More than 1,500 rental housing professionals descended upon the Santa Clara Convention Center this spring for CAA Connect, California’s premier multifamily conference and expo.
The California Apartment Association’s April 5 event featured more than 175 booths with exhibitors covering a wide range of services, from roofing to landscaping to employment staffing.
The expo floor was teeming with activity as soon as the doors opened at 9 a.m.
Meanwhile, seminars got underway in nearby ballrooms. By 4 p.m., CAA had offered 15 classes that covered topics from bedbugs to fair housing issues to social media.
Throughout the day, a number of attendees and exhibitors stopped by the CAA booth, sharing their thoughts on the event and CAA in general.
“I’m way more valuable as a property manager now than I was when I first started,” said McVicker, who’s worked at the 36-unit property for 3 1/2 years. “I just couldn’t have done it at this point without CAA.”
For graffiti-abatement expert Drew Lindner, CAA Connect provided a venue to display his anti-graffiti products — and present a workshop on keeping the vandalism at bay.
“We could not be happier,” said Lindner, president of company This Stuff Works Inc., based in Livermore. “We had over 10 property managers with over 200 properties that are interested in our products and also interested in more graffiti-abatement training.”
Wanda Correia of Performance Landscape Service, also based in Livermore, had a good experience at her booth, too. By 1:30 p.m., she’d already had almost 140 attendees come by and ask about the company’s offerings.
“Our experience at our booth has been fabulous,” Correia said. “We’ve had so many attendees who’ve stopped by to visit with us.”
Over at the booth for ALKAR Gift & Promotional Solutions, based in San Jose, a customer asked exhibitor Allan Jones if he remembered her.
“I looked at her name badge and it was one of my very first clients in this industry who I have not seen in years,” Jones said. “And because of the show … it has renewed our relationship.”
Charlotte King, CAA’s marketing coordinator, contributed to this report.