‘My Kind of Town, Chicago Is’

When you come to the NIC conference be prepared to shake hands. A lot of hands. There are thousands of dealmakers – bankers, investors, property owners, and me – here to start conversations with, and that means handshakes.

If you were in Chicago this week for the fall conference there were more than 3,650 attendees present, a new record, NIC says, up 10 percent from the previous gathering.

That’s a lot of hands. The main venue, the Sheraton right there on the river, could not even hold the masses assembled, with the neighboring Loews taking in some of the events, and handshakes. The Loews has an oddly configured second level with a bridge of sorts crossing over the lobby bar area where everyone gathers. I am afraid of heights, and falling to my death on top of a Wells Fargo banker struck fear in my heart, so when doing the bridge, I made sure to turn sideways and not have a run-in, tip over.

NIC Does it Right

NIC runs a great conference. The layouts make sense – besides the Loews bridge-over-troubled happy hours. The cue-up music blasting Chicago (the still-alive rock band) music at the Main Stage pumped some blood into me every time I heard it (I already forgot the song, all Chicago songs sound similar to me). And the quality of presenters and moderators are always top-flight leaders who somehow explain the complexities of senior housing and the finances associated with them much better than anyone else.

My favorite session came when my boss Mark Parkinson led three REITs through the process of explaining why SNF quality is so important to how they choose to invest in them or not.

My favorite session not tied to my contractual obligation to say Mark’s was the best – kidding – was the one featuring lodging owners/operators and how senior housing and the hotel class have loads to learn from each other or was it vice versa? One of the speakers, and I am not into naming names here, and this is not negative, had a booming voice that reminded one of the late John Candy, or it did to me. Once I heard it, I could not get the many connections between Candy and Chicago out of my mind, namely “Uncle Buck.”

RIP John. A favorite.

Back to NIC doing it right. The planners also make it easy to sit down, interview people, or just talk. Sofas galore in key spots. Nicely presented food that even though mislabeled at times, were really good holdovers to the next real meal. Staff also wore real smiles even as they tried to sign me up to NIC MAP or something related to it 14 times per day.

Meandering

And then there is … I lived in Chicago eons ago. My first non-Ohio permanent residence. We survived a blizzard like the one that starts “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in 1989 or maybe 1988. It snowed a lot back then. I got home in that snow hell by trailing a snowplow straight down Belmont Avenue. Irish luck? That same luck got my car towed and booted, soon thereafter, but for another time.

I learned to love the Bears, but mainly the Bulls. The first of their two sets of three-peats started when I was there. Michael Jordan supreme. What a time. And then there were the skipped afternoons from work to get to Wrigley, or more likely Murphy’s before Wrigley. The music at the Mercury Lounge, the Lower Wacker Drive experience, and that time I ran into actor John Cusack in my car, rolled him on my hood. He was not happy. He was not hurt.

Life goes on.

‘My Kind of Town’

Walking to the hotels holding the NIC handshakes was a pleasant experience, I have to admit. The sun was out. People milling around. Only one unhoused person called me a nasty word, and in front of the Harry Potter store, for not giving him money – no cash, so? I did have a wand bought for my son, but it does not generate cash.

In the end, the great spirit I sensed in Boston for AHCA/NCAL was different here, but still in the same ballpark. People feel optimistic about SNFs and senior housing, but as one speaker said that is just when you need to be cautious.

Chicago was not ever my place to be cautious, but we all got his point.

For Chicago, it’s the perfect place for NIC, and its many returns.

Comments or questions? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com