“It’s the easiest format ever,” says Anne Beauchesne, OLCM and a property manager with Sanderson Management Inc., in Waterloo, Ontario, where she manages eight corporations. “Virtual meetings are better than in-person and, for a busy property manager, much faster.”
It’s one year since the coronavirus pandemic changed all our lives. It’s also one year since virtual meetings became the new normal for conducting board meetings and AGMs in the condominium sector. Due to government-imposed restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19, in-person meetings were effectively cancelled as property managers and their boards scrambled to find new ways to hold meetings for their condominium corporations.
“We had been looking at various platforms to host virtual meetings,” Anne explained. “CondoVoter was attractive to our budget.” Now, close to one year later and a smooth uptake Anne adds, “The team is fabulous and everyone there knows about meetings.”
“The team is fabulous and everyone there knows about meetings.”
As with anything new, there were some minor challenges especially with senior residents with no computers or email and little technical knowledge. But Anne says now many elderly residents are getting their kids and grandkids to help out so they are able to vote and attend the meeting virtually. In fact, Anne knows of 3-4 owners who are within their selective “bubble” and who virtually attend their corporation’s meetings and watch the proceedings on TV, rotating meetings from one condo to the other.
CondoVoter has been able to accommodate some unique needs for Anne and the condo corporations she manages. Things like last minute changes to dates, and switching over hosting duties to management to continue after the AGM or board meeting has concluded are just two ways CondoVoter has met Anne’s meeting needs. Anne appreciates the changes CondoVoter made to phone voting that now allow callers to take part in meetings and not just listen. “I’m very happy. I’m never going back to in-person,” laughs Anne.
Anne appreciates the changes CondoVoter made to phone voting that now allow callers to take part in meetings and not just listen.
Anne has one board that definitely won’t go back to in-person either. She says “I’m perfectly ok with that.” But she adds you have to know your properties and buildings. Each has different needs and demographics.
Anne has been pleased with the overall benefits of hosted virtual meetings. As a manager who chairs these meetings she adds “Virtual meetings are much easier for managers and guests such as auditors. There is no travel so it saves a significant amount of my time. From home I can log in and get information to the board meeting in real time. I can actually be better prepared.”
