I should start by shouting a huge THANK YOU to everyone that attended and contributed to Digible’s first apartment marketing summit! We were over the moon with the outcome- from the engagement levels during the marketing workshops to the dynamic content from our featured speakers, and the herculean effort from our staff to bring it all together- it was more than we could have hoped for. For those who couldn’t attend or weren’t in the know (shame on us), I’ll give you some quick context on how it came about, and our purpose for pulling it all together.
The genesis for the Summit came from a conversation we (myself, David and Nicole) had at a dive bar in Phoenix a couple of years ago. It was just the 3 of us at the time, and we were fantasizing (aided by a few adult beverages) about the future of the company, specifically how we could “change the conversation”, put our values on display, and spoil our clients all at the same time. Did I mention we (in fairness to David- me and Nicole) had a few adult beverages? Like many early-stage and first-time founder fantasies the idea served as mental fuel for a few weeks, but shortly thereafter became just another “someday” we pinky swore not to forget. Fast forward to AIM 2018.
David and I got a golden ticket from the conference hosts (Willy Lefkowitz and Dennis Wonka) to participate in their tech startup showcase. David crushed the presentation, but it was only 5 minutes out of 2.5 days = we had some time on our hands. Yes, we took a few walks on the beach, but mostly we soaked up the sessions and eavesdropped on attendee feedback. After the nineteenth unnamed marketer said (and I’m paraphrasing) “this conference is cool, but 90% of the sessions aren’t actionable or real-world”, we heard enough. I leaned over to David, and muttered with a hint of hubris- “we can do better than this.” David replied with his classic, “totes,” and the Digible Summit was officially impregnated. This is probably when I/we should say we’re 20 years away from producing a conference anywhere near the scale and awesomeness of AIM. Regardless, now you have the inside scoop on how DS19 came to be.
Moving on or back to the purpose of the Summit, our greatest priority was delivering meaningful content to our most beloved clients = all of them, and share our values in the process. While Digible has an opinion on just about everything apartments, it was deeply important to us that we removed the vendor goggles, and delivered a predominantly impartial approach on subjects like budgeting, emerging technology (ML, AI, et al), the ILS vs PPC debate, fair housing laws, and everyone’s favorite subject- attribution. We wanted data, industry experts, and peer experience to guide the conversation. We wanted to foster curiosity, authenticity, and courage. We wanted each attendee leaving more informed but also empowered with real-world tactics and insights. We wanted to express ourselves- our gratitude; our passion; our partners; our purpose. The Rolling Stones said, “you can’t always get what you want.” We agree with them, but DS19 was pretty damn close.
Until next year!
– Reid
P.S.- if you were hoping for something more specific, you probably shouldn’t read my blue moon blogs. The good news is that each session (sans workshops) is available on our Youtube channel. Happy viewing 🙂
