Key Takeaways from BOMA 2024: Innovations, Empathy, and Emerging Trends in Commercial Real Estate

Since attending every daily show globally is not feasible for me (although desired ??), I contacted Jason M. Sikora, CPP , Director of Sales Midwest at Allied Universal and Access Control Executive Brief Member, to share his key observations and takeaways from BOMA International 2024. Expecting five insights, Jason generously provided eight - covering innovative building amenities, trade show challenges, empathetic leadership, XR solutions, AI adoption, space demands, political impacts, and the rise of non-alcoholic options at conferences.

For those unfamiliar, BOMA stands for Building Owners and Managers Association. The international organization advocates for commercial real estate professionals, including building owners, property managers, developers, leasing professionals, medical office building owners and managers, corporate facility managers, asset managers, and providers of the products and services essential for operating commercial properties.

The BOMA Convention, held from July 13th to 16th in Philadelphia, is a major event organized by the Building Owners and Managers Association. It aims to represent and address the interests of commercial real estate professionals through various presentations, seminars, and exhibitions relevant to the industry.

Below are Jason's eight key takeaways and observations.

Thank you, Jason, for sharing these valuable insights with our community!

The transition of building systems to building amenities continues to be?an?exciting trend.

While roaming the technology pavilion, I happened upon the New York based startup? Numa Products which?offers?devices that?brings?personalized ventilation and temperature?controls to?the true end user: the employee at their desk. The demonstration?was incredibly simple, but effective. The CEO, Gabriel Peschiera , sat me in an unassuming chair positioned under a HVAC duct equipped with a?Numa?device. The?Numadevice is a?bluetooth?enabled smart vent with built in air flow,?quality,?temperature,?and?humidity sensors, along with a thermal-based occupancy sensor?to allow the system to automatically stop the air flow when no one is sitting in the designated area. Gabriel demonstrated the effectiveness by allowing me to pick how cool and how strong I wanted the air?flow?to be, as well as where it was directed. For optimal impact, he demonstrated that I could narrow the air flow down to one shoulder or the other.?All via a smartphone app that reminded me to my NEST thermostat at home.

If you’ve ever been to a conference (or really any indoor environment really),?you’ve likely?heard the perpetual complaints about it being too hot or too cold in any given area. Thus,?it’s not?difficult to see the feasibility of an amenity like this. We’re all picky in our own way, and there’s nothing we as humans love more than having things our way.

Conferences?and exhibitors continue to struggle?to drive?genuine?interest?to?tradeshow floors?

BOMA did a great job of brainstorming ways to create an experience on the show floor: they had a Philly Cheese Steak taste testing; they brought the charity activity on to the show floor; and they even added a set of pickleball courts. The show floor hours have also been shortened over the last couple of years. However,?for the most part,?the tradeshow floor remains?unchanged and uninteresting. I want to point out that this isn’t?just?a BOMA specific problem;?this is a conference industry problem. I’m preaching to the choir here, but the entire idea of what a tradeshow represents needs to be flipped on its head. Folks aren’t attending conferences to shop for new vendors, especially not in aspace?that has very little to offer in the way of groundbreaking innovation. If someone wants?to find a?new vendor?or service provider, they can save several hundreds of?dollars by staying home and searching the internet or asking their colleagues for recommendations. In my opinion,?most?folks?go?to conferences for learning and socializing.?Until conferences find a way to have every bit of the show floor offer both of those?things, the show floor will continue?to be?uninteresting,?and the value of purchasing a booth will continue to decrease.?The fact that a bingo card for visiting booths exists should be?a?glaring red flag that the tradeshow/expo floor concept?is broken.

From the exhibitor standpoint, it was surprising and disappointing to see how many booths had no reason for a potential customer to approach.?Only a?handful of exhibitors had something inviting or demos that have touchy-feely tendencies?-?whether it was a hands-on product demo like NUMA or?adorable?explosive sniffing K9s from Allied Universal. But over half of booths were outfitted with little more than a?company?banner and disinterested sales people talking to only themselves?- barely acknowledging anyone that walked passed their booth. In my opinion, the?only companies that can get away with that?are companies that have products?that speak for?themselves?with?has eye-catching, intrinsic value. No offense intended here, but no companies at BOMA fall into this category. The worst part of this is that the companies that made little effort to interact with potential customers are probably the ones who will complain that they had little to no traffic

Managing teams and/or conflict?through blunt force is out and leading with empathy, humility, and EQ is here to stay

