How To Plan Your Resident Event

January 17th, 2011 by Brent Williams| Posted in Apartment Marketing, Multifamily, Multifamily Social Media, Tips & Tricks | 1 Comment »

By MyNewPlace Guest Blogger, Brent Williams, Chief Insider of Multifamily Insiders

Although some apartment communities limit themselves to one summer party for their residents, many others plan small get-togethers, renewal parties, and other events throughout the year.  And unfortunately, most of these parties have problems from the very start:  the planning.  First of all, if you have the mindset of the party being just a “to do” item, then you are in big trouble!  Instead, look at your apartment party as an opportunity!  It’s an opportunity to develop a sense of community, drive resident referrals, get valuable feedback from your residents, and improve retention over all!  So here are several tips to planning the event in order to get the best results!

1)      Don’t settle for a mediocre party concept. In other words, throwing a bunch of money on food and uninspired decorations will be a waste of your resources.  Instead, make the brainstorming of your apartment party and sub-events priority #1.  What do I mean by “sub-events”?  Well, let’s say you have a summer blockbuster themed party, which showcases the different blockbuster movies over the past decade.  Well, what will you actually be doing?   What games will you have?  What prizes will you have?  How will you make your party actually special for your residents?

If you feel uninspired, try looking at current pop culture.  What is “hot” right now?  For example, years ago a “Survivor” concept would have been interesting.  Of course, by now it would probably seem a bit “tired”, so it has to be fresh.  If you STILL have trouble brainstorming, then try a resource such as ResidentEvents.com, which shares event ideas from other property managers.

2)      Find your suppliers. The biggest budget item to any event is going to be the food.  Sometimes a pot luck option is feasible, while other times the community can actually cook all the food.  But most often you are going to have an outside provider.  Get quotes from catering companies and local restaurants, with the latter having opportunities to cross promote.  For example, when a local restaurant comes in to cater, they can put up a banner and get advertising at the same time, so ask them to cut you a deal.  Also, make note of whether they will actually be serving the food or just setting it up.  Even for buffet style, I HIGHLY recommend someone actually dishing out the food for your residents.  Our first experience with self-serve ended in disaster as every resident packed their plate as if they were storing it up for the winter.

Another big question is tables and seating.  Consider places that you may be able to borrow tables from, such as a local church, in order to cut down on costs.  Also, the DJ will be a fairly big budget item.  Make sure to see the DJ in action somewhere.  Some DJs simply mix music and don’t actually engage the audience.  Other DJs are highly involved and serve as your “MC” as well.  A DJ that can serve double-duty with both the music and MC duties is definitely worth it, as it frees up a team member to handle other duties!

3)      Finding the money to pay for your apartment party can be tricky. Some properties already have a budget for it, while others demand that you get creative.  Many property managers look to lean on their vendors to pay for their events.  I’ve worked on both the property management side and the vendor side, and I can tell you from the latter that this can get quite frustrating.  Vendors have many clients, and when they all come asking for money, it’s hard to justify.  If you do, try to find a solution that is an opportunity for your vendor.  Your maintenance supply company would have no benefit to being a part of the event, but a cable provider might!  Allow them to set up a table so that residents can see the cable options, so that they can actually score some new business with their “investment”.

Beyond your existing suppliers, look to local businesses to help sponsor your apartment party.  You have a dedicated audience that they would love to get in front of, so use that as an opportunity to bring them into the mix!

4)      So now you have your event concept and sub-event ideas, you need to get the word out! This is so simple sounding that many property managers drop the ball on this item.  If a resident doesn’t attend your apartment party, then it holds no value when they are thinking about renewing!  So make sure that every resident possible is there!  And to do this, you must treat it like traditional advertising, where it takes 3 or 4 exposures to the “message” before it really sinks in!  So make sure to mention it in your newsletter, a door-hanger, an email blast, on your website, on your Facebook Fan Page, and in person!

5)      Plan the end of your event! How are you going to use pictures and videos from the event?  Also, track the attendance of your apartment party to determine what you did right and what you did wrong!

There is obviously more to the entire apartment party planning process, but hopefully this will get you on the right direction!