CAI’s Ask an Industry Professional Night Out Homeowner’s Forum has always been a great resource for Board Members and Homeowners to meet with a panel of professionals and ask questions on any topic they can think of.
This year, your Homeowner’s Forum Committee decided to offer more than just our wonderful panel Q&A session to our education sessions. The addition of networking time allows attendees some time to speak not only with our panelists individually, but also Forum attendees, so you can make connections with other board members and learn how different associations handle their community issues.
Our Forum held March 15 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Westwood Tavern in Schaumburg will be the first of 2018. This “Ask an Industry Professional Mixer” will have networking time and food from 5:00-5:45, followed by our Homeowner’s Forum. As always, while the professionals will introduce themselves so you can learn their areas of expertise, there is no planned presentation or slide show. Rather than a rushed Q&A at the end of an education session, the entire Forum is time for participants to ask questions to panelists. This event is offered by CAI at no cost, and space is limited, so register today!
Our second Forum expands on this new format with the “Ask an Industry Professional Night at the Ballpark” at Kane County Cougars Stadium in Geneva on May 24 starting at 4:30 p.m. Many attendees at the recent CAI Illinois Conference and Expo had the opportunity to meet Ozzie and Annie from the Kane County Cougars; after the Homeowner’s Forum ends at 6:00, attendees will move to a “super suite” to have dinner and time to network with our professionals and each other while cheering on Ozzie, Annie and all the Cougars as they play the Cedar Rapids Kernels. There is a small cost of $15.00 for this Forum, which includes not only the education and networking, but also parking, dinner, and your ticket to the game. Registration is now open on the CAI Illinois website!
If you’re still not sure what the Ask an Industry Professional Homeowner’s Forum can help you with, the answer is “anything you can think of.” We assemble a panel of Condo and Homeowner’s Association Professionals from a variety of industries – community management, banking, financial, legal, property maintenance, and more! Then, unlike the standard educational session, our moderator lets YOU, the audience, speak and ask your questions.
Here some topics covered in recent forums:
- Explanation of recent Illinois legal changes
- Discussion on running your association in compliance with the Condo Act or CICAA while still getting everything accomplished
- Planning for ongoing property maintenance and capital projects
- Understanding the proposals you receive for these services
- How to get started with obtaining a bank loan
- The difference between a financial audit, review, and compilation
- Understanding what type of insurance coverage your community needs and what they have
There’s no other educational offering that brings such a wide variety of topics together in one session, and many of our attendees come to the Homeowner’s Forums again and again since no two are the same. Start thinking of your questions now so you can get as much insight as our professionals can provide. If the Ask an Industry Professional Nights Out on March 15 in Schaumburg or May 24 in Geneva don’t work for your schedule, there will be plenty of other options later in the year, including a webinar so you can attend from anywhere with a computer or phone.
Our goal is that you come with questions and leave with answers. We hope to see you at one (or more!) upcoming Ask an Industry Professional – Homeowner’s Forums!
Lea Marcou, CMCA, AMS, PCAM- Co-Chair of the Homeowner’s Forum Committee
Lea Marcou
Lea started with Associa in 2008 and has worked in customer service for almost 20 years, starting with food service and retail before moving into office-based Customer...
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CAI - Illinois Chapter 
Cheryl Murphy 
