Thousands of board members, managers and building owners came to the Meadowlands Expo Center on Saturday, May 9th for the New Jersey Cooperator’s eighth annual Condo, HOA & Co-op Expo. The show, which is a fixture on the business calendar of vendors, service providers, board members, building staff and residents—provided networking, information and educational opportunities for condo, co-op and HOA boards and residents throughout the tri-state area.

Some 1,200 attendees spent the day visiting nearly 250 exhibit booths and took in a lineup of informative educational seminars.

“Board members, managers and building owners come to our expos to gather information and advice to help them make their buildings and properties more efficient,” says Yale Robbins, president of Yale Robbins, Inc., Expo producer and publisher of The New Jersey Cooperator.“Each year, we try to improve on our offerings and anticipate new trends in the co-op, condo and HOA marketplace to help our attendees stay current.”

What Show-Goers Had to Say

Wood Ridge board member Joanne Folz said she was glad she attended the Expo and found it very useful. “I got a lot of my questions answered at several booths, and I also learned a few good pointers at the seminars.”

Board members Michael Schuchman, who came from Jersey City, and Dennis Knight from Brick, liked the variety of vendors in attendance and thought that the show provided them with exactly the right solutions they could take back home to their individual associations.

Come to Learn

One of The New Jersey Cooperator’s annual Expo mainstays are the educational seminars held throughout the day.

The first seminar of the day explored rising insurance costs and ways to contain them. “Containing Insurance Costs—What’s the Smartest Approach for Your Association?” was presented by Taylor Management Company, AAMC, AMO, BHB Insurance and McGovern Legal Services, LLC. In this seminar, Paul Santoriello, an association manager and president of Taylor Management joined with Debbie Pasquariello of BHB Insurance, and Attorney Fran McGovern to discuss ways of containing insurance premium costs while getting the best available coverage for your association.

In “The Letter of the Law—Updating and Enforcing Your Bylaws,”representatives from Association Advisors and Cutolo Mandel, LLC looked at enforceable bylaws and the drafting and amending of proper rules and regulations. Association Advisors’ Bonnie Bertan and association manager Larry Sauer, along with attorney Hubert Cutolo presented this seminar and helpful advice for staying on the right side of the law.

The seminar entitled “Surviving (and Financing) Major Construction /Replacement Projects—Best Practices For a Successful Project” brought together Ed Wilkin of the accounting firm of Wilkin & Guttenplan, P.C., David Chesky of The Falcon Group, and Scott Dalley of Access Property Management, to learn how to keep large scale capital projects on track and on budget.

The Stark & Stark team of attorneys, Chris Florio and Mary Barrett, presented a standing-room-only audience with “Every Community Association Has One—Dealing With “Problem” Residents.” As everyone who has lived in a common interest community knows, disruptive or unreasonable residents are a serious issue in any building or HOA. This seminar offered solutions for dealing with the chronically difficult.

The final seminar of the day featured a team of professionals from FirstService Residential, DW Smith Associates and Regal Restoration, who explored how to hire the best providers in “Hiring Good Help—Choosing The Right Professionals.” Michael A. Mendillo of FirstService Residential joined with Jennifer Nevins and Lynn Voorhees of DW Smith Associates and Robert J. Puterman and Angelo Giacchi of Regal Restoration on how you can best build a strong team of professionals to serve your community.

Gifts & Giveaways

Exhibitors come to the Expo each year to get their products and services in front of thousands of building decision-makers; attendees come for information, education and, of course, prizes. Exhibitor-sponsored prizes at the 2015 show included gift cards, sports tickets and the grand prize, a $2,500 contribution to one lucky board member for their building's reserve fund, courtesy of Yale Robbins Publications, LLC, and The New Jersey Cooperator.

And, lines formed throughout the day for the free advice booths, where attendees were able to get their questions answered by management, legal, financial and building service professionals, who generously donated their time in the advice booth area.

Next Year’s Expo…

Even before the 2015 Expo closed shop, planning and preparation began for the May 11, 2016 show, which promises to be bigger and more extensive than ever. Stay tuned to www.nj-expo.com for more information, important deadlines and online registration.

Debra A. Estock is managing editor of The New Jersey Cooperator.