Tim Keck with? SafeHaven Security Group, LLC hosted one of the first sessions on Sunday. The title of his session caught my eye right away: “De-Escalate Yourself: The Keys to Staying Calm in any Situation.” The title felt like a snarky retort to the typical ways we look at calming folks who are?upset or?unruly. The problem with the?traditionalmindset?on de-escalation?is that it assumes the other person is the only one who is?upset or?unruly. I’ll be the first to admit that?in years past?my hurt ego has certainly caused many a conflict to worsen. As I’ve matured and become less arrogant, I’ve certainly reduced these?occurrences, but I’ll always be a WIP. So,?I felt the need to see if this session could offer some more tools to help me navigate conflict personally. And that it did. Tim used?his experience in high stakes law enforcement positions?(and a whole lot of side-stitch inducing, laugh?out?loud humor)?to?help us understand what we can do in the heat of the moment to help?cooler heads prevail, such as breathing techniques, practicing empathy, and?increasing?our overall EQ. His message was that everyone has a lifetime worth of their own experiences that have?led?them to their interaction with you. We should cherish that fact and remember that everyone is dealing with their own challenges. All strangers share one thing: we have, we do and we will struggle. Empathy is one of the strongest tools we can use as humans to understand each other’s dispositions and can ultimately help us lead both teams and individuals (and even ourselves) to calm resolutions.

The case for XR related solutions for workforce development is finally gaining traction

Admittedly, I enjoy a good conversation about Extended Reality. So naturally, I was drawn to a booth that had a Meta Quest 3 device sitting out to be raffled off. Knowing the Commercial Real Estate industry, I was pleasantly surprised to see something like this being offered as a prize, instead of the standard gift card or similar. The booth belonged to Interplay Learning which offers a fully online immersive training platform for essential skilled trades. They have partnered with Facebook to offer a more accessible way to provide training and “hands-on” / “on-site” learning from anywhere in the world. The concept is not a new one, but the fact that it is finally on a technology-agnostic show floor shows there’s finally significant interest. And if that interest continues to grow, it could help solve one of the biggest concerns facing the Commercial Real Estate industry: finding and hiring qualified individuals. It could also help encourage folks to get excited about essential trades again, or better yet: excited about XR. Win, Win, Win.

AI is still an important topic that many people still don’t understand

There is still a very strong appetite to find new ways for Artificial Intelligence to make all of our lives more efficient; however, there is still a large gap in the general public’s understanding of AI and their willingness to better understand it. I think one of the biggest challenges that AI solution providers face is overcoming that resistance. The problem?I?continue to see is?that AI solution providers fail to articulate the concepts and the value in terms that are understandable to the?general public. Until they can do that, their message will fall on?many?deaf ears.?There were a handful (not nearly enough) of companies represented on the show floor that are utilizing AI in unique ways?that?make Property Manager’s lives easier. SITE and? Smplrspace are a couple that immediately come to mind. ?One of those companies was very effective at articulating the value and concepts; the other was not. The glaring difference is the ability to speak the language of property management. If you can’t speak the language of property management, perhaps an investment in someone who can should be your next endeavor.

The demand for data centers and industrial facilities?continues to grow, while the demand for office space continues to?fall?

This isn’t a new thought or a new trend. This has been going on for literally years now. However, it wasn’t until this show that?the gaping divide in sentiment ?turned into a sense of irony: both parties are worried about space, but for different reasons. Office managers are concerned about what to do with their space; while data center and industrial facility managers are concerned about not having enough space. I had a very eye-opening conversation with a colleague about the staggering number of office buildings?that have been,?or?currently are?being, demolished?to make room for more data centers and industrial properties.?It made?me wonder if/when we’ll seemore?high rise commercial real estate buildings or?large?suburban office parks that contain a happy mix of occupied office space, data centers, and even last mile logistics all in one place. Or maybe that’s already happening and I didn’t realize it. Regardless, it’s going to be interesting to see how this trend will force organizations, associations, and the industry to adapt.

American politics affects everything

Even with everything happening this week, the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump was front and center. In?key note?speeches,?committee meetings, education sessions, on TVs throughout the hotel, or in small talk on the show floor, the conversation permeated everything. No matter what side folks typically fall on, much of the conversation was about sadness and frustration that things have come to this point, coupled with an overwhelming desire for the country to come together?with no single magic pill to make that happen.?It made for some very timely discussions at the Preparedness Committee meeting which featured the CSO of Tishman Speyer , Dr. Hugh Dunleavy , and National Network of Fusion Centers representative, Stacy Irving . The conversations?at this meeting, along with many others, underscored?the need for timely, reliable and actionable information and resources.

Non-alcoholic options are finally making their way into the conference space(!)

In recent years, I have taken a less is more approach with alcohol for my own?personal health, fitness and productivity. The problem with most conferences or anything networking related is that alcohol is everywhere with little to no alternatives.?With good reason of course: liquid courage is a real thing.?I genuinely enjoy the taste of beer and gourmet cocktails, but?have come to dislike?the negative consequences.?I’m not alone either, there are plenty of studies that show?the?non-alcoholic market is booming. There are even studies that show younger?generations are much less likely to consume alcohol than generations that came before.?I’ve?personallyargued for the better part of the last two years, that non-alcoholic options should be offered wherever there is alcohol. I’m happy to report that almost all of the events that I went to this week had at least?one non-alcoholic option. Unfortunately, the one’s that didn’t were the ones that were hosted by BOMA.?I’m honestly not sure if this is a BOMA problem, or a convention center problem. Either way,?I’m hopeful that all conferences will push for non-alcoholic options in the future.