Marketing Symposium

One day. Fresh ideas. New connections.

Join marketing professionals from across North and South Carolina for a day of learning, collaboration, and networking focused on senior living.

Winning the Next Market: Gen X Retirement

Gen X is entering the prime, final retirement planning window while simultaneously serving as the primary decision-makers for their aging parents. This session explores how Gen X’s dual role, as adult children today and future customers themselves, shapes how they research options, evaluate trust, and engage with senior living brands. Attendees will gain practical insights into how messaging, offerings, and engagement strategies can evolve now to better connect with this influential and often misunderstood cohort.

Amy Estridge, 3rd3rd Marketing

Why the Best-Performing Communities Stop Chasing Leads and Start Building Demand

In today's senior living environment, marketing directors face increasing pressure to deliver more leads, more tours, and more move-ins. Yet many communities continue to focus on lead quantity rather than lead quality—often creating more activity without creating better outcomes.

The highest-performing communities have discovered a different approach. Instead of constantly chasing the next lead, they focus on building demand, cultivating relationships, and creating a pipeline of future residents long before an apartment becomes available.

This session challenges traditional thinking about occupancy growth and explores how marketing leaders can shift from a lead-generation mindset to a demand-generation strategy. Attendees will learn why growing a database is not the same as growing a qualified prospect pool, why wait lists should be viewed as a marketing asset, and how the strongest communities build consumer desire before they need it.

Maribeth Jenkins and Angela Hamilton with Sabal Strategy

From Pre-Sales to Move-Ins: Planning & Executing a Successful Expansion

As demand for the Boomer population continues to grow, many Senior Living Communities are pursuing expansions. But doing so successfully requires careful coordination across sales, marketing, development, and operations. Maintaining occupancy in existing buildings while selling and delivering new units, all during active construction, presents unique challenges. This session explores the full lifecycle of a senior living expansion, from the early pre-sales planning through lease-up and stabilization.

Allie Ligay, Searstone Retirement Community; Lisa Burns, LivNow Relocation; Lauren Messmer, Solutions Advisors Group

Communication is Care: Humanizing Messaging in Aging Services

Every message we share has the power to comfort, connect, or confuse. This session explores how communication strategies can reflect care, build trust, and support meaningful connection across aging services. Through real-world examples and practical tools, attendees will learn how to align messaging with organizational values, reduce silos, and strengthen relationships with residents, families, and staff, all through a more human-centered approach.

Lauren Young, The Forest at Duke

Continuing Education

NHA CEUs: 4.0 continuing education credit for Nursing Home Administrators may be earned. LeadingAge North Carolina is a Registered Sponsor of continuing education with the NC State Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators. Comments regarding the Registered Sponsor Course may be addressed to: 3733 National Drive, Suite 110, Raleigh NC 27612.

Written requests for cancellation must be received at the LeadingAge North Carolina Office no later than August 31, 2026. All cancellations received prior to August 31, 2026 will be refunded less a $25.00 administrative fee per registration. All cancellations received after August 31, 2026 will be non-refundable. Substitutions are encouraged.

Your next big marketing idea might be sitting across the table!

The next generation of older adults is rewriting the rules and your marketing strategy should too.

Join us for a day of bold ideas, real-world case studies, and practical takeaways that will help you strengthen your brand and build lasting demand.