Thursday, February 25, Day 2: Registration and Badge Pick-up

Registration sponsored by:

Breakfast with Exhibitors and Sponsors

Roundtable Sessions

Open to PMC attendees only! Join a roundtable session during our breakfast hosted by a roundtable chair and focused on their expertise on a social media marketing topic.  You'll have the opportunity to ask questions and network with other PMC peers within these small groups! These presenters and mentors are here to help you navigate not only pertinent topics but also the event! The roundtables are limited to 10 per table and attendees will be able to sign-up onsite during registration. Topics and roundtable presenters to be announced shortly.

Welcome Introduction

Opening Keynote: What Your Resident Wants and Can't Tell You

Keynote Sponsor: Our job would be so easy if it wasn’t for the customers.Have you ever heard someone say that (or said it yourself)? Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way. Melina uncovers the hidden forces that truly drive renter choices. This includes key factors that people can’t explain, but influence every decision. You'll learn what actually matters to your residents, why traditional logic so often misses the mark, and how a clearer understanding of behavior can transform the way they design and deliver experiences. You'll leave not just inspired, but with at least one brainy, science-backed idea they can use to instantly improve their brand experience!

Scroll, Search, Sign: The New Renter Discovery Journey

Something has already changed in how renters choose where to live, and most marketing teams are still building around a funnel that no longer exists. SOCi went looking for the exact moment a renter makes up their mind, using a proprietary 2026 study of U.S. consumers, and what it found breaks the old search-then-tour-then-lease script apart. There is a channel quietly acting as a second front door into the leasing decision, and it is not the one most teams are optimizing for. There is a single factor (not price, not amenities, not floor plans) that outweighs everything else in the property category, more than in any other industry SOCi measured. And there is a gatekeeper sitting between every channel and the tour that most communities are managing by accident instead of on purpose. This session pulls back the curtain on what SOCi's 2026 Consumer Behavior Index actually found: where renters are really starting their search, what stops them cold before they ever reach out, and the one thing the highest-converting communities are doing that most brands are not. Come for the data. Leave with a completely different mental model for how your next resident finds you, and decides. Key Takeaways: • Social media is now a consideration channel for apartment shoppers, not just an awareness channel. Over a quarter of renters use it at some point in their search, and that share climbs even higher among Millennials, an active renter generation. • Visual content (photos and video) is the single largest decision factor in the property category, higher than in any other industry SOCi measured, meaning content quality has a major impact over leasing outcomes. • Reviews and reputation gate every other channel. A community's rating and response history shape whether a renter trusts what they find on search, social, or AI tools.

Innovation Scholarships

Scholarship recipients will be announced by:  CJ Edmonds,  Chief Revenue Officer, Conversion Logix Scholarship Sponsored by:

Networking and Bubbly Break with Exhibitors and Sponsors

When Marketing Works but Attribution Doesn't: How Modern Marketers Measure Memorability and Build the Business Case for It

Marketing has never had more data, yet one of its greatest strengths remains one of its hardest outcomes to measure: memorability. As renter journeys become increasingly fragmented across streaming TV, AI-powered search, social media, reviews and offline experiences, traditional attribution models tell only part of the story. Decades of marketing science have shown that people are more likely to choose the brands - and in multifamily, the communities—that are mentally available when a buying decision arises. As AI reshapes how consumers discover information and organic visibility becomes less predictable, multifamily marketers have an even greater opportunity to invest in marketing that happens well before a renter begins shopping. In many ways, what we've traditionally called "top of funnel" is no longer the true top of the funnel. This session explores the science behind memorability and mental availability, practical ways to identify the leading indicators that marketing is building future leasing demand and frameworks for making the business case for marketing investments that create lasting influence—not just immediate tours or leases. You'll leave with new ways to identify and measure the marketing happening above the traditional funnel, where future demand is created long before attribution can see it.

