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4 Quick December Gathering Ideas for Residents

Posted on 10. Dec, 2009 by Heather Blume in Resident Retention

Whether it’s the food, time of year, or the weather, there’s something about the holiday season that makes people more social. That makes this a great time for property managers to bait some resident retention by using smaller gatherings or groupings. Here are four ideas to get you started.

Cookie Swaps
Though popular during the holidays, there is no reason that you couldn’t organize a monthly or bimonthly cookie swap with the bakers in your community. Traditionally, the purpose of a cookie swap is so that the people involved end up with a variety of cookies, but only have to make one kind. You can theme your swaps to coincide with holidays or other ideas like healthy cookies, organic cookies, etc. Another idea is to do a cookie swap centered around a particular ingredient like pecans, oranges, cinnamon, etc.

Book Clubs
With the downward economy, library usage is up and so is enjoyment of reading as a relaxation pastime. If you’ve got someone who’s a voracious reader on your staff, they’re a natural to take point on developing this group. Bearing in mind that not everyone’s taste in reading is the same, the first meeting of the group should be to establish which books will be covered. There are some great ways to do this, but one of the most successful is for each member to write down their top choice and then pick them randomly to assign the books throughout the year. Depending on your reader’s schedules, you can either meet once a month or once every two weeks. And if you want my suggestion for a book to start with, I offer up, “Tuesday’s with Morrie,” which will make you both laugh and cry.

Knitting Circles
According to Mark J. Penn’s book Microtrends, holding a knitting circle at your property might not draw exactly the crowd you’d anticipate. Teenage knitters are growing in numbers due to their interest in making their own accessories and clothing. You can find many free online patterns and might even be able to find some sponsorship with a local craft store so that your supplies are cheaper or offered at a discount to community members.

Writing Groups
While you might not have enough writers in your apartment community to fill a full critiquing group, opening this idea up to the community at large ensures that you’ll bring new people in and have a room of thoughtful wordsmiths who will enjoy getting some inspiration from the environment you provide. This sort of group works especially well around college campuses, where it can be difficult to secure a meeting space that works in the time frame the group may be looking for.

The thing to remember is that it can cost next to nothing for this kind of resident retention amenity. That’s right, I said amenity, and that’s because it is one. In an era where American values seem to be rolling back towards home and hearth, these sorts of resident gatherings will play right into the trends of the upcoming year. Besides, as many different consultants have told me several times during my multifamily career, “No one moves from a place where all their friends live.”

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Tags: resident retention