10 Tips for Ensuring Your Next Resident Event is a Success

Among everything else that keeps the multifamily industry extremely competitive, resident events are becoming more of a staple across communities. If you’re a Property Manager, events are one more thing on your to-do list that can easily become time consuming and overwhelming. With years of experience planning a wide range of events for varying demographics at communities nationwide, Circuit has the knowledge of what it takes to make a resident event go off without a hitch. Here are 10 ways that you can make your next resident event one your community will remember.

1. Choose a suitable event for your apartment community’s demographic

Organizing your community’s first event can be a little overwhelming. So, you may be wondering “Which type of event should I host?” We’re here to help. Whether it be an outdoor movie night for communities with families and lots of young kids, a virtual meal planning workshop to engage busy millennials with busy schedules, or pet-friendly property events such as a Pet Fashion Runway to help raise donations for a local animal shelter, or a Yappy Hour featuring a raffle and co-hosted with a local dog trainer. Our dedicated events team works with communities on a daily basis and know what types of events are most successful in support of engaging different demographic’s interests.

2. Work with local vendors

Incorporating a local vendor increases odds of attendance for your event especially if its one your community is already familiar with and loves. It’s a great way to not only increase your events attendance, but spread some love for other small businesses. Your local vendors are the best channels for advertising to your residents and build goodwill within your neighborhood community.

3. Streamline vendor communication and invoicing

Who has time in the middle of their busy day to contact vendors and orchestrate the type of event they want — music, catering, and extra activities included? Having a service or team dedicated to taking all the effort and planning out of events at your community is the most viable solution in a competitive rental market in multifamily. Circuit has a dedicated network of preferred vendors in every category, and the experience of planning events on our side. As a bonus, your accounting members will be able to save time and headache by having one single invoice rather than multiple transactions strung out over the course of several weeks.

4. Retain the human element in your planning process

Whether you’re serving up a catered event for a large group of people or looking to have a more intimate gathering for your apartment building, understanding the best ways to engage with your residents and their needs can be challenging when vendors and planners are distant or far removed. There are many different ingredients that go into creating an outstanding event, but adding some human element into the mix can make all of the difference. Working with specialist or dedicated events team that doesn’t drag you through an automated process online or a chat bot rather than a person who’s on the other end of a phone line will set you up with peace of mind and success from the start.

5. Think of it more of as a resident experience than a resident event

Don’t think of your resident event as a normal party or gathering.. Think of it as an experience in which your residents will remember for a long time. Circuit’s events are not just parties and gatherings, but formative experiences. We do this by creating themes that are both fun to attend, and educate your residents on related topics. Whether it be our ‘Rosé oh Hey’ Workshop where attendees learn the history of rosé and how to pair it the next time they select a bottle from the store, or a Pet Costume Contest with photos and lots of laughs, your resident event can be an experience with lasting memories for years to come.

6. Share marketing materials

Once you have a resident event planned, your residents need to know about it. Wouldn’t it be convenient if there were marketing materials provided for you so that all you had to do is post it up at your building or send it out in your properties newsletter to let your residents know? Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t need to worry about creating your own marketing materials? Here at Circuit, that’s our job! We create and provide you with all marketing materials you need to make your event a success; whether it be a post you can share about the event on social media, or a flyer to keep in your lobby or in the elevator with a QR code for guests to register directly from your resident mobile app.

7. Include a digital RSVP

Add a digital RSVP to your resident events gives you the flexibility to set capacity limits and vendors can prepare their supply of food and beverage. This will ensure a proper amount at each reservation for the number of people that are expected. Having a limit on the number of attendees also helps create exclusivity to encourage residents to book in advance so that they don’t miss out on all the fun. Through Circuit’s resident mobile app, our bookable events that include an RSVP result in an average of 96% attendance. 

8. Encourage photos at your resident event

Whether it’s a resident event, fundraiser, or any other celebration happening at your apartment community- take photos and prompt your residents to take them too! Photos of your event paired with sharing on social media, help to show off your building, the amenity spaces, and demonstrates what a great time residents are having who live in your community. Our team can help provide a fun and catchy hashtag to go with your event to make it more interactive and searchable for Instagram.

9. Send out a post-event survey

You’ve helped coordinate a great community event, and made sure it’s the best one ever. Now that the event is finished, what happens next? Many Property Managers cross the event off as complete. But the job is not done when the last resident leaves. A touchpoint immediately following an event at your building is the best way to ensure that your residents were satisfied, and that you can continue having successful events with repeat turnout in the future. Sending out a brief survey is the perfect way to make sure there isn’t anything to improve for next time and to continue to deliver an even better experience in the future. Circuit’s dedicated Events team includes this touchpoint following every resident event, and our property managers rate events from Circuit on average 4.5 out of 5 stars time and time again. 

10. Don’t overthink it

Remembering that events for your residents don’t have to be over complicated is one of the easiest ways to ensure that your event is a success. Sometimes overthinking and over planning can lead to a lack of decision paralysis or too many expectations. As long as you have great food, good music, or some type of interactive activity that really keeps your attendees engaged, everyone is sure to have a great time. By working with the Circuit team, you can ensure you will have a dedicated person to take every detail and step of planning off your plate, and handle it all for you to create stress-free and successful resident events every time.

From start to finish, producing a resident event is a lot of work. Great event production isn’t easy. You must coordinate a team, manage multiple vendors and make sure everything comes together correctly. Ultimately, you are responsible for ensuring that the resident’s experience is positive, even if something goes wrong. If you want to make your next resident event a success, consider Circuit to take all the planning and execution away for you. Reach out to our team today to start exploring!