Earlier this month, Geokey had the pleasure of attending Apartmentalize 2023, an annual conference/trade show organized by the National Apartment Association (NAA) that serves as the premier event for the multifamily industry. The tradeshow offers the thousands of attending managers, developers, and suppliers a comprehensive platform for networking, learning about the industry, and business development. In addition to engaging in numerous educational sessions and workshops offered at the event, participants had the opportunity to visit booths and interact with fellow attendees.
During the exhibition days of the event, Geokey operated a booth and displayed some of our products and integrations, hosted live demos, and got to interact with a lot of the other people at the event. Our booth buzzed with activity as men and women from across the industry stopped by to talk. Along with the potential prospects who stopped by, many of our partners, including 29th Street, whose recent investment pushed Geokey over the two million fundraising goal, stopped by to talk and get to know the team.
On top of people visiting us, we had the opportunity to branch out and meet with people across the industry. We were able to open dialogue and start conversations with some big names in the development world. It was encouraging for many of us to see how Geokey’s reputation was beginning to spread throughout the industry as more and more people opened their eyes to our solution.
While we had fun showing Geokey off to people and talking with others around the event, many moments stood out to us, highlighted the direction of the industry, and showed how Geokey could continue to grow in the access control field. We discovered that many of the apartment owners who visited our booth knew about mobile access control but didn’t know about its benefits or ease of use and expressed genuine interest in learning more about it. It was great for Geokey to be their introduction to what mobile access control can offer them and the benefits it could provide over older systems. Many of the apartment owners and decision speakers we spoke to said they would be looking to update their access control within the next six months to a year.
Overall, the event showed us just how big an opportunity we have to continue impacting the Multifamily industry and the importance of continuing to stay innovative. There is a clear need in the industry for a flexible, secure, and practical access control solution, and Geokey has a real opportunity to fill that need. The shift away from flashy future-looking tech to solutions that can genuinely increase a property’s value, help generate NOI, and efficiently streamline operations will be fundamental to how access control continues to develop into the future. This is one of the main reasons Geokey is receiving so much attention: people see that at the center of this industry shift, Geokey can provide everything they seek and more. We provide a secure, flexible, scalable, and practical access control solution that can increase a property’s value and give managers more control of their property, and people are starting to realize that.
Another important takeaway is the value of trade shows like this. The ability to gather and establish a community with fellow industry members and engage in face-to-face discussions is invaluable. This relationship-driven industry relies on personal interactions to transcend mere business deals. We are immensely grateful to the NAA for hosting events like Apartmentalize each year, providing a space for companies like Geokey to interact with developers and suppliers. We are looking forward to next year and cannot wait to see what’s in store for both the access control and multifamily industries.