Webinar - Engaging Residents: Community Building with Condo Control

Hi everyone, and good morning. Thank you for joining us today, and welcome to today's webinar on ‘Engaging residents and community building with Condo Control’.

My name is Rebecca Woelfle, I'm a customer marketing specialist at Condo Control, and I'll be your host for this session. I'm also joined by my colleague, Istahil Hashi, a customer success manager at Condo Control as well. And today, we'll explore some strategies to help foster a sense of community among residents using some of Condo Control's community engagement features.

Just a few reminders and housekeeping items. This webinar is being recorded. A follow-up email will be sent to all registrants with the recording link once it becomes available. And then after the presentation, we will have a q and a session. Please submit any questions you may have into the Zoom chat box and we will do our best to get to as many questions as we have time for.

Now for those attending that reside in Ontario, a reminder that the CMRAO has approved this learning activity for 0.5 CPE credits, and then after the webinar, upon leaving the Zoom meeting, a survey will automatically appear in your browser to gather any feedback you may have and if you want to indicate that you would like a certificate sent.

On our agenda for today, we'll be covering several topics related to community engagement, including why is this important, some Condo Control-specific features to help keep the community connected, some communication strategies, you know, tailoring strategies, boosting adoption, and also, building community through events and the use of discussion forums and more.

Again, following this talk, we will then have the q and a session.

I will then pass it on to Istahil. Thank you, Rebecca. Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining our webinar today. I'm Istahil, one of the customer success managers here at Condo Control. And today, we will start by highlighting the importance of community building and engagement.

So in our line of work, we've certainly noticed that community engagement is a crucial factor in fostering a sense of belonging and improving the overall quality of life within condo and HOA communities.

Active engagement creates opportunities for residents to connect with one another. Residents who engage regularly are more likely to form meaningful relationships with their neighbors, create new friendships, and collaborate on projects that benefit the community, leading to an overall cooperative and supportive community.

We've also noticed that communities with active and engaged residents often experience an increase in property values. You know, the perception of a well maintained, secure, and vibrant community is attractive to potential homebuyers, right?

Additionally, engaged communities are better equipped to address and prevent potential safety concerns. Residents who actively look out for each other may contribute to lower crime rates, creating a safer and more secure environment. In summary, community engagement is a powerful tool for creating safe, connected, thriving communities. While challenges may exist in getting residents involved, the long term benefits make it worthwhile.

And on the next slide, we're going to delve into the importance of the roles of property managers and board of directors in driving community engagement.

So what does that look like? So the active involvement of management, staff, and board of directors is, again, crucial in setting the tone for community engagement. Management staff and board of directors should actively participate in community events and initiatives, demonstrating their commitment to creating a vibrant and engaged community.

They can play an active role in boosting community involvement by ensuring that there's always transparent and regular communication, easily accessible resources and information, as well as listening to and adopting resident feedback. And all of this can be done by utilizing Condo Control’s features, which Rebecca will go through and provide an overview in the upcoming slides.

Thank you, Istahil. So, Condo Control really offers, a comprehensive toolkit for enhancing community interaction. The platform serves as a digital hub replicating the real life community conversations by allowing residents to ask questions, share insights, and connect effortlessly. So with this suite of tools aimed at really streamlining communication among residents, Condo Control empowers the property managers and board members with these dynamic solutions to foster the community interaction.

For example, the events calendar. This really lets event organizers share if there's scheduled maintenance, meetings, and social events with all members or select recipients. Attendees also get reminders before an event begins so that they don't forget about it.

In addition, there's our discussion forums. So inspired by those physical community bulletin boards, these really provide a digital space for open conversations, enabling residents to seek advice, share experiences, and build connections.

And then next, Istahil will discuss some specific community engagement strategies for different community types. Istahil.

Thank you, Rebecca. So now we know the features that help drive resident engagement. However, each property type has its own challenges, strengths, and unique needs. Condos, for example, usually have shared amenities such as pools, gyms, and communal spaces that create opportunities for heightened living experiences, whereas townhomes prioritize localized initiatives like community gardening, for example, to foster neighbourly bonds.

HOAs on the other hand, stress collective decision making through regular in person interactions and meetings. Engaging HOA communities involves having open communication, collaborative problem solving, and platforms like community forums for resident participation.

