The multifamily industry converged in San Diego last week for Apartmentalize Powered by National Apartment Association. Formerly known as the NAA Education Conference and Exposition, the annual event is the largest educational conference for apartment industry professionals. We highlight five of our favorite lessons from this year’s event. 5 Lessons from Apartmentalize 2018: Own the Age of AI On Thursday, industry experts discussed the impact of artificial intelligence in multifamily. Panelists included Dawn Wise from Berkshire Communities, Michael Barry from Bozzuto, Tim Reardon from Bridge Property Management, and Yardi’s Dhar Sawh. Artificial intelligence has just recently emerged in the rental housing industry. “This is so new for our industry, so the sky’s the limit,” explained Reardon. The session explored the benefits of artificial intelligence, big data, and business intelligence tools. How can you get energized for the Age of AI? Top tips from panelists: learn more about AI, and make a data strategy plan. Today’s Renters Have a Multi-Touch Journey Over the last two decades, we’ve gone from tracking walk-ins and phone calls to embracing comprehensive CRM systems. On a panel moderated by Yardi’s Esther Bonardi, Holli Beckman from WC Smith, Israel Carunungan from Greystar, and Mia Wentworth from CWS Apartment Homes discussed multi-touch lead attribution, a model for tracking and weighing touchpoints in the lead-to-lease cycle. How can smart marketers improve lead tracking? “Dig into it, study it, and it can open a whole new world,” advised Bonardi. Learn more about multi-touch lead attribution and download our free eBook. Sustainability Wins At Friday’s Apartmentalize session, panelists including Yardi’s Martin Levkus explored resident engagement through energy efficiency. In a recent National Apartment Association survey, windows were the top sustainability item residents cared about. For one panelist, energy efficient windows resulted in a $75 per month...

The Yardi team traveled from all corners to attend the annual National Apartment Association (NAA) Education Conference and Exposition in San Francisco last week. More than 9,200 apartment industry professionals joined us for one of the biggest shows of the year. We participated in educational sessions, scoped out new trends, and had a blast meeting with clients and colleagues in the multifamily space. 7 Things We Learned at the 2016 NAA Education Conference and Expo Googlers Have It Good On Wednesday, our friends at Google took us (and some lucky clients) on a tour of the Googleplex in Mountain View. Between the campus bikes, nap pods, and friendly sculptures, their corporate culture is every bit as fantastic as we expected. Michael Strahan Wants to Be the Male Oprah He said so himself! NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan was the keynote speaker on Thursday. He discussed motivation, overcoming obstacles, and maximizing your career. He also talked real estate. “I love real estate. It’s a passion of mine. I am a big fan of real estate fixer-uppers. I’m good at demo. If you can’t hit a quarterback, hit a wall,” he joked. Strahan shared that it’s particularly important to him to acknowledge and thank everyone he works with – whether it’s a producer, make-up artist, or the custodial staff – noting that “everyone makes the ship run.” We couldn’t agree more. 3. ENERGY STAR Ratings Aren’t Just for Appliances It turns out that buildings can have ENERGY STAR ratings, too. On a panel moderated by Yardi’s Gene Cattani, Michael Zatz, manager for ENERGY STAR Commercial Buildings at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), desc ribed how the EPA recently launched an aggressive multifamily energy scoring system. ENERGY STAR now has more than 30,000 multifamily properties using...

Yardi is proud to be a Diamond Sponsor of the National Apartment Association’s Education Conference & Expo, set for Denver, Colo. later this month. This dynamic event is one of the most anticipated multifamily shows of the year, promising exceptional opportunities for learning, engagement, inspiration and fun. Famous speakers are always part of the NAA experience, and this year’s opening address will be given by actor Michael J. Fox.  The day two general session will feature Barbara Corcoran and Kevin Harrington, hosts of the popular ABC business pitch show “Shark Tank.” Like on the show, entrepreneurs will make their case for why their business is worthy of funding support. The winner of the contest will walk away with a $5,000 prize – and the audience will help chose the winner. Even if won’t be pitching your best invention in Denver, there are still plenty of takeaways to look forward to, including the following. Don’t miss: -The opportunity to learn how to improve your multifamily pricing with the “Next Evolution of Revenue Management” session. Including insight from Ron Brock, Industry Principal/Pierce Eislen, you’ll discover how to better use industry and local benchmarks against your own property data sets. Key performance indicators will help your operations team  gain valuable business intelligence and maximize your revenue. (Friday, June 20, 2:15 p.m.) -Two excellent chances to ramp up your property marketing using mobile and converged media. Yardi’s Esther Bonardi, Industry Principal, Marketing Solutions, is always on the cutting edge of the latest trends. She’ll deliver two sessions – “Eight Mobile Marketing Trends You Can’t Afford to Miss” (Friday, June 20, 11 a.m.) and “Smart Marketing: Converged Media Management” (Thursday, June 18, 8:30 a.m.) See the official conference planner for locations and to schedule all of your sessions. -Last...

The 2013 NAA Education Conference & Exposition is just around the corner. Next week at this time I’ll be in sunny San Diego, listening to the wisdom of business virtuosos like Richard Branson, Erik Wahl, and Bert Jacobs. If Lauren Boston is right, I may see a few tears shed into lunch napkins. For me, NAA is a big deal because it will be my first chance to represent my company outside our self-hosted conferences, and I want to make the most of it. Perhaps the experience will be similar for you. Conferences can be invaluable learning experiences, but they do require an investment of resources to attend.  If you’re the only attendee for your company, you want to return to work with knowledge gained, providing value for your colleagues and clients.  But there’s so much to do and just two days to accomplish it, so where to start? Here are 4 steps I’m taking to make the most of my first NAA I hope you’ll consider sharing what steps you’ve taken too. Prepare goals and questions. What are you hoping to get out of the conference? If you’re representing an office, what would your colleagues hope to learn if they were going? What solutions, on-site or in-office are you hoping to identify this year?  Create a list and make that a focus while you’re there. It will help give you conversation topics during networking events, as well as help keep you focused as you move through the expo center and sessions. Created a schedule.  There are loads of resources for doing this throughout the NAA website and the App.  If one of the solutions you’re looking for deals with revenue management then make time at 9:00am Thursday for “Integrating a Revenue Management System...