NAA eagerly awaits Mayor Rudy Giuliani. (Observations from NAA's President).

Leadership and partnership are among the predominant themes of this year's National Apartment Association (NAA) Education Conference and Exposition, June 27-29, in Orlando, Fla.

Each is an attribute that multihousing professionals both live and learn from everyday while conducting and interacting in their business lives.

Leadership and partnership both came to play in a monumental way on September 11, and thereafter. The honorable Rudolph Giuliani, mayor of New York City on that fateful day, is one who took both to heart, making them the cornerstones during his rebuilding of the spirit in New York and throughout America.

His phenomenal display of leadership and partnership enabled him to help carry the United States through what was one of the nation's most devastating events.

Giuliani will address conference attendees at 1 p.m. June 27 as the opening keynote speaker. Our members have expressed to me a high level of excitement about the opportunity to see and hear from this American hero.

Based on his experiences on and after September 11, Giuliani can offer insight like no other. I, too, look forward with utmost anticipation to sharing this experience with all attendees.

This issue of Units magazine features a preview section for the NAA Education Conference and Exposition, which begins on page 54.

Also, resident activism is taking center stage in many parts of the country. Terry M. Feinberg's article Resident Activism On the Rise Across the Country on page 40 explains its effects on our industry.

Author Michelle Renee Pate, CCAM[R] reports on the importance that design has in helping reduce neighborhood crime in Reducing Crime by Design on page 46.

Many in the industry seek solutions to the affordable housing crisis. Author David Cardwell, NAA/NMHC Vice President of Finance and Technology helps explain this in The Affordable Housing Crisis: What Role Will the Millennial Housing Commission Play? on page 50.

This issue also features articles written by speakers who will lead educational sessions at the conference.

Speaker Doug Lipp addresses the importance of knowing your market in Customer Service in a Shrinking World on page 58. He explains that most accomplished businesses got to where they are today because they are able to affectively communicate with people who are culturally and geographically diverse.

Communication is a critical part of everyone's life. To do it effectively is paramount to anyone in any situation. Speakers Andrew Botieri and Patty Morgan-Seager, in He Said, She Said: Demystifying Communication With the Opposite Sex, on page 62, outline the best way to get your message across.

Members continue to seek ways to improve business during this recent soft-market period. Speaker Robert Hammond in Back to the Basics, on page 66, suggests that companies that are able to take a "basic" approach to business will keep their residents happy and increase their building's occupancy rates.

Along those lines, speaker Doug Miller writes about the value and importance of resident satisfaction surveys in National Resident Satisfaction Study Sheds Light on Keys to Retention on page 70.

I look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

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