A particularly beneficial and collaborative feature of Condo Control that has been helpful for some of our HOA communities is, for example, the asset management feature, which allows users to keep track of assets like boats, trailers, and sometimes even HOA assets that residents can borrow or loan.

Different properties boast individual attributes that mimic residents' lifestyles and understanding these is fundamental effects effective engagement. For instance, condos with shared amenities may need to focus on scheduling and maintenance, whereas townhomes might prioritize neighborhood watch programs.

The key is customization as no two communities are identical. Strategies must be tailored to cater to the unique requirements of each community.

On the next slide, Rebecca will now present a case study in which Condo Control was deployed to improve community engagement.

Thank you, Istahil. So here, we really wanted to include a case study of how the specific features of the Condo Control platform tangibly helped to enhance communication and engagement within a community. So Val Khomenko is a former principal condo management at Regional Group based in Ottawa. And him and his team, they manage a unique list of communities, including large high rises, commercial condos, and heritage properties. Now managing these properties brought on many challenges. For example, Val faced many communications issues. In particular, there was a lack of timely emails.

If Val needed to send out a message, he would first have to copy and paste the resident emails from a spreadsheet. This was taking a lot of time. He also wanted to update some of the older, slower processes that communities were using to book amenities, such as the handling of paper forms.

Now Val's communities didn't have any forum where they could effectively communicate and connect with each other. Residents would also need to ask management directly for certain forms or documents, which meant his team was printing out the same items over and over again. In addition, there was also the lack of that feeling of community among residents.

So the solution. To solve these issues, Val invested in the Condo Control platform. And what made Val decide to try Condo Control specifically was the fact that among other platforms, it was the most user friendly and could really help groups manage their portfolios more effectively, he found.

With the new announcements feature, Val and his team could create and send messages instantaneously. Announcements can also be customized, and there is an option to send notices to a select group or the entire building with this feature.

Val has numerous testimonies from residents of amenity usage increasing since residents were given the Condo Control app. In particular, they found that gym booking increased by 60% since the software was released to residents.

With the digital file storage feature, board members could store and access items like governing documents, minutes, materials for various meetings, and any other condo material that they would want to store in the file library, really saving Val and his team a lot of time.

And finally, with Condo Control, Val and his team were able to create that stronger sense of community, keeping residents connected and engaged. Okay. I'll pass it on to Istahil who will talk about effective communication.

Thank you, Rebecca. So communication is key to building a thriving community. Regular and transparent communication from management and the board of directors is essential. We cannot stress this enough. This can include newsletters, emails, or community bulletin boards to keep residents informed about upcoming events, projects, important updates, emergency updates, that water shutoff notice, and so on.

In large HOAs, for example, we've seen that effective communication presents challenges simply due to the sheer number of units and residents. With that, a more balanced approach is the solution, utilize utilizing a combination of digital tools such as newsletters and email memos as well as in person interactions to really bridge that communication gap.

In summary, effective communication is not just a means of delivering information, but a fundamental building block for community cohesion. By adopting a balanced approach, community leaders can create an environment where residents feel informed, connected, and actively involved in shaping the community's future.

In the next slide, we will look at other ways management and board of directors can enhance communication and resident interaction based around our service request module.

So the service request module really allows residents to submit work orders or inquiries regarding their unit or the common areas of the property directly to management.

However, effective communication extends beyond that initial service request. It involves keeping residents informed, engaged, and confident in your abilities to assist with their concerns.

Replying to service requests via email is a transparent way to keep residents in the loop. When you reply directly to the inquiries through email, you maintain open lines of communication and provide real time updates.

Additionally, submitting requests on behalf of residents is another powerful tool. Sometimes, residents face challenges in logging requests themselves. By proactively addressing their concerns, you can ensure that no issue goes unreported.

Both of these practices, foster stronger resident relationships and demonstrate your dedication to providing top tier service. Condo Control’s platform offers solutions that go beyond property management. It's about creating a community where residents feel heard, understood, and valued, essentially.

On the next slide, I'm going to switch the topic, and, let's move on and explore the importance of moving from paper-based forms and records to digital formats and how Condo Control facilitates this transformation.

