2016 CONFERENCE FEEDBACK PAGE 7
Lifestyle Estate, Ebotse Links, Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate and Blythedale Coastal Resort.
The ARC Annual Conference, which was attended by more than 130 residential estate managers, senior staff and directors, together with international guests from the USA, Australia and Dubai, took place on 28th and 29th of July at Midsteam Estates, Centurion. A gala dinner for over 160 guests was held at the Royal Elephant Hotel and Conference Centre.
Programme highlights included a keynote address on day 1 by Femi Adebanji, who provided pointers to his audience on how they could excel in their roles and become high-performance, influential leaders, inspiring their teams to raise their game and positively influence bottom-line business results.
On day 2 we heard a keynote address by Ian Thomas, who focused on the principle that the“ success of the team is because of the individual and the success of the individual is because of the team”.
He presented a riveting and informative account of how lions, the only cats that hunt in teams, can be compared with businesses that operate as teams, showing how individuals benefit from teams and how teams, in turn, become powerful!
The programme also included a number of insightful presentations covering key industry imperatives:
Governance, best practices and national standards, by Kelly Richardson, President of the US-based Community Associations Institute.
Communications: a community management imperative, by Stephanie Rosenmayer of Telkom.
Residential communities, NOT gated estates: industry statistics and survey results, by Jeff Gilmour, President of ARC.
The CAISA Annual General Meeting was chaired by Johan Kruger, Chairperson of CAISA, and formed part of the proceedings on day 1 of the conference.
This year’ s programme included four pertinent and valuable workshops:
“ Why chameleons change their colour”, facilitated by Dr Brian Jude, who kept us entertained while we learned how to recognise the differences between people, understand them better and adjust our behaviour to suit their different styles. By developing behavioural flexibility, we are able to gain rapport and co-operation quickly and easily.
Rob Anderson facilitated a workshop on“ Understanding our security risks and finding solutions in technology, intelligence and systems in residential communities”. This interactive workshop covered security principles and theories, developing a security plan, and operationalising and managing the appropriate security solution.
“ Your HOA brand” was facilitated by Dionne Collett. Marketing oneself, a brand or company is challenging as there are so many forums to choose from and access to so much information. Dionne expanded on the dos and don’ ts of marketing one’ s community or company, internally and externally, as well as the branding fundamentals, and discussed the pros and cons of using the multitude of media platforms for marketing purposes. Enhancing and maintaining one’ s reputation is critical to remaining a positive force in the industry.
The workshop on“ Sustainable resource utilisation strategies for water and energy” was facilitated by Anthony Turton. He gave an overview of water-related risk in South Africa in respect of quantity, quality and health. He discussed disruptive technologies coming onto the market, what this means for risk-mitigation strategies for residential communities and what solutions are available.
The conference programme also included a lively panel discussion and debate with international and local community leaders which covered a range of industry initiatives and challenges. This lively debate was facilitated by Johan Kruger and Jeff Gilmour.
The new format of the ARC Annual Conference, with the addition of the ARC Expo, proved to be an exciting, educational and fun-filled experience for all who attended. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success!
The Fifth Annual Conference, Expo and Golf Day will take place from the 2nd to 5th of August 2017 at one of our beautiful Western Cape communities. The venue will be confirmed in the next few weeks, but in the meantime please save the date! We look forward to seeing you there.
Peggy Gilmour www. hoasupport. co. za