NAA Apartmentalize 2023 — the rental housing industry’s biggest event of the year — had record-breaking attendance with multiple highlights that made the experience a total hit for all attendees, including:
1. tons of networking opportunities
2. plenty of educational value
3. new proptech solutions
On the networking side, relationship-building is an obvious benefit of trade shows, and many groups and firms go the extra mile by hosting their own after-hours events to bring together professionals from all over. The LeaseLock team hosted two such gatherings that resulted in many of the industry’s biggest players convening in the same room for a special evening.
For everyone looking to exchange knowledge, Apartmentalize is ripe with education sessions where company leaders of different backgrounds can share their expertise and insights on the latest trends. LeaseLock’s own thought leaders participated in engaging, timely conference discussions on data-driven decision-making (Kevin Huss) and AI’s potential beyond leasing (Sudip Shekhawat).
As for emerging proptech solutions and strategies, the show featured many top-tier supplier partners who are revolutionizing the way owners and operators combat various problems.
If you missed out on Apartmentalize 2023 or want to relive it, read our recap of the top highlights and learnings from the premier annual gathering for apartment housing professionals.
LeaseLock believes that camaraderie and collaboration are key to moving rental housing forward and establishing strength and trust for our partners. Luckily, Apartmentalize offers endless opportunities for industry professionals to connect, share ideas, and find new solutions. Whether on the expo floor, at the welcome reception, during after-hours events, or while tuning into education sessions, everyone got a chance to rub shoulders with the industry’s brightest and forge new partnerships.
Before kicking off the conference, LeaseLock hosted a cozy private dinner at one of Atlanta’s top-rated restaurants with many of our peers, partners, and clients. Multifamily leaders and long-time LeaseLock partners Doug Bibby and Debbie Phillips caught up on lost time with our President Ed Wolff.
In addition to delicious food, good conversation, and even better company, the highlight was a surprise introduction of our new CEO, Janine Steiner Jovanovic. As a pioneer in real estate technology and innovation, Janine expressed her excitement in continuing to empower the rental housing industry with our insurance technology, and toasted to continued partnership and success.
The following night while overlooking the Atlanta Braves ballpark as they took on the NY Mets, we enjoyed America’s favorite pastime, caught up with other professionals, and celebrated successes. As always, we’re grateful for the support of our partners, clients, and advisory board members who share our vision for progress and innovation, and we are honored they chose to spend the evening with our team.
Education sessions allow our experts to share their learnings and answer questions from the audience — the two discussions that LeaseLock’s own thought leaders participated in were an opportunity to inform rental housing owners and operators about the value of data and the impact of AI-powered insurance technology on the industry’s largest stage.
The Apartmentalize education session Data-Driven Optimization Prices Rents – Can it Protect Against Loss?, moderated by LeaseLock Vice President of Enterprise Sales Kevin Huss, explored opportunities throughout the lease life cycle to leverage data to drive NOI. The session featured RKW Residential Senior Vice President Johnny De La Espriella, E&S Ring Vice President of Information Systems and Technology Kevin Hott, and CAF Companies Executive Vice President of Asset Management and Investor Relations Jeremy Thomason.
Building on the lessons learned from revenue management, the session emphasized the value of the fluid, real-time data and actionable analytics made possible through automation. Property teams require the right tools to continually assess data and customize operations to meet specific sub-market and property-level demands. Properly equipped teams are applying data-powered solutions, beyond leasing, to streamline and optimize their business models, and effectively drive NOI.
Expert panelists also outlined the ways operators are deploying revenue management strategies to target back-end revenue via risk mitigation and bad debt absorption. Becoming a data-driven company requires an embrace of automation and a holistic approach to KPIs throughout the term of a lease. Limiting revenue loss due to unpaid rent and property damage can have a greater NOI impact than front-end revenue generators. The session provided data-centric strategies and back-end solutions to enhance overall property performance.
During the Apartmentalize Express Education session AI in Operations: It’s More Than Leasing, moderated by LeaseLock Chief Technology Officer Sudip Shekhawat, attendees heard expert perspectives on the potential for AI deployments beyond front-end applications. Industry leaders, including Pegasus Residential Vice President of Operations Ellie Norton and The Life Properties Vice President of Systems and Technology Dustin Skinner, helped Shekhawat shed light on the operations side of the AI discussion.
Multifamily is sitting on a mountain of untapped data, but machine-learning and trained-model solutions enable operators to tap into that resource. Expert panelists highlighted the key differences between generative and predictive AI, as well as the value of clean, robust data, and the potential of AI analytics to empower data-driven decisions.
While AI has already infiltrated leasing — via chatbots, lead-nurturing platforms, marketing and revenue management — it has barely scratched the surface in terms of back-end AI implementations. The session pointed out the opportunities that progressive operators have found to leverage AI on the back end, and the tools they’re using to better manage loss by predicting risk and reducing bad debt. Panelists also broke down focus areas for AI deployment — from the prospect experience through move-out — to improve operational efficiency and asset value.
Raise your hand if Apartmentalize left you feeling energized to solve your biggest business challenges? While attendees brought energy to the exposition floor on Thursday and Friday, proptech supplier partners contributed to the buzz by presenting product upgrades and new solutions. In fact, the LeaseLock booth turned out to be a key attraction where our team met with enthusiastic customers and other owners and operators interested in hearing about the latest updates to our lease insurance platform.
LeaseLock has been diligently engineering our insurance technology to set more and more properties free from security deposits. With the rental housing industry moving away from outdated financial tools, now is the time to replace the false sense of security provided by traditional deposits with the dependability of data-powered insurance. Our team was excited to demonstrate how we leverage the power of risk prediction to turn unpredictable loss into optimal net income for our clients.
With all the excitement on the expo floor, many of our booth visitors appreciated grabbing cool refreshments to stave off the Atlanta summer heat. Overall, Apartmentalize proved to be an electric event that left the LeaseLock team feeling committed as ever to leading the next evolution in rental housing. Whether it was handing out water bottles to cool off attendees or showing how our product gives them the protection and competitive edge their communities deserve, LeaseLock’s got it covered.
Thank you to our team, partners, booth visitors, event attendees, multifamily friends, and NAA for making Apartmentalize 2023 one for the books—already looking forward to next year in Philadelphia!
