This section of TecHome Builder is misnamed, according to Greg Currens, CEO of Irvine, Calif.-based Style Interior Design Inc. Instead of "Connected Communities," it should be called something like "Technology that Allows Your Clients to Stay in Touch with Their Family and Friends." (In defense of the magazine, the latter isn't very catchy.)

"It's not about connectivity," says Currens, whose company is a hospitality/commercial interior design firm specializing in high-density urban developments. "It's about interaction."

At the upcoming Multifamily Trends Conference, Currens will lead a panel discussion on how builders can sell the lifestyle benefits of technology in their new homes. The Multifamily Trends Conference is held in conjunction with the Pacific Coast Builders Conference in San Francisco.

According to Currens, many builders are missing the mark with their marketing of providing infrastructure for high-speed Internet, voice-over-Internet protocol and satellite or cable TV. It's not about the technology, he says. "It's about lifestyle. [Builders] should let people know that [this technology] improves their quality of life."

Personal examples are an excellent means of expressing benefits of technology, according to Currens. He says his parents, who are about 80 years old, illustrate the point. "At first, my father was very reluctant about the Internet," he says, "but now he's on it all the time."

The message, according to Currens, is that by offering homeowners connectivity to the Internet and such, builders are also bringing the outside world closer to them. "My father is able to email, read news and check financial reports all day," he says. "This is key, especially when you get older and it's more difficult to venture out every day."

Currens says it's much more effective when builders use compelling examples of lifestyle benefits than it is to describe the technology. The marketing value of these benefits doesn't apply exclusively to seniors. Currens' personal example extends to himself. "[Being connected to the Internet] has improved our life in so many ways," he says. "There are many times when I have wanted to tell my parents something quick or ask them a quick question and I haven't done it because it required me picking up a phone. Now that everybody is connected to the Internet it's as easy as shooting a quick email or clicking 'forward.' It has brought us closer."

During his panel discussion at the Multifamily Trends Conference, Currens says the panelists will give more examples of how to illuminate the lifestyle benefits of technology in the home. The discussion, he says, assumes that all builders are offering the foundation for "interaction" technologies. "If you're not offering a cable/Internet package at this point in time, you are behind the times. To me, it's like not providing faucets in your new homes. People want it and assume it'll be there. If it's not there, it's easy enough to find [other builders] who are offering it."