I’m currently on a plane heading to New Orleans for the 2016 CAI CCAL National Law Conference while reviewing the notes for Elina Gilbert and my presentation about HOAs in the media this Friday (January 29, 2016).
If you are attending our session this Friday I’d like to ask you to think of recent news stories you have come across about owners associations. Have the stories generally been positive or negative? I’m going to venture a guess and say that most of them have been negative. While unfortunate, this is a simple and truthful fact.
Elina and I are going to explore the reasons for this negative slant and I don’t want to give away our presentation now, but I do want to ask you all two questions:
- Why is it that media stories are generally negative towards HOAs?
- What can we all do about it?
I’d like you all to think about these questions and be prepared to discuss them with us on Friday. If you have ideas on what we can do to change the image of HOAs in the media, please be share them with us at the conference or in the comments here. After our presentation I want to be able to look to all of you to work with us to make a difference. Call me a hopeless optimist, but I truly believe with a little bit of effort from all of us, we can make a difference.
Further, we all need to be prepared to work with the media, not only to address stories about the communities we represent, but to present ourselves as experts in the field and resources for reporters. With a little work, we can make this happen.
Hope to see you all on Friday during our session. If I don’t see you, please check in with me about what we all can do to make a difference!