Governance

July 25, 2024 Published by Manitoba Chapter - By Alan Forbes

CCI National Leaders Forum and Conference

From the CCI Manitoba Summer 2024 Condominium News and Views Magazine

Leaders connecting with leaders

The National Leaders’ Forum (NLF) started at noon on Wednesday, May 29, and ran until the end of the day on Friday, May 31. The National Conference was held on Saturday, June 1. This article is a compilation of thoughts and comments from participants from the Manitoba Chapter. 

The National Leader’s Forum (NLF) allows leaders to share their experiences, challenges and success stories with others. The target audience for the NLF is the national executive, the national council, the various chapters’ directors and chapters’ administrators. Members at large from the different chapters are eligible to attend as well. But the target audience is much broader. All condominium stakeholders — condo owners and directors, industry professionals, service providers and sponsors — are welcome. The conference is an effective forum for subject-matter experts to share their knowledge with a broad audience and for attendees to connect and network. 

Ultimately, the purpose of the forum is to expand our knowledge. To quote American politician Donald Rumsfeld: “There are known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns,” and attending an NLF can improve each knowledge area. Attendees learn specific things based on their awareness of their knowledge gaps (known unknowns). In the process, they are exposed to information from peers from other chapters that supplement their knowledge (known knowns). They are also exposed to new topics and ideas they hadn’t even thought about (unknown unknowns) and become aware of. At the conference, they might realize that there is a fourth category — unknown knowns — which could be due to exposure to misinformation or disinformation, which could lead to bias in their decision-making and judgment.

The NLF started at noon on Wednesday, May 31, for CCI National’s Executive Committee and the National Council, composed of a representative from each chapter. Most other attendees arrived later that day and joined a Meet & Greet that night, an influential networking event. Thursday and Friday were full days, with evening social and networking events open to all CCI chapter members. The final day, Saturday, June 3, was the conference and trade show open to members and non-members alike.

In no particular order, here are some of the highlights.

Marketing CCI

We need to increase our CCI membership to increase the value to our members. As condo corporation memberships increase, CCI becomes more attractive to professionals, business partners, and service providers, who can provide more information and services to condo corporation members — a win-win situation and an ever-increasing value proposition. We discussed using the “elevator pitch” to better market CCI to current and prospective members.

Elevator pitches (and social media posts, for that matter) require a hook to get the recipient of the message interested and a call to action. Here are some examples that came up:

• Attend the CCI AGM for fun, food and wine.
• Have you ever been screwed over by government action or inaction? Join our Government Relations Committee and amplify your voice.
• Learn what you don’t know and what you need to know. Attend a CCI lunch & learn.
• Join CCI’s CondoStrength program and learn from other condo corporations’ successes and failures for free.

Political engagement

The NLF organizers had Halifax Mayor Mike Savage as one of the keynote speakers. Since CCI needs to work with provincial and municipal governments on many issues, it is good to work with them on a first-name basis. For any special events, invite a political leader to greet attendees. Doing so will also provide more visibility to the events.

WIIFM?

The answer to “What’s in it for me?” is vital for volunteer organizations such as CCI and condo corporation boards. People volunteer for multiple reasons, such as giving back to the community, seeking personal growth, expanding their professional or social network, and sometimes just for fun. Organizations need to understand the WIIFM for each volunteer to ensure we meet everyone’s needs. The key is to keep it fun and make all volunteers feel appreciated.

Strengthening property management relationships

Property management is both a professional discipline and a necessary function. While some condo corporations are self-managed, many are professionally managed. All provinces are seeing the growth in new condominium properties outpacing the increased human resources to manage those properties. CCI, in its role of providing education and support to condominium directors, can help make life easier for strained and stressed property managers. Property managers can help CCI by enabling access to their client condominium corporations. 

Alan Forbes is a director and vice-president of CCI Manitoba. He serves on the Membership Committee, the Education Committee, and the Communications Committee.