• Learn how to challenge the traditional view of the marketing funnel and learn where multifamily marketers have untapped opportunities to influence renters long before leasing intent exists.
• Take a deep dive into the science of measuring memorability, using leading indicators and non-traditional multifamily metrics to better understand marketing's influence, renter intent and where to optimize next.
• Build a stronger business case for brand-building marketing by translating marketing strategies and analytics into business outcomes that resonate with non-marketers, like operations leaders, asset managers and executive stakeholders - so strategic marketing investments gain the support they deserve.

The Expectation Gap: How AI Has Raised the Bar That Multifamily Marketing Hasn't Cleared Yet

• A cross-industry lens on how speed became the new consumer standard & a benchmark for where multifamily marketing currently stands against it, grounded in data: late-night leads engaged in early back-and-forth convert to tours at 2.5x the rate of those left waiting, and conversations reaching 5+ messages represent only 14% of inquiries but produce 39% of signed leases.
• A clear-eyed look at the cost of human touchpoints in the leasing funnel: each AI-to-human handoff adds 37% to lead-to-lease time, and every additional handoff adds roughly one more day. In the near future, this will force teams to ask which handoffs genuinely benefit the renter and which exist for internal comfort.
• A practical audit framework for identifying where your marketing and leasing process creates unnecessary friction & what to prioritize to close the expectation gap before a competitor does.

Lunch Buffet at the Meritage Resort and Networking Time for all Participants

Spilling the Tea: What Operations Is Saying Behind Marketing's Back (And What It’s Costing You)

Settle in, bestie, because we are about to spill. Earlier this year, Cadence Marketing Solutions and The Apartment Department asked operations professionals across the country what they really think about their marketing teams. And whew. They had thoughts. Here's the tea: where marketing and operations are misaligned on communication, reporting, and technology, trust erodes. And eroded trust isn't just awkward at the holiday party. It's expensive. Wasted spend, stalled lease-ups, tech nobody uses, and marketing teams left out of the decisions that drive revenue. In this session, Shelly and Marge share what operations said behind marketing's back, where the gaps are widest, and why reporting is marketing's single biggest opportunity to win back credibility. You'll leave with eight practical actions to close the trust gap, become the partner your ops team actually raves about, and protect your bottom line while you're at it. Bring a friend from ops. We dare you. 3  key takeaways you can implement immediately • Learn what operations professionals say they value most in their marketing partnerships, based on national research. • Identify where misalignment in communication, reporting, and technology erodes internal trust, and what that trust gap costs in spend efficiency, occupancy, and revenue • Walk away with eight practical, research-backed actions marketing teams can implement immediately to close the gap and become a stronger strategic partner to operations

Bridging the Gap Between SEO and GEO: A Case Study in AI Search Monitoring and Optimization for Apartment Marketers

As AI-powered search — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — starts influencing how renters discover and evaluate communities, most marketing teams are flying blind: they don't yet have a way to know if their brand is even showing up in AI-generated answers, let alone how it's being described. This session tells the real-world story of how Willow Bridge and ApartmentSEO partnered early to figure out what "visibility" means in an AI-mediated search world — what to track, how to interpret it, and how a marketing team can start building this into their existing reporting without waiting for the industry to standardize. Michelle Smith (Willow Bridge) and Martin Canchola (ApartmentSEO) will walk through hurdles first, what surprised them, and a practical framework any team can use to start monitoring and optimizing their own AI search presence today. 3 Key Takeaways:

• How to identify the handful of AI-search signals that actually correlate with leasing performance, so your team isn't guessing at what to track.
• A simple framework for auditing whether your brand/community is being surfaced — and accurately described — in AI-generated answers.
• How to talk to your team and leadership about GEO without overselling it — what's proven, what's early, and how to set realistic internal expectations.

The Last Mile Trap: Fighting Over the Same Renters — and Missing the Ones Who Aren't Looking Yet .