Transitioning from traditional paper-based forms and records to digital formats is a pivotal step in modernization, in modernizing administrative processes. Embracing digital technology enhances efficiency, accessibility, and data management from condos and HOAs.

Condo Control offers a user-friendly digital platform that serves as a centralized hub for all community related documents and records. Our secure platform ensures that valuable information is stored and managed in a safe and reliable manner.

The advantages of this digital transformation are multifaceted. By reducing reliance on physical paperwork, you can free up office space and minimize the risk of document loss or damage. Moreover, digital records promote sustainability and eco-friendly practices within the community. The transition to digital formats empowers administrators to operate more efficiently and securely, leaving behind the constraints of paper-based systems. I'm gonna pass it back to Rebecca to discuss some of our other features in utilizing them.

Thank you. Yes, annual condo surveys. So these are really invaluable for guiding the community growth. They collect resident feedback and really offering insights into their needs and concerns, what's working, what's not working, and really where improvements are needed.

So this structured approach identifies those pain points and preferences that may otherwise have gone unnoticed and really empowering residents to actively take part in their own community improvement and thus enhancing satisfaction and the long-term engagement.

Okay. Also, community events. These are a great opportunity for building community, really allowing residents to mix and mingle, get to know each other, helping to build those stronger community ties regardless of age or background. Now these events whether social gatherings, workshops or info sessions can bring people together and may help to create a more inclusive community.

While residents get to know each other better, they also have the opportunity to interact with board members too. So social events help make board members more approachable and likeable. So for owners who attend events, they probably won't remember much about last year's general meeting, but they will share a fond memory of the laid-back summer barbecue or competitive karaoke contest.

Another tip that we suggest is to really consider forming a committee for event planning, if one doesn't already exist. If you have a designated social committee, this really ensures that there are enough people available to get the job done, to accomplish everything that needs to be completed before, during, and after events.

And now each member of the committee will have tasks that they need to complete by certain times. Someone might be in charge of getting quotes. Another will look after venue setup and takedown, and someone else will spearhead advertising and attendance.

Committee members will also need to meet with the board or HOA manager to debrief, provide updates, raise concerns, and report results after an event has ended.

Discussion forums are digital spaces where residents can gather, ask questions, and share their concerns or ideas. It also provides opportunity for residents to post classified ads with for sale items, a service recommendation, or list needs like cleaning services. It also is an opportunity to offer restaurant recommendations or even post suggested dog walkers, people might suggest.

With Condo Controls features now, residents can really engage in these conversations, brainstorm solutions, and build a sense of community 24/7. So active participation in these discussion forums work to promote neighborly support and community responsibility. I'll pass it on to Istahil to sum everything up.

Thank you, Rebecca. So to sum up our webinar today, community building involves creating an environment where people can connect, collaborate, and share experiences. Condo Control serves as a powerful tool for this, bridging the gap between property managers and residents.

We've discussed how customization, effective communication, and targeted strategies are essential for building successful communities with Condo Control. Our platform includes tools such as surveys, event calendars, and discussion forums, helping create a strong sense of belonging among residents and essentially happier living spaces and a better quality of life. Thank you all.

Okay. So that concludes the presentation component today. Thank you so much, Istahil, for being our guest speaker. So we will now start the q and a session. If you do have any questions, please submit them in the q and a function at the bottom of your screen.

So we will start the question period now. Istahil, if you want to see what our first questions are, and we can get started. Mhmm. So just to let everyone know, we will be only responding to questions that are relating to the topics that were discussed in the webinar today. If there are any questions, that are outside of that scope, we will send that to your customer success manager who will reach out to you following the webinar to provide additional information.

So let's have a look what we have here today. I have a question: Where do you find the annual condo surveys in Condo Control? So our survey option our survey module is part of our core package, so everyone will have that as part of their package, And it can be found on the in the home page on the left hand side, list of modules. I think it's usually towards the bottom of the list of modules. So you can find that there.

I see some questions, relating to demonstrations of some of the modules that we have discussed today. Unfortunately, that wasn't part of our presentation today. However, I will send your information to your customer success manager who can provide additional demos for the features that we discussed today.

Let's have a look. So I have a question here that says, how do we get our events on the events calendar for residents to see? So, the calendars within the events calendar all have permission levels, so you need to ensure that your residents have permissions to see that calendar. But what I can do is have your customer success manager reach out to you, and they can provide additional demo on how to do that.

