insight into the academia side of apartment marketing. 

SMARKETING – STUDENT HOUSING EDITION HANDOUT

Tools, Incentives, & Labels to Help Make Buildings Greener

Christin Kappel

Green-certified buildings mean reduced costs to owners and occupants as well as healthier buildings, reducing tenant turnover. Units of green labeled buildings now are occupied faster and command a premium in the local market.  Take 1 hour to join us to learn the basics of a green renovation or new multifamily building, what tools can help your next project, how to fund or finance these initiatives. Also get general overview of the green building residential market.

11:30am-12:30pm

How NOT to Lose a Resident in 12 Months

Rommel Anacan

In this seminar you will learn the five main drivers of resident satisfaction culled from millions of resident survey results, and you’ll discover the five main things that residents complain about, based on analysis of the data from the largest apartment review site. 

Then, armed with this information, you’ll discover practical and effective things that you can do right now to ensure that your residents remain “in love” with your community long after the move-in. 

It will be a content-rich, data-driven, yet engaging and entertaining program (you don’t often see that combination do you?) from one of the industry’s most sought after speakers and trainers. 

L
PM

Reach Out to Draw In

Heather Blume

This is not a session of 100 ideas, but rather a session that teaches a methodology on how to find the optimal outreach partners for yourself, how to make the connections, how to leverage those connections, and how to grow your resident base in a more organic fashion. 

MK

Core Values Workshop

Jacki Carr

Join Goal Coach and Speaker, Jacki Carr for a 60minute workshop to connect and define your core values. Knowing your values supports and guides your decisions, goals, day to day lifestyle and business. There is power in knowing what matters to you and then declaring what you want and do not want.

12:30-1:30pm

Lunch & Awards

1:30pm-5pm

Trade Show

2:30pm-3:30pm

Elevating All Regionals - Roundtable Discussions

Terri Norvell

Regional Supervisors….this one’s for you only! Seize this time to network and create solutions to your pressing issues with other regional supervisors around the state. Got engagement issues? Service delivery challenges? Online reputation frustrations? Or maybe you want to grab that next promotion?  We’ll discuss how to bring out the best in your teams to achieve greater results yet this year! Come prepared for open, honest and candid conversations.

RS

The Speed of Leads

Heather Blume

This seminar covers response time and shows the stats in the market, impact on sales, etc. 

L
PM

The Battle for Your Email Inbox

Robby Slaughter

Learn to take on the beast that is your email—and win!

No force in the modern workplace is more daunting than email. This seminar provides a comprehensive plan to help you regain control —not through a handful of tricks, but by adopting a new perspective.  Participants are encouraged to bring their laptops so that we can spend some time developing personal strategies.

Major topics include:

  • Weaknesses of Email — Where we use email today, but definitely should not.
  • New Email Strategies — Treating email like the medium it is, and using it to retrain others through our own replies and messages.
    • Five Week Plan — A month long action plan for reducing your inbox down to zero messages and taking control of your mail client.
3:45pm-4:45pm

Eliminate Your Management Frustrations

Terri Norvell

Management just got easier. Welcome the world of ‘how your mind works’. If you are too often frustrated, stressed and overwhelmed in your manager role or any aspect of your life…this last frontier of science will help you know why.

And most importantly you’ll learn what to do differently to get your desired results. Through understanding how your mind works you’ll open up a whole new frontier of positive results – now and throughout your life.

In this session you’ll gain answers to your frustrations and how to make the shift to feeling good and accomplishing more…everyday. Through the use of mind science you’ll learn how to: motivate your teams to excel on the human performance curve, eliminate amygdala hijacks, minimize stress, and transform negative thinking into positive actions.

Expect to be able to restore energy and enthusiasm in your workplace plus gain more respect as a manager. Come prepared to shift your thinking and manage with impact!