In this session, Karen unpacks why these ideas stall inside multifamily organizations, Denise brings perspective from industries outside our own, and Stephanie shares practical, no-extra-budget ways to get new ideas approved. You'll leave with practical tools to evaluate their current marketing strategy, uncover overlooked opportunities, build support for small experiments, and better communicate the value of marketing efforts that traditional attribution often misses. This isn't about spending less on the last mile. It's about recognizing the opportunities that exist before prospects ever get there. Three Key Takeaways 1. The Funnel Scorecard: a practical assessment that helps you see where your team's time, budget, reporting, KPIs, and leadership attention are actually concentrated, and where opportunities may be waiting upstream. 2. The Small Bet Proposal: a simple, one-page way to pitch low-risk marketing experiments that are easy to test, easy to explain internally, and easier to get approved than a large-scale initiative. 3. The Beyond-the-Click Scorecard: practical, non-traditional metrics (awareness, visibility, referrals, consideration) that help show whether upstream efforts are working, when traditional last-click attribution only tells part of the story.

Beyond the Lead Count: Diagnosing the Operational Gaps Marketing Can't Fix

When occupancy slows, the first instinct is often to generate more traffic. But what if the problem isn't lead generation at all? Strong marketing can attract qualified prospects, but conversion depends on much more than impressions and click-through rates. From lead response times and tour experiences to unit readiness, pricing strategy, online reputation, and resident satisfaction, operational execution plays a critical role in marketing performance. This session encourages you to look beyond traditional marketing metrics and evaluate the entire customer journey. You'll learn how to identify where prospects disengage, recognize when operational friction—not marketing—is limiting performance, and build stronger partnerships across departments to improve conversions, retention, and revenue. Before investing in more leads, organizations should be confident they're solving the right problem. Three Key Takeaways

• Diagnose whether performance challenges originate from marketing, operations, pricing, product, or process before increasing marketing investment.
• Map the prospect-to-resident journey to uncover operational friction that impacts conversion and retention.
• Apply cross-functional performance metrics to improve collaboration, decision-making, and overall business results.

Marketing Doesn't Stop at Move-In: Why Resident Behavior Is Marketing's Most Valuable Data

For years, multifamily marketing has been measured by leads, tours, leases, and occupancy. But those metrics only tell part of the story. Today's residents continue forming opinions, making decisions, and influencing your brand long after move-in. Every maintenance request, renewal conversation, transfer, review, and recommendation shapes future demand. Leading operators are beginning to rethink marketing—not as an acquisition function, but as a lifecycle strategy centered on understanding resident behavior. In this session, Rob Hayden, Co-founder of Renew, joins a PMC Partner to explore how behavioral insights are changing the way leading operators think about acquisition, retention, loyalty, and brand experience. Together, they'll share how marketing and operations can work from the same signals, align around the resident journey, and create stronger business outcomes. You'll leave with a practical framework for expanding marketing's role beyond lead generation and building brands that residents choose to stay with. Three Immediate Takeaways:

•  Identify three behavioral signals that reveal resident intent earlier than traditional marketing or leasing metrics.
• Learn practical ways marketing and operations can align around the resident journey instead of operating in separate silos.
• Walk away with a framework for measuring marketing success beyond leases—including retention, loyalty, referrals, and resident lifetime value.

New! Steal My Idea Session + Networking Reception

Introducing an informal session that brings together property management leaders and industry partners for facilitated conversations focused on emerging trends, innovative strategies, and real-world solutions shaping the future of multifamily marketing and operations. Each idea station will be hosted by a PMC or Multifamily leader. Yuo'll have the opportunity “steal an idea” from the station host on AI, search, reputation, resident experience, leadership, recruitment, and marketing operations during this innovative session which includes refreshments and light bites.

After Party at Crush Lounge at the Meritage Resort

Sponsored by:

Don’t miss out on the ultimate after party celebration at Crush Lounge in the Meritage! Join us for a nightcap, lite bites, and some friendly competition as we keep the fun rolling!

All event participants are invited - please wear your MSMS badge for admittance.

Friday, February 26, Day 3: Registration and Badge Pick-up

Registration Sponsored by:

Breakfast with Exhibitors and Sponsors

Keynote # 2: The Originality Advantage-How savvy creators use AI to become more valuable, not less.

