Meeting News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 42)

Live from the Forum @ MeetingNews.com TOPIC: Encouraging participation from young members A ll of our state conferences are arranged by committee members. They choose the Do you have a burning question to speakers and topics for each of the events, and we give them options for dates and ask your peers? Log on to the venues. The trouble we are beginning to see is that many of our committee memMeetingNews Forum to get answers bers are getting close to retirement, and there are not very many young members knocking fast. meetingnews.com/forum on the door to take their places.To improve the situation,we are beginning a small marketing campaign in our CPA journal showcasing the importance of committees. We are hoping to make those members aware that committees are not as time-consuming as they may think and, in addition, are beneﬁcial to their professional success. I am curious how other associations are appealing to the younger generation to get them to participate? —Sara Cierski, Administrator of Conferences, Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs, Philadelphia A group with whom I have worked created a category of “emerging leaders”—those who are younger and desire to be active. The group worked very hard at ensuring that each committee had at least one emerging leader. In addition to recruiting and adding people to committees, there should be some training about working with different generations, or the conﬂicts, even if unspoken, could be great. I recommend either Ann Fishman (ann@annﬁshman.com) or Patti Digh (pdigh@realwork.com). The speakers at the conferences also have to reﬂect a generational diversity. Many of us look at what groups say and what they do. Joan Eisenstodt, Owner Eisenstodt Associates LLC, Washington, DC Whatever you do, please don’t forget about members of Generation X (born ~1965 to 1980). I have seen a trend by organizations to jump right to the millennial generation (born ~1980 to 1990) thinking that is the new and innovative talent pool. For example, MPI put out the top 30 at 30 list, but did not put out a top 40 at 40 list (and this type of list did not even exist when people in Generation X were under 30 years old). Members of Generation Y (Millennials) have a lot of talents, capabilities, and new ways of approaching business issues, but they do not necessarily have the experience of folks in Generation X, and since Baby Boomers have held leadership positions for such a long time, it is very easy to forget Gen Xers when thinking about engaging different types of members, especially as leaders. I happen to be a Gen Xer, and I really love the talent and energy that Millennials possess (and I respect all that the Boomers have done for all of us), but I am seeing too much being placed on the Boomers who are retiring and the Millennials who are supposed to bring all of this new energy and innovation to save our organizations. Part of this is because Gen Xers were seen as independent, rebellious, and nonconformist in the workplace (and a lot of us started our own companies, because we were not embraced by/engaged in organizations), but that does not mean we don’t bring leadership skills and capabilities to the table. There is talent and leadership out there; I just feel organizations are not looking in their own backyards to develop it. Everett Shupe II, Learning Events Manager Goodwill Industries International, Rockville, MD I work with associations as their association manager and ﬁnd that working with the students coming out of school, to show them the value of association involvement, really works. Too many people believe that texting is the future of communication for associations—wrong! We are human beings and love to meet like-minded people and get involved, if shown how. Get to the CPA schools and talk with them early. Sue Fern, Owner Event Pro-SSSS, Palm Harbor, FL As a Generation X/Y cusper, this is a very important subject to me. I attend (and pay money for) a lot of networking functions and conferences, so I want them to apply to my career and interests. In addition, as a person who has worked in the industry for many years, because of my age (and gender) I have had to face some adversities because of generational stereotypes. I do ﬁnd it a little ironic that the tables have turned and now my generation is considered a commodity, so I want to support my generation and make it an easy transition for those entering the industry. I have been elected chair of the Young Professional Committee for IAEE (International Association of Exhibitions and Events). This is a new committee launched for 2008. I would like to inspire various organizations to develop a lunch campaign. It’s as simple as identifying Gen Yers and Gen Xers in your company or organization and invite them individually or as a group to lunch. (Gen Yers prefer groups; Gen Xers are more into individualized experiences.) Let them choose the place they want to go, and you pay the bill. This allows them to be in an atmosphere where they feel comfortable—and who can refuse a free lunch? Avoid meetings or surveys because, chances are, the responses you will get are the responses they think you want to hear. Develop friendships— that is how you will get to the heart of the matter. The point of the lunch dates is to talk to the individuals and ﬁnd out what they like, what they enjoy about your company, what changes would make them more successful in their positions, and then invite them to become advocates and recruiters for your company or organization. If you review your employee roster and ﬁnd out you don’t have the generational mix, it’s time to recruit, get out to the schools, and create internships. The future is knocking on your door; don’t be left behind. Jeanavive Marie Janssen, Director of Sales Event Productions Inc., Alameda, CA MEETING NEWS (ISSN 0145-630X, USPS No.356-010, January 28 2008, Vol. 32, No. 2 is published semi-monthly except for August, which is monthly, by Nielsen Business Media, 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003-9595, tel. 646654-5000. 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Meeting News - January 28, 2008