ELIMINATE YOUR MANAGEMENT FRUSTRATIONS HANDOUT #1
ELIMINATE YOUR MANAGEMENT FRUSTRATIONS HANDOUT #2
PM
RS

From Service Team to Customer Service Team

Leah Brewer

When we name our Maintenance Technicians the “Service Team”, we mean it!  Maintenance professionals interact with residents far more than office staff, and are in the best position to create a continuous customer-centered culture.  Service is so much more than fixing what’s broken; service is the key to a successful apartment community with delighted residents who will happily renew.  Service is the everyday tool to create customer satisfaction, which relates directly to occupancy and income. 

There is more to customer service than “the customer is always right”.  Learn to respond, act and react intentionally and on purpose for winning results, and provide the best customer service to create the highest customer satisfaction. Attendees will explore tools and resources to resolve conflict, prioritize attention and determine best practices using real-life situations in this interactive session.

From Service Team to Customer Service Team Handout
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SMARketing - Your Smart Approach to Low Cost Marketing

Megan Orser

Every day, you are in front of your customer, sometimes without realizing it. Are you taking advantage of these hidden marketing opportunities? Understand the four P’s of marketing? Does your property demonstrate the best message to your consumer?

SMARKETING – YOUR SMART APPROACH TO LOW COST MARKETING HANDOUT
L
MK

Harness the Power of Mobile

Dana Nelson

Participants will learn how to use mobile technology to promote themselves and drive more business:Mobile internet usage is growing fast – more people are starting to receive and read your email and social media messages with their smartphones. And more businesses are starting to use mobile to create marketing communications and make it easy for their customers to buy from them. Join us for this seminar to make mobile a part of your business.

You’ll learn:

  • Why mobile makes local listings more important than ever
  • How to drive action with mobile marketing
  • How to create content with and for mobile

Fair Housing & Assist Animals

Kathi Williams

During this seminar fair housing principles and laws will be described and the importance of compliance stressed. Kathi will also touch on assist animals and address the multiple issues arising when a resident requests to bring an animal onto a property that prohibits pets or prohibits size, breed or type of animal requested.

6:30am-7:30am

Cultural Trail

8:30am-11:30am

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing

Kathi Williams

This session is directed toward an audience of advanced housing professionals and industry leaders. A new paradigm for fair housing enforcement was recently announced by HUD in its new regulations requiring program participants such as states, cities, counties and housing authorities to develop an extensive community analyses to meet the Fair Housing Act requirement to affirmatively further fair housing. The massive analysis each program participant must conduct includes obtaining and analyzing local and regional data on patterns of integration and segregation; racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty (R/ECAPs); access to education, employment, low-income and poverty neighborhoods, transportation and environmental health; disproportionate housing needs; and data on individuals with disabilities and families with children.
This new regulation does not require response by private housing providers, but the landscape of fair housing has clearly shifted away from housing choice and is now directed towards different priorities. These new fair housing priorities will impact housing providers and their communities, and this session will describe the changes providers can expect.

Your Multifamily Cyber Security Playbook

Ryan Byrd, Brian McGinnis

You can hardly get through a day without hearing about private customer information being compromised from company databases. It’s a reality, but one that many multifamily companies aren’t addressing as extensively as they should. In this session, industry and legal experts will discuss the holes in the practices of multifamily companies today and share the steps multifamily companies can take to make their IT systems as air-tight as they can be.

YOUR MULTIFAMILY CYBER SECURITY PLAYBOOK HANDOUT
9am-10am

Recruit to Retain

Heather Blume

In this class, Heather shares her hiring and staffing expertise on finding the right person for the right job. She touches topics on every level of the hiring process from the employment ad, to the resumes, to the phone interviews, and the in person interviews.  Interactive and humor filled, this seminar is a great way to brush up on those hiring and interviewing skills, no matter what level you are in your company.  A career path in property management starts for your employees the day they answer that ad, and Heather’s class can help you start them off on the right foot!

M
RS

Stop Yelling at Me!