Is there a newsletter template? I believe we do have some newsletter templates in our announcement templates, and those can be found in the announcements module.

I have a question here relating to service requests: How are the emails tracked to service requests? So, all comments are tracked actually within the service request module itself. Once you respond to the service request on Condo Control, the resident will receive an email to let them know that you've updated the request. They can then log in and look at that update. And once they once they also respond, the property management will get an email to let them know that there's an update on that service request as well.

We have another question here relating to annual surveys. Do you have a template for an annual survey that we can send out to our residents?

We don't have templates for the annual surveys. The survey module allows you to create surveys as you choose so you can populate the questions that you want to go out to your community. If you need additional guidance on that, please reach out to your customer success manager. We'll be able to assist you with that.

So we have another question here. Are you able to separate access privileges so that owners and board members have different access to records. Yes, each folder in the file library will have its own permission settings. So you can give view access or full access to different groups. The answer is yes to that.

Where do we, as board of directors, obtain an effective annual survey for community improvement? Again, this ties back to the other question for annual survey templates. There are no templates. You can put any questions that you want in the in the survey module, and tailor those towards your community.

So we have a few questions regarding the webinar today. Would they be available to view on Condo Control? Yes. All our webinars are available on our Condo Control forum, and anyone that's attended the webinar today will also get a link to the webinar.

I must add, it's specifically events.condocontrol.com

Wonderful. Thank you, Rebecca.

Okay. We do have a lot of questions, so I'm just trying to get through them for you. So a lot of these questions have been repeated. So I am just skipping through any that have already been answered.

I have another one here regarding service request. With service request, how can we keep track for units and how to respond to the request? So once a service request is received in your service request module, you have a list of all open service requests which you can track that way. And each response for each service request is noted inside that specific service request. So that's how you can keep track of all of them.

You also have the reports feature, which allows you to pull reports on all the details of the different service requests.

We have a question here: What advice do you have for helping residents get comfortable and start using these tools, especially for those who are not inclined to use digital tools?For this, we suggest education. Just educating the residents or holding spaces where residents can come, where property managers or board of directors can show them how to use these tools. Because I think once, residents are shown, the platform is super user friendly. It's not too complicated. So holding those spaces, is really, really important to educate the community.

Will we be receiving a PDF file of the slide presentations. Rebecca, I don't believe it's a PDF file. It's just a video link. Right? Correct. Just the recording of the webinar

Where can I learn to add or amend forms? I'm going to assume that this is in relation to File library, but if you can elaborate on that for me, maybe I can answer that.

Question here regarding discussion forums. This is actually one that I get a lot from our clients. Any strategies on how to keep discussion forums from becoming complaint platforms, keeping it positive, not negative apart from monitoring the post? I was gonna suggest monitoring the post and moderating them. So property management does have and board directors do have a control of the kind of discussions that are being had. But, other than that, I can't think of any other ways of monitoring the posts.

Will a reply and service request generate an email that is sent automatically to residents? Yes. I believe I answered this already. They will get an email notification letting them know that there is an update on their service request.

Any suggestions for engaging older residents who may be a bit hesitant on using Condo Control? Again, we suggest holding demos or practice sessions with older residents to help them get familiar with the software.

So I have some suggestions from clients here on other topics for webinars. So following the meeting, you will have a chance to submit topic options. A lot of repeated questions.

I just noticed, someone suggested using, for newsletter templates, Canva.com. I've used it myself, Canva, for some things, and it can be very helpful. I would also encourage people check that out as an option if you want.

Okay. Awesome. Thank you, Rebecca. You do have a lot of questions, so I'm just going through them to see the ones that we haven't answered.

Okay. We I have had we've had a lot of comments on having a demo for the features that we talked about in our webinars. So maybe that's something that we can take note for future webinars.

We have a question here: Does manager engagement in Condo Control reflect community engagement in Condo Control? Absolutely. I think that's something that we stressed in the in the webinar. If property management and board of directors are not using the system to engage with residents, then the residents are not gonna engage back. So, yes, it is it is critical that, those in control, those that are managing the site and the board of directors are effectively using the software too.

