A record-breaking crowd of 12,323 members of the National Apartment Association converged in Atlanta from June 6-9 for the annual Apartmentalize Conference. To put these numbers into perspective, last year in San Diego we had 11,200; and back in 2010 in New Orleans, there were less than 6,000 attendees. It was a great week filled with 114 Education classes appropriate for all levels of multifamily.
There was an emphasis on DE & I, Affordable Housing, and Leadership-all significant areas for the multifamily business in New England. Some of our very own Massachusetts firms were nominated for an NAA Excellence Award-Peabody Properties, National Development, Chestnut Hill Realty, Bozzuto, and Winn Residential. Congratulations to Winn Residential for winning national awards in 3 categories. We learned that 60% of the companies across the country now have a DE&I strategy. Our Region 2 Meeting (New England States, NY, and NJ) had our largest audience in years.
Lauren Paton from The Wingate Companies was voted in as our newest Regional Vice President replacing Lynn Bora from Winn who served our region proudly for 8 successful years. Lynn now has the honor of being Co-Chair of the 2024 Apartmentalize Conference in Philadelphia. The Trade Show Floor was longer than 2 football fields and was an amusement park for Maintenance, Technology, Industry Trends, Emergency Preparedness, etc. Apartments.com raffled off $100,000 cash as the trade show ended and attendees walked into the Friday General Session featuring Jason Sudeikis.
The General Sessions featured 3 Keynote Speakers:
JASON SUDEIKIS
Star of Ted Lasso
Jason in real life is similar to Ted Lasso-humble, funny, charismatic, and sincere. We learned that his uncle is George Wendt (Norm on Cheers). Jason took us through his humble beginnings in Kansas to Second City Improv in Chicago, to Saturday Nite Live for six years. While Jason and a few others created the idea of Ted Lasso for an NBC Sports commercial in 2014, it did not get picked up as a show until 2020. Some of Jason’s keys to success: “Write down goals on paper and stick the important ones in your wallet. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Concern yourself with small goals day to day. Do not worry about the destination”. On Charity, “When you help people that you know you will never meet, it always comes back in droves to help you”.
LINDSEY VONN
Gold and Bronze Medal Skier
“Lindsey’s twenty-year career in professional skiing is a testament to what it takes to relentlessly pursue greatness”-Tom Brady.
Lindsey was well spoken and impressive. She took us through her life growing up in Minnesota (without ski mountains) to living alone at the age of 18 in Park City, UT. She compared downhill ski racing to sticking your head out the car window going 85 miles per hour but without a car to protect you. The best coaches she ever had were the best psychologists and knew what buttons to push at all times. Lindsey: “You either win or fail based on how you want to push yourself each time on the downhill. Failure is the best teaching times in your life”. She spoke at length about anxiety and depression and mentioned that “No one is immune to mental health issues”. She speaks at length about her struggles in her new book, Rise: My Story.
DERRECK KAYONGO
Entreprenneur and Human Rights Innovator
Derreck was born in Uganda during the time when a violent civil war erupted. He and his family became refugees in Kenya and eventually immigrated to the United States. During his first USA hotel experience, Derreck realized that a lot of half-used bars of soap and shampoo were wasted. Once he figured out that USA Hotels wasted 800,000,000 soap products annually, he began his Global Soap Project that reprocessed and distributed soap products to vulnerable populations worldwide. In 2015, Derrek was chosen as CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
FUTURE APARTMENTALIZE DATES
2024: Philadelphia. June 19-21
2025: Las Vegas. June 11-13
2026: New Orleans. June 17-19
2027: Dallas. June 16-18
2028: Atlanta. June 14-16
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