2020 has been a year unlike any most of us have ever encountered. Many would say it’s a year from hell but there have been some bright spots for sure. As for most industries, events and conventions are some of the ways we take a few days to network and learn. As you may know from a previous blog post of ours, learning and continuing education is important to us. One big event that KimbleCo often attends is the CREW Network Convention. CREW Network is the global arm of the local association MNCREW that we are heavily involved in and it exists to transform the commercial real estate industry by advancing women globally. This dynamic organization is made up of women (and men!) from every part of a commercial real estate transaction—from land acquisition, legal, title, planning, development, construction, leasing and property management, to portfolio management and investment sales. As you can imagine, the annual convention has something for everyone and is highly anticipated each year.
This year, we could not meet in person (which is a real disappointment because it was slated to be in Austin, Texas). Thankfully, CREW Network pivoted quickly and had a world class event online. While it was not what we all wanted, we made the best of it and I am so glad we did! Let me start by saying that having a host organization that understands the ins and outs of putting something like this online is incredibly important. It was also evident that there was MUCH preparation—when you have over 1,000 online participants, preparation is key.
Below are a few highlights from this year’s convention. These lessons learned can benefit any business considering large events online and, if you are involved in commercial real estate and/or are a leader in your company, there were some great key take-away points.
Networking better than in person?! Possibly!
So many times we go to these events and fall in with the same people we have met in previous years or members from our own chapters and we make few, if any, new connections. This year’s online format with small group sessions of 10–20 minutes of networking made it easy to meet people you likely would have never met before.
Targeted networking groups included: Senior Executive Women, C-Suite Executives, Emerging Leaders and Young Professionals, among others. I joined the Senior Executive Women networking group and founds these highlights and take-aways to be pertinent:
One-size-fits-one when considering employees needs during a pandemic. A discussion was had about the benefits of considering different solutions for work for each employee depending on their family situations. As long as an employee is still performing at pre-pandemic levels, an effort made to accommodate their needs will be much appreciated.
Impromptu calls are not always appreciated. Everyone working from home is dealing with different family situations. It is most respectful to schedule calls with employees.
How to manage time with everyone working different hours? Set a core schedule and make it known to employees and clients alike. Think about having “no meeting” days if that works for your organization.
Extra communication is critical. If we do not see each other face-to-face on a daily basis, over communicating is better than under communicating.
Coffee breaks and happy hours from the comfort of your own home were great tools for the virtual targeted networking groups. Another set-up that I appreciated from a networking standpoint was that our breakout groups were small (between 4 and 6 participants) so we could get to know new people and really connect. CREW provided multiple opportunities throughout each day of its virtual convention
Throughout the 3-day event, I was able to make connections with so many different lines of business from all over the country; from attorneys to due diligence companies. I felt that this opened up a whole new level of opportunities and I’ll be making offline connections with some of those that I met throughout the event.
Mega sessions + smaller conversation corners from the comfort of your home or office.
Big topics covered by experts in a unique setting—no cold break-out rooms, sore feet or interruptions! And, attendees could ask questions easily through the chat function. Everything during the event was recorded so that if you missed something or wanted to listen in on another topic that was covered at the same time you were in a different session, you could go back and review/listen to the session(s) you missed. CREW is keeping this option available for a month after its event.
The mega session was titled “Innovation, Technology and the Future of Real Estate,” and covered concepts in start-up tech companies reinventing how we do things. Some great examples included:
Development analysis: PARA | FIN, SpaceMaker, City Buildr
Deal analysis: Compstak, Cherre, Reonomy
Valuation/appraisal: Bowery, Geophy, Skyline
User engagement: HqO, Equiem, Crowd Comfort
More venture capital is also moving into technology and augmented reality (think Pokemon Go!) is continuing to move to the forefront. Updates to Google Maps and property owners needing to capitalize on ownership of virtual ads on buildings were just some of the sub-topics discussed in that arena.
Throughout the event I also participated in “Conversation Corners” that included great topics such as:
Affordable housing
Workforce development
Construction trends
These smaller group chats with experts from all over discussed trends in a setting where we could easily participate. These sessions were interactive and provided immediate learnings we could apply to our business.
Recovery and the state of the global economy
The industry keynote was led by Mary Ludgin, Ph.D., Head of Global Investment Research, Heitman. In her talk, she highlighted that research shows the US consumer is not in a position to bring the economy back. Many Americans who lost jobs spent their stimulus money while those who have money are saving at a high level; this is problematic. Other key take-aways from Mary Ludgin’s presentation:
Pandemic has accelerated the adoption of technology
Retail hardest hit with office fundamentals weakening
Industrial and multi-family are winners in the pandemic
The “small things” were truly the BIG things at CREW Network
Sponsors still came out in a big way for this virtual event. Goodie bags were delivered to our homes (or offices) for those who registered early. The keynote speakers and breakout sessions were very well planned. We even had the opportunity to participate in yoga and meditation sessions throughout the event which allowed us to maintain wellness while together. The event organizers even planned virtual tours between sessions as a way to provide an interesting break solution.
While being together in person is such a wonderful way to catch up with old friends and colleagues, meet new people and truly connect away from the office/home which enables us to grow relationships, I still had a wonderful time and learned a lot from this year’s CREW Network Convention. They really hit it out of the ball park with their first virtual convention!