You know the feeling. You draft a smart prompt, and presto! ChatGPT writes the email, crafts the caption, and conjures up two thousand words before your coffee gets cold. You hit send in seconds. And then... that little twinge. Did I cheat? Did I let AI do too much of the work? What if they find out? That feeling has a name. It's called synthetic shame. Here's the thing. That shame isn't your enemy. It's your early warning system. Because right now, we're all using AI the same way, feeding it the same prompts, and getting back the same generic output. Andrew ran the test across three different tools, three brand new accounts, and the results came back more than 80% identical. That's not a coincidence. It's called algorithmic convergence, and it's dragging every one of us toward the same cliff: the Zero Originality Point. The day your work is indistinguishable from everyone else's. The day a boss looks up and asks, "why do we need you?" Maybe there's a better way. It turns out AI's true superpower was never answering questions. It's mimicry and imitation. And once you understand that, you stop competing with the machine and start doing the one thing it can never do on its own. In this exhilarating 45-minute session, best-selling author and former television producer Andrew Davis (and his Digital Doppelgänger, Drewdini) will introduce you to three marketers who have leveraged the AI knowledge model to create work they can be proud of, out in the open, in a transparent way. Most importantly, Andrew will show you why the magic was never the machine. The magic is you. So, are you ready to claim your Originality Advantage?

The Class of 2026: Creators Every Brand Should Be Studying

"Most Likely to Turn a Slow Tuesday into a Viral Moment." In 2026, that honor didn't go to an influencer or a polished corporate rollout. It went to onsite teams who were funny, resourceful, and unapologetically themselves. Their social content was strategic marketing at its finest, creating moments that became unexpected engines of traffic and trust. The Class of 2026 is a yearbook-style celebration of the frontline storytellers who turned everyday operations into cultural currency. While competitors kept milking the "get residents to make TikToks" cow, these teams made maintenance feel episodic, turned comment sections into pure comedy, and executed trends so cleanly they outshined the originators. And behind every standout post is a chance to deconstruct the creative process; the guardrails that empower rather than restrict, the internal buy-in that transforms fun ideas into signature moments, and the strategies companies use to support onsite creators without compromising brand integrity. Onsite teams are the face of the brand and have become a legitimate marketing channel. This isn't just a look back at what worked. It's a preview of where multifamily marketing is headed, where authenticity is differentiation, humanity drives influence, and personality is the new performance metric. Learning Objectives:

1. Recognize the key characteristics of standout employee-generated content and distinguish lasting brand strategy from one-off viral moments.
2. Design creative guardrails, approval processes, and team support systems that empower onsite teams to create standout content while protecting brand integrity.
3. Build scalable systems that help onsite teams create authentic content while strengthening brand connection across the entire portfolio.

Networking break with Exhibitors and Sponsors

Every Team Member Is in Marketing: How Operational Excellence Becomes Your Greatest Brand Strategy

This session explores how marketing leaders can strengthen brand performance by partnering more intentionally with operations, leasing, and resident-facing teams. Through real-world examples from multifamily housing, attendees will discover how employee experience, consistent service delivery, and everyday interactions directly influence reviews, referrals, renewals, and long-term brand reputation. Rather than viewing marketing and operations as separate functions, attendees will learn how aligning both creates a seamless resident experience that drives measurable business results. As AI and automation continue transforming how prospects discover communities, authentic human interactions are becoming one of the industry's strongest competitive advantages. This presentation challenges you to rethink who owns the brand-and why every team member is ultimately part of the marketing department.

• Identify the moments that most influence trust throughout the resident journey and learn how to intentionally strengthen them.
• Create alignment between marketing, leasing, and operations so every interaction consistently delivers on the brand promise.
• Measure brand success beyond leads and leases by recognizing how employee behaviors drive reviews, referrals, retention, and reputation.

Session to be announced

Closing Remarks and Adjournment