“We are planning to build a new senior living community with an architecture firm Marcus Evans introduced us to. We would not have connected if it wasn’t for the Marcus Evans Summit,” said Brooke McLean, President & Chief Executive Officer, Air Force Enlisted Village, a delegate at the Marcus Evans LTC & Senior Living CXO Summit.
It was a way for us to network with other LTC providers and potential business partners, understand new industry trends, and improve our operations. We engaged with many companies, and had follow-up conversations and demonstrations with a number of them.
We connected with an architecture firm that is now helping us develop a new community. They are currently doing the initial planning and development work for a new community, a USD 50,000 contract. There will be a second contract when we start constructing the community, which will cost around USD 200 million, and they will receive a percentage of that. They will be our lead architect at our existing campus and the new community, and we are grateful for their partnership.
We are also staying in touch with a flooring company. They showed us their products, visited our campus, and I am pretty sure we will use their products in the future.
We did not know of this architecture firm before the Marcus Evans event, and I doubt we would have connected with them any other way. I receive many emails asking for a call or meeting, but I do not respond to them. I rely more on referrals, personal contacts and face-to-face meetings.
Before the Summit, Marcus Evans provided the list of attendees and asked who I wanted to meet. As we felt it was time to change to a new architect, when I saw the new firm on the list, I requested a meeting. That helped us learn more about their firm and portfolio. They are now doing some great work for us and have been very helpful.
Yes, I believe so. We value long-term relationships and are not constantly looking for the next cheapest opportunity. We do not just open our doors to people to come in and pitch their products.
It is a good format to be able to meet and assess different service providers. We had 30 minutes to share information and see if there was potential for growth. If you have a good engagement, you continue. If you don’t think it will work, you move on.
I have attended many long-term care and senior living conferences plus other events by industry specialists, but the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with different companies, the Marcus Evans format, was very unique. You do not have that opportunity at other conferences.
As far as the quality of the attendees, Marcus Evans tends to bring a higher level. The event is not open to just everybody. Most other conferences have thousands of attendees, including mid-level managers and entry level executives getting their first experience. Marcus Evans Summits are smaller, so you can really network and get to know people. They are more intimate, so you can connect at a better level.
Find out more about the upcoming LTC & Senior Living CXO Summit.