Millennials (those aged 18 to 34) are now the largest segment of working Americans—comprising 33 percent of the workforce. They’re the first generation to grow up online and with a cell phone in their hands. Millennials are more connected, more educated, and more tech-savvy. And when it comes to business meetings and conferences they demand more than a series of lectures and cocktail reception.
Engaging millennials at events takes strategy, planning, and a willingness to take some risks. And knowing what they want from a meeting is the first step. The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) has invested in research to better understand what the millennial generation expects from meetings, conventions, and other corporate events. Here’s a summary of what they discovered.
It’s time to start designing events with millennials in mind. As the largest portion of the American workforce, they are the future of every industry. Changing up the way you promote and execute corporate events is the key to harnessing the attention of this generation. If your meetings have been falling flat, here are some ideas to help you engage and inspire the millennial workforce.
One of the first things you need to do is build an effective, exciting website for your event. People—and especially millennials—will look for information online. Create a simple, bright homepage that makes people want to learn more. Keep information brief (focus on what attendees will get out of the event) and make it easy for people to register or request more information.
Go social with the website. Embed social media widgets that keep people in the know about new speakers and other event news. Invite speakers and other influencers to post blogs that whet the appetites of potential participants.
If you choose to engage participants, make sure your blog is monitored. Millennials like to be part of the conversation, so responding to questions and comments is important.
Think TED talks. The hard-hitting, abbreviated style of these story-laden presentations is the new standard for public speaking. It’s also the best way to reach, engage, and mobilize your millennial audience. The short format—talks need to stay under 18 minutes—is designed for maximum impact. By the time your participants start to lose interest, the talk is concluding with its hard-hitting take home message.
Rather than scheduling a 30 or 45-minute lecture, break up your presentations into smaller segments and cut out all the fluff. In the world of Twitter and blogs, people desire a one-two punch when it comes to information, rather than an in-depth analysis.
Millennials have grown up in the world of social media, mobile devices, and instant gratification. Utilizing an an app as part of your next conference, trade show, or meeting gives millennials an easy way to get involved—but it can’t just be white noise. Make sure your conference or meeting app gives them more than general information.
“It has to engage and lead somebody to action,” Jeff Barrett, PR guru and one of “Forbes’” Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers in 2013, said. He encourages event organizers to use mobile apps to help facilitate networking, create sub-conversations among participants, or conduct live polling during a break-out group or keynote address.
Seventy-three percent of millennials want to be part of live polling during event sessions. They want to share their opinions, ask questions, and feel like they are part of what’s happening. You can facilitate real-time participation through social media, texts, or apps designed specifically for this purpose.
Gamification is another way to make your event interactive. This uses the mechanics of a game, such as points, challenges, badges, and completion bars, to encourage attendee participation and engagement. It ties into millennials’ intrinsic desire for recognition, accomplishment, and feedback. Apps like Colossi are making it easy to add gamification to your event with their “turn-key” integration.
However, beware of using gamification for its own sake. Make sure you have clear outcomes in mind that are tangible and beneficial to participants.
Pro tip: Incorporate interaction into your next event with ITE’s interactive tech!
Pre-function space is the name of the game when it comes to venue. Millennials crave more non-linear education experiences, which is transforming the look and feel of meetings and conferences.
One stage with one speaker and breakout sessions in separate rooms behind closed doors are becoming a thing of the past. A more casual, open format makes it easy for attendees to come and go and encourages more spontaneous conversations and interaction.
“With the open format, people can take a few minutes of content in,” Kelly Peacy, Senior Vice President of Education and Events for PCMA said. “They’ll take what they need, and if they don’t like it, they’ll walk away from that space and go someplace else. That’s the beauty of open space learning. You can come and go as you please without offending a speaker or other people.”
Conclusion
Changing up the way you plan and execute corporate events such as training meetings and conferences can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Tap into the expertise of a corporate event planner to help you incorporate these ideas into your next big event. It will be well worth it when you see an engaged audience full of millennials who can’t stop tweeting about the innovative meeting they just attended.
