Conference Schedule

A series with seven speakers armed with 20 slides that advance automatically every 20 seconds, so they get to the point fast! 

Workforce Mining: Teasing Out Talent Supply 
Megan Orser | Director of Professional Development, Smart Apartment Solutions 

Managing Student Mental Health Issues 
Amanda Livesay | Portfolio Supervisor, The Quarters on Campus 

How the Banana Captured the Purdue Market 
Brent Gutwein | CEO, Granite Student Living 

Turn of the Screw: Interviewing Strategy Examined 
Ivana Christman | COO, Quest Management Group 

From the Developer's Desk: Investing in the Future 
Alex Eyssen | VP, Student Housing, The Bainbridge Companies 

Integrating Animals, Allergies, and Accommodations 
KC Theisen | Principal, Opening Doors 

Influencer Marketing 
Matt Pavlick | President, GRO Marketing

Team members from student housing companies at all levels need to be fluent in financial terms and the concepts behind them to provide greater context for how they perform within the whole system. While understanding financial statements, producing owners’ reports, and measuring property performance are challenging to most, your career advancement depends on your ability to master these skills.

Learning Outcomes: 

1. Learn key performance metrics that will help you focus on what's important to an investor and what drives property performance.
2. Understand which performance metrics are the most important for maximizing property performance.

Are you asking the right questions to drive performance? And are you receiving the insights to answer them? Learn how to analyze and optimize your property and portfolio. Explore ways to measure performance in the areas that matter most, and gain insights that support more strategic decision making. Learn best practices and tools that will help you revolutionize your reporting and operational performance. 

Learning Outcomes:

1. Understand current trends in various housing types (urban v. garden or cottage) and student demographics (freshmen on-campus v. upper classmen off-campus)

2. Explore examples of innovative solutions from student housing providers who have found value by transforming outdated amenities into something new and vibrant

This peer-to-peer learning experience is where you can engage in creative conversations with attendees who are passionate about the same issues and topics as you. Expert facilitator, Sue Weston, Director of Management Resources for Alpha Barnes Real Estate Services, will support small groups as you explore topics in customer satisfaction!

Motivating team members is a challenge for many managers. Supervisors of student housing communities have the added burden of directing part-time or temporary staff members, who often aren’t focused on their future like a conventional workforce. Getting these team members to buy-in to the culture and care about high performance can be tough. Examine what spectacular supervisors of student housing communities do differently to inspire dedication, loyalty and high-performance from their team members, whether they’re full-time, part-time or seasonal.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Understand job-market forces that make every supervisor’s life hard right now, including specific unemployment, employee turnover and engagement data
2. Learn what makes part-time employees tick and what turns them off         
3. Identify nine action steps to boost satisfaction and performance

Millennials are now solidly entrenched in the workforce and the first wave of Gen Z are starting their sophomore year of college. We know that Gen Z’ers value sustainability (but aren’t willing to pay extra for it), make buying decisions based on a company’s efforts at being socially conscious, and have a strong preference for social spaces that allow them to hang out together (while actively dialed into their devices). Learn more about this new group of academically focused individuals.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Understand what preferences are embodied by Gen Z and how that differs from their predecessors
2. Apply generational shifts to changes and nuances in student life programming, marketing, leasing and communication styles
3. Learn how to apply examples from the retail industry, sports industry and universities for ways to romance this generational group

As a former Sales Director for Disney Institute, Simon T. Bailey understands how to connect with executives, entrepreneurs and audience members of all types. He believes in the power of meaningful connections and equips people with tangible tools to make their dreams come true.

With more than 30 years' experience in the hospitality industry, Simon has worked with more than 1,700 organizations in 46 countries. He has been named one of the top 25 people who will help you reach your business and life goals by SUCCESS magazine; has authored nine books; and has a motivational video, Goalcast, that has been viewed over 53 millions times worldwide.