Florida Connects - Winter 2008 - (Page 22)

Gen Y-ers have high hopes and expectations for themselves and the people around them. They embrace and often create the change other generations may fear. in the next few years. Gen Y-ers have high hopes and expectations for themselves and the people around them. They embrace and often create the change other generations may fear. They want to know what you think, and, like it or not, you will hear what they think. I must admit: I am a Gen Y-er, so my thoughts are a bit biased. I believe this emerging group will take the meetings industry to a new level of recognition and will help other industries understand the impact and the value of meetings and events. While the corporate world is starting to understand the cost associated with meetings and travel, we have merely hit the proverbial tip of the iceberg. With strategic meetings management programs popping up left and right, corporations are starting to understand the importance of leveraging spending and expertise. Past generations have set the stage for Gen Y-ers and what is yet to come. There are some signiﬁcant beneﬁts, as well as considerable challenges, the industry will face with this new demographic. While some look at this brood as impatient and irritating, others see them as driven, passionate and tenacious. Look past the ﬂip-ﬂops and casual attire. Forgive the new cultural phenomenon • GREEN LODGING CERTIFIED. Proud to be the ﬁrst Courtyard in Florida to get certiﬁed by the Department of Environmental Protection. • EARN UP TO 50,000 MARRIOTT REWARDS POINTS • FREE MEETING SPACE • FREE AV EQUIPMENT • COMPLIMENTARY GROUP WELCOME RECEPTION Our unique Courtyard is a full-service hotel, oﬀering 6,500 sq. ft. state-of-the-art Conference Facilities, Catering Services, Free High Speed Internet, Mineral Pool, Private Balconies, at a great beach location. Located near world famous attractions such as Kennedy Space Center and Orlando’s attractions. For special offers to MPI members, please call 321.783.3221 or e-mail us at info@courtyardcocoabeach.com, and mention this ad. of tardiness. I urge you to take this generation seriously. One of the easiest ways to see the impact of this new generation on the meetings industry is through the boom of technology. Gen Y-ers are dependent on technology, much more so than previous generations, and it’s not just dependency: Technology is well-entrenched in their day-to-day lives. The Internet is more than a place of business and leisure; it’s a part of life. Instead of picking up the phone, it is often easier to ﬁnd answers on the Web. Virtual communities are popping up all over the Internet, including communities speciﬁc to the meetings industry. And more so, Gen Y-ers are wholly comfortable using a blog to ﬁnd answers to their questions. Will technology drive the number of meetings down? Most deﬁnitely not! It gives us all the more reason to meet, since people far apart can do business together, and nothing can replace that face-to-face meeting. Does this mean we will see an increase in meeting over the Internet? Certainly, and get ready, because even these require careful planning. There is a deﬁnite need out there for virtual meeting planners. As a Gen Y meeting planner, I am in constant search of digital tools that can increase productivity in the planning process, and there are several tools out there that can cut down our time. A great example is the old fashioned rooming list. Most planners currently pull a rooming list from their registration data. Then, the list is submitted to the hotel at least two weeks prior to the meeting. Has anyone else noticed how impractical this seems? Wouldn’t it make sense to create a tool that interfaces the Web registration tool with the hotel’s internal reservations system? With a tool that connects the two systems, much of the tedious work updating your rooming list is removed. While this tool exists, get ready for other tools with similar functions that will give us even more efﬁcient ways to plan meetings. 22 Florida 357246_Courtyard.indd 1 CONNECTS Winter 2008 1/18/08 8:43:40 AM http://www.courtyardcocoabeach.com

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Florida Connects - Winter 2008 Contents Message from the Presidents Boards of Directors Chapter Calendars Member News Tampa Bay’s Convention Package Ready or Not Tampa North Florida Orlando South Florida Advertiser.com Index of Advertisers On the Radar

Florida Connects - Winter 2008

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