Rommel Anacan

For anyone that has done it, interacting with a resident/customer who is complaining, upset, angry, frustrated, hurt, and often, unreasonable is not easy! Neither is it just a matter of “being nice” or “acting professional.” The truth is, often times the very things that you’ll want to say or do in these situations are the very opposite of what will actually work. So what can you do?

In “Stop Yelling at Me!” you’ll discover:

  • A solutions-based road map that you can follow to guide your upset residents and customers through the complaint process!
  • How to identify when something you’re saying or doing isn’t working and how to change course to a strategy that will work!
  • That effectively handling difficult residents, customers and situations isn’t as hard as you think!!
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Can You Speak Manager?

Megan Orser

If you have always wanted to know what your community office means when they say things like “do you know what this does to my vacancy loss?” or “OMG, look at my economic occupancy”, then attend this session.

CAN YOU SPEAK MANAGER? HANDOUT
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Vision & Goals

Jacki Carr

Join Goal Coach and Speaker, Jacki Carr for a 60minute workshop to create your future free of constraints and limitations. Leave with a new language to connect and create your goals roadmap set in possibility and personal power.

10:15am-11:15am

Critical Conversations Made Simple

Terri Norvell

Rush to this session if you have situations you’ve been avoiding. Lagging productivity, chronic tardiness and performance issues sabotage customer service and financial results. Step up and master critical conversations and everything will get better! This skill will enable you to solve pressing problems and lead more successfully with each team member.

You’ll learn a conversation model and how to prepare yourself in advance to easily achieve resolutions and forward momentum. Expect your team members to become more engaged and productive. Your job just got easier and more joyful!

Key Take Aways:

  • Gain confidence in handling critical conversations that have been ignored (they don’t go away by ignoring)
  • Master pre-conversation skills to set yourself up for the desired outcome
CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS MADE SIMPLE HANDOUT #1
CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS MADE SIMPLE HANDOUT #2
PM
RS

Supercharge Your Telephone Skills

Valerie Sargent

Answering Leasing Calls with Confidence!

In this session, you will discover telephone techniques that will help you stand apart from the competition and drive traffic to your community. Identify how you sabotage yourself on the phone and learn how to prevent it while approaching phone calls with confidence. Further, you will understand the importance of building rapport, establishing a relationship and engaging the prospect’s interest enough to turn into a community visit. Learn to get the results you want from one of the most productive leasing tools available to you: The telephone. 

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Advanced Troubleshooting

Mark Cukro

This is designed for technicians that have some experience and even the most experienced will benefit. This class provides an in depth understanding of electrical terminology, correctly troubleshooting components of the system, wiring concepts, and safety. It is expected that technicians are already proficient in using Multi-Meters, ammeters and have experience making electrical repairs. The focus in this class is to learn what will be immediately useful in the field by practicing troubleshooting circuits and components in class. Each student will practice how to use a Multi-meter and an Ammeter effectively and identify the root cause of the problem. Each student should bring a multi-meter and ammeter.

M

Social Media 102 - You're Social, Now What?

Dana Nelson

Find out which networks are right for you and how to use them.

You’ve thought about what social networks to use for your business or nonprofit, and you’re ready to take the next step. Where do you go from there? This seminar will give you a closer look at the popular social media networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.

We’ll show you the benefits of using each, what kind of content to create, tips on using photos and videos, and examples of how other organizations are marketing with them. You’ll also get tips on how to use analytics tools to tell if your social media activity is working.

“Build It and They Will Come!” But Are You Ready For Them To Come?

Elaine Simpson

A false start in a race will get you disqualified. A false start in a lease up can cost a lot of money, cause a lot of bad PR and frustration on everyone’s part and in many cases will set the stage for the tumultuous future.

Attendees will learn what steps and prep work must be done in order to set the stage for a successful lease up.  You will want to attend this incredible session and be sure to take notes to apply these great Lease Up Prep Solutions to your next lease up! 