We have a question here. You mentioned digitizing forms. Is there a way to create a form for residents to fill out? Can it auto fill into the unit file, a license plate number, emergency phone numbers, et cetera? So, again, this is another permissions feature. If you want to tell our residents, owners, tenants to update their unit file information, you can give them those permissions to do so. We find that a lot of property managers want to have control over that information, so that so they do take charge of that, but the permissions are there where you can allow residents to update their own information.

Referring back to the digitization of forms, the service request, it depends on what kind of forms, you're referring to, but you can make specific forms in the service request module depending on the needs of the community.

Let's have a look what else we have here. This is an interesting question: Any suggestions on managing too many service requests from one resident? I use condo control, and there's one resident that has sent hundreds of service requests over the past two years. I mean, the good thing is that they're using the software and do you lose the service request? How can we manage that? I think it would that would sort of been something that you would have to manage with this individual resident. It isn't something that we see, that happens over and over again. So maybe having a discussion with them directly might be the solution there.

Are service requests archived and can they be retrieved at a later date for history? Absolutely. Everything in Condo Control is archived, and you can pull reports on all the different types of service requests and their details, as far back as conception.

Does the service request history stay with the unit even after the new owner moves in? No. The surface request history stays with the user, so it will be linked to the user and not the unit.

Another question regarding demographics: many of your suggestions are based on the premise that owners, residents are computer-able. Many of our resident owners are not technical technologically capable. What are your suggestions for them? So, we suggest either that you hold spaces where you can train, certain residents, or we suggest that you help them by submitting their service request, for example, there are gonna be some residents in all communities that will refuse to log on, will refuse to, get the software and use the software. You just have to assist them individually.

What else do we have here? So a lot of these questions have been repeated, so please bear with me while I go through them.

We have a new question here. Are board of directors able to access those features of engagement or only the property managers? Yes. Board of directors do have access to those features. Again, these are all permissions that can be turned on and off. So please speak to your customer success manager, and they can discuss how to give those permissions to your board of directors.

New question: Does Condo Control track click rate of announcements sent out? The answer is yes. In our reports module, we do have an announcement recipient list, and that will show you if the recipient has opened and clicked on the announcement. So, yes, those reports are available.

I have a question here relating to service requests: How can we categorize the security reports? Oh, sorry. This is related to security reports based on their nature. You can do this in our reports feature, and security reports, I believe, can be filtered down to types of incidents.

How long will records be kept in the app? Records are kept forever. None of your records are ever deleted.

This question has come up a couple of times. Now can you moderate abusive behavior in discussion forums? I'm not entirely sure currently, but that is a great question. And I will, definitely take that back to our dev team, and we can provide some feedback on that.

Are you available to conduct education so owners feel that they are hearing from the experts? So this is something that I believe you can discuss with your customer success managers. I know that for some of my clients, I've held small Zoom training sessions, during work hours, obviously, and that's assisted property managers to train certain residents.

Question here regarding, I guess it's a follow-up to one of my comments. As far as the owners to change information, I have found that they are not allowed to change their home address. So I believe the unit address and the mailing address is something that owners cannot amend. So property management have control of over that information.

Where is the discussion forum on condo control? The discussion forum will be found on the home page, but it has to be set up in the setup page initially. So either property managers or board of directors will need to create separate discussion forums for it to be available to the residents to view in the home page.

How do I contact my customer success manager? I can find out who your customer success manager is and have them contact you after this. But you should have, their contact information when you when you first sign up to Condo Control.

Okay. I think we have come to the end of our questions there. We do have some questions that are not relating specifically to the webinar today, but we will have your customer success manager reach out to you and provide additional feedback on that.

Yep. And we'll also in the email that's sent with the webinar recording, once it becomes available, we'll have a q and a document to address any questions that we did not get to.

If you have any questions or need clarification on any of the changes, please create a support ticket.

Alright, everyone. We really appreciate you all for joining us here for today's talk, and we thank you so much for your time and participation in the q and a. Lots of questions. That's good.

Just a reminder, after this Zoom meeting ends, a short survey will appear in your browser. If you don't mind taking the time to fill this out, we would greatly appreciate your feedback as well as, if you do want a certificate sent to you to ensure that you can earn that CPE credit if you are an attendee in Ontario. Have a great rest of the day, everyone. Thank you.