Host your next millennial event with confidence. Contact In The Event™ for innovative event solutions at every selfie station.
Is your event starting to look like Frankenstein’s monster? Event planning mistakes can quickly turn a well-intentioned event into the night of the living dead and, just like the movie, no one in attendance will get a happy ending.
There are some common pitfalls event planners run into, especially those with little experience. But don’t fret, it isn’t anyone’s fault. Horrific event planning mistakes can often be avoided with proper preparation.
Whether you’re managing company events or throwing a family party, it’s worth understanding what mistakes to avoid and what the better alternatives are. Here’s a breakdown of five mishaps you should steer clear of to make sure your event goes off without a hitch!
We all know Murphy’s Law, right? “What can go wrong, will go wrong.” This is perhaps no more true than when it comes to event planning.
As an event manager, you need to be prepared with not only a backup plan, but a backup plan for your backup plan. This way, when something goes wrong, as it inevitably will, you aren’t caught off guard and don’t have to waste valuable time coming up with an alternative solution.
You don’t have to face Murphy’s Law alone, however. In the early stages of your planning, sit down with your team and brainstorm all of the things that may go wrong, and then come up with solutions together. This team mentality helps to keep event mishaps from falling solely on your shoulders when they do happen.
It’s highly unlikely that you’ll forget you had to change caterers the week before the event, but there are tons of little changes that happen throughout event planning that easily go unrecorded. This, however, can become an issue down the road.
Before you know it, small changes easily become big budget and timeline adjustments. Keep control of your event by establishing a process for event changes to happen that include documentation and confirmation through the event planner.
Anytime a change is made, go through your master documents and determine how that will affect the overall event. How will it influence the budget, space, and timeline of the event? If you diligently keep track of any changes that come up, almost nothing will catch you off guard.
If you have control over hiring your event staff, don’t take this responsibility lightly. Find event managers that have a combination of skills and certifications that ensure success in their position. For large events that require multiple managers over different areas, this is especially important.
If you are the unexperienced event manager, take a deep breath. Instead of hiding behind your pride, ask for help from the other staff members you’re working with. Don’t be afraid to delegate specific responsibilities to more qualified personnel and ask questions when you don’t understand something.
To ensure a smooth-running event, you may want to reach out to an event management company. Having a trained, qualified, and well-resourced staff at the helm on large scale or important events is a worthy investment and will save you time and heartache.
The worse mistake you can make is your event being understaffed or understocked. This makes the planning process that much more important. When you work out the logistics of how much support staff you’ll need, where you’ll need it, and how much product to order, think about all of the possibilities. You want to be prepared at every angle.
It’s better to overstaff than not have enough people to work the event. Hire individuals that can fill in at more than one position, in case you need to move them to another area. And have extra staff on call in case you get a bigger turnout than expected.
You may also be able to do this with product. Find out the return policy for alcohol and goods that go unused, and have extra chairs nearby in case you get low on seating. Communicate with your staff throughout the event to make sure everyone is getting the support they need all night long.
Sticking to a budget is one of the most difficult jobs an event planner will have. Hopefully, if the event manager sticks to all of the advice we listed above, they won’t have too many unexpected expenses that force them to overspend, but plan your budget with an emergency cushion in place just in case.
In the early stages of planning, figure out what your biggest expense will be and try to find ways to cut that cost down. And whenever a purchase or change is made, make sure it’s thoroughly recorded, no matter how small it may seem.
When booking venues, caterers, and entertainment, make sure to ask what the deposit and return policies are. Make sure you have backup plans budgeted as well and put extra effort into understanding how much money the event is realistically expected to bring in.
Conclusion
Don’t let these bone-chilling mistakes haunt you. With proper preparation and support, your event will be more of a treat than a trick. And remember, you never have to go it alone. In The Event™ is here to hold your hand, even in the scariest of situations.
Sources:
Institute of Event Management
Event Lion