11:30am-12:30pm

Lunch and Closing Session

James Olson

Imagine living a lie for 31 years. That’s what James Olson and his wife Meredith did while spying for the CIA. Spying for his country was the furthest thing from his mind when Olson, a farm boy from Iowa, received a mysterious phone call that changed his life forever. In his presentation, Olson takes you inside the real world of being a CIA spy. He describes the rigorous training they receive and the difficult dilemmas that they face in the field on a daily basis.

12:30pm-3:30pm

Trade Show

1pm-2pm

Leasingology

Rommel Anacan

The job of the leasing professional is one of the most challenging in the multifamily industry. They not only have to lease apartments, they also need to retain their existing residents, accurately process and prepare paperwork, maintain curb appeal, and handle all of the other things that pop up–which requires that they wear many hats during the day and that they wear them ALL well!

Adding to the difficulty of all of this is that most leasing associates work in a fishbowl, where everything they say and do (or don’t say and do) can be seen by residents, clients, and co-workers. Leasingology is a collection of the things that industry veterans wish we were told when we first got started in residential property management. 

In Leasingology you’ll discover:

  • The essential truths, from an industry veteran, of what you need to know to succeed in the industry
  • Effective, “battle-tested” tips, tools, techniques and “hacks” that will help you in your selling, customer service, resident retention efforts and in your career
  • How to write your own multifamily success story
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Trends in Maintenance

Mark Cukro

Our Industry is not what is used to be and if you want to know what is changing in the Industry for our Service Teams, what technology is currently available, and what the future of Maintenance is going to look like then this is a session for you. You will learn the new trends in personnel, technology, tools and equipment that make everything on site easier and help get service work done faster and better than ever. If you want to know what changes to make at your property or for your company over the next few years this session is highly recommended.

M
2:15pm-3:15pm

Emotional Intelligence and You

Valerie Sargent

The Crucial EQ Moment – It’s in the Pause
In this session, you will learn some basics of Emotional Intelligence and discover how your emotions can impact your work performance. Learn to recognize your ‘moments of danger’ that typically set you off so that you can choose to approach things from a different perspective. Identify the stories you tell yourself that aren’t true, and discover how to be more authentically yourself while understanding the actions of others better.  Learn the value of a ‘pause’ – the different ways you can use a pause to manage your emotions more effectively to take different action; when to pause, why to pause, when to act. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) accounts for 58% of performance in all types of jobs, and is critical to success. Join this session to start improving your EQ today! 

PM
RS

The Wicked Witch is Dead: Transparency of Online Ratings & Reviews

Mindy Price

Ratings and reviews have been a wicked part of our industry for a while now. Operators are constantly looking for ways to truly understand and manage the spell they have put prospects and residents under. It is time to pull the curtain back and make traveling the yellow brick road for evaluating and managing ratings and reviews easier than ever before.

MK
3:45pm-4:45pm

What's Hot in Marketing

Joseph Straka

Joe will be speaking on “What’s Hot in Marketing”. He will share some of the best marketing ideas and practices his clients are using to connect with their consumers in an increasing noisy marketplace.

MK
RS

Turn Process

Overcoming the Challenges of Managing Affordable Housing

Panel discussion moderated by Elaine Simpson

This interactive panel discussion will cover hot topics in the affordable housing arena.

Panelists include:

  • Samir Yasa (Director of Compliance with Herman & Kittle)
  • Teri Hedemark (Regional Manager with Flaherty & Collins Properties)
  • Kellie Linzner (Director of Compliance with Buckingham Companies)
  • Chasity Sadowy (Regional Manager with TWG Management)
3:30pm-5pm

Maintenance Executive Social Hour

Leasing Professionals Social Hour

6:30pm-7:30pm

Midwest Prodigy Awards Reception

INDIANA ROOF BALLROOM
7:30pm-9:30pm

Midwest Prodigy Awards Dinner

INDIANA ROOF BALLROOM
Platinum
Gold
Silver