British Columbia’s strata communities have entered a new era of governance. What began as a temporary solution during the pandemic has evolved into a permanent, more flexible way to run meetings, engage owners, and make collective decisions.
Strata meetings. What once synonymous with folding chairs and long late-night debates have become more accessible and streamlined. Technology, education, and updated provincial rules have made it possible for owners to finally have choice in how they participate in meetings.
The Pre-COVID Reality: When In-Person Was the Only Option
Before 2020, nearly every Annual General Meeting (AGM) or Special General Meeting (SGM) happened in person. Months and sometimes considerable amounts of money were spent on booking hotel conference rooms and halls for large communities. While smaller ones made do with amenity rooms or borrowed spaces…sometimes even holding meetings in cold parking garages. Needless to say, AGMs and SGMs weren’t always pleasant to coordinate or attend.
These in-person meetings may have had community spirit, but they also had major downsides. Attendance was low, quorum was hard to achieve, and the long evenings often tested everyone’s patience. Owners with challenges, simply didn’t attend.
Voting was another challenge. Verbal votes and show-of-hands tallies worked for simple decisions but would become cumbersome during contentious votes. Secret ballots were time-consuming and often error prone. With little guidance in the Strata Property Act, inconsistencies led to disputes and even legal challenges.
In short, in-person meetings worked, but just not well.
The Pandemic Catalyst: When Necessity Drove Innovation
Then came 2020 and the Pandemic. When in-person gatherings suddenly became impossible, strata corporations faced either not holding meetings, and violating the Strata Property Act or finding a creative solution. While many Council meetings were held electronically, the AGMs posed a problem.
However, quickly emergency orders were put in place that allowed electronic meetings and communities turned to platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams to hold their AGMs online.
While this new format offered hope, it also exposed major gaps. Generic video platforms couldn’t easily manage:
- Owner verification and voting security
- Proxy tracking and fractional voting
- Multiple owners per unit
- Secret ballots or anonymous votes
- Observer access and recordkeeping
For small stratas, these tools were manageable. For large or mixed-use buildings, meetings turned into marathon sessions. In some cases, lasting well over the normal 2 hours.
Some communities even experimented with “restricted proxies” as a workaround, essentially treating them as advance ballots. The Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) later ruled this practice illegal, reinforcing the need for compliant, purpose-built solutions.
Still, this period sparked something bigger: a complete reimagining of how strata meetings could work.
The Four Modern Meeting Modes
Ryan Grant, CEO and co-founder of Property Flute, has become one of BC’s leading voices on the evolution of strata governance. He identifies four main meeting formats that now define the modern landscape.
- Traditional In-Person Meetings
Best for smaller communities (under 15 units), this approach offers simplicity and social connection. It’s ideal for quick decisions and straightforward elections. The downside? Limited participation, accessibility issues, and time-consuming vote counts.
- Electronically Enabled In-Person Meetings
This hybrid format blends the best of in-person meetings and electronic voting. Attendees gather in person but cast votes digitally using smartphones or tablets. Results are accurate, anonymous, and fast with no paper ballots or scrutineers required.
It maintains the community feel of an in-person meeting while eliminating the logistical headaches of manual voting. However, it still depends on securing physical venues.
- Fully Online Meetings
This is now the dominant format for medium and large stratas. Owners can attend from home, on vacation, or from another city entirely. With the right software, registration, proxy management, and voting happen seamlessly.
Grant notes that online meetings can reduce what once took many hours down to just four. Efficiency improves dramatically, and participation often increases because owners can log in from anywhere.
- Dual-Attendance Hybrid Meetings
The most flexible, and complex, format combines both physical and virtual participation. Owners can attend in person or online, voting simultaneously through connected systems. This model provides maximum inclusivity but also requires robust technology and coordination.
Without specialized software, hybrid meetings can become chaotic. But when executed properly, they represent the gold standard of modern strata governance.
When Technology Becomes Worth the Investment
Not every community needs sophisticated meeting software. About 65% of BC’s stratas have fewer than 10 units, and most manage perfectly well with traditional meetings or simple video platforms.
For larger communities, though, technology quickly pays off. Around the 30-unit mark, the administrative complexity makes digital solutions worthwhile. Purpose-built platforms make a world of difference for:
- Complex voting or bylaw amendments
- Multiple owners per unit
- Secret ballots and anonymous voting
- High proxy volumes
- Mixed-use or sectioned stratas
- Commercial units with fractional votes
Grant estimates that professional meeting management for a 100–200 unit building typically costs around $1,000 to $2,000 per AGM, or roughly $5–10 per unit. This is a reasonable price for accuracy, time savings, and peace of mind.
The Transparency and Trust Dividend
Time savings might drive initial adoption, but communities often discover something more valuable: better meeting dynamics.
When voting is seamless and verifiable, participants focus on discussion instead of procedure. Arguments about process fade, replaced by genuine engagement.
Digital platforms also create transparency. Every vote, motion, and attendance record is logged. Detailed audit trails build trust in outcomes and confidence in leadership.
This type of transparency and education in the strata sector is important. Well-informed owners and councils make better decisions, experience less conflict, and ultimately build stronger communities.
Legal Framework and Bylaw Updates
The BC government has now made electronic participation a permanent option by embedding it into the standard bylaws. However, communities are encouraged to work with legal professionals to refine those bylaws.
Customizing rules around proxy management, voting procedures, and hybrid meeting formats ensures smooth operations and protects owner rights. It also helps define how electronic verification and anonymous voting are handled, reducing the risk of future disputes.
For example, clear bylaw language can specify when hybrid meetings are appropriate, how votes are recorded, and how quorum is verified across multiple attendance modes.
Owner Expectations Have Changed
Post-pandemic, owners expect convenience. They want to attend AGMs without rearranging their schedules, cast votes securely online, and receive clear post-meeting summaries.
Communities that resist this change often struggle with low turnout and difficulty meeting quorum. Owners who see other buildings adopting online or hybrid options quickly start asking, “Why can’t we do that too?”
Modern meeting management isn’t just about technology. It’s about respecting owners’ time, increasing participation, and improving governance outcomes.
The Education Imperative
One of the biggest hurdles to adopting modern meeting tools is simply lack of understanding. Council members often don’t realize the complexity of electronic governance until they experience it firsthand.
Education fills that gap. Organizations such as CHOA, VISOA, and Groundbreaking Strata offer valuable resources and webinars on meeting formats and best practices.
Grant’s initiative, BC Strata Tech, also helps by showcasing local innovations and promoting collaboration across the province. Monthly meetups in Victoria, where strata councils share lessons and solutions, highlight just how powerful peer learning can be.
The Path Forward for BC Strata Communities
The journey to hybrid governance represents more than a technological shift, it’s a cultural one. Each community now has the flexibility to choose what works best: traditional, digital, or fully hybrid.
The key is alignment. A small four-unit complex might continue holding meetings in the driveway, while a 300-unit high-rise embraces a hybrid model with real-time voting and digital audit trails.
What matters most is that every owner can participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their home and investment.
With leaders like Ryan Grant driving technological progress and educators like Thomas Beattie and OctoAI empowering councils with knowledge, BC’s strata sector is redefining what good governance looks like.
This new era of hybrid strata meetings isn’t just about convenience. It’s about inclusivity, transparency, and stronger community engagement.