The future of the events industry is in the hands of one of the largest growing demographics: millennials. In fact, by 2020, millennials will make up a whopping 75% of the workforce— meetings and events included. But as the millennial workforce continues to grow, so does the need to bridge the gap between generational groups and understand why working with millennials doesn’t have to be a different game entirely. Both camps have a vested interest in inspiring positive change and advancement and luckily, can take steps towards this goal by bringing about a greater understanding of one another.
Both generations have identified opportunities to bridge the gap; which can improve and evolve the working relations between clients and employees/co-workers to inspire positive change and advancement in the industry. So, if you’re working with millennials or are a millennial who wants to bridge the generational gap, here are 3 steps to doing so.
1. Examine each group’s characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses.
The first step in working with millennials, Baby Boomers, Gen Xer’s, or whoever is understanding just who we are talking to. Each generation has its strong suits and its downfalls.
“The Greatest Generation” are those born before 1946 and typically unwilling to compromise where things are black and white. Baby Boomers follow The Greatest Generation, who are characterized by a strong work ethic, but are often seen as close-minded, due to their commitment to tradition. This generation, which peaked in 1999, are seeing a slow decline at 76 million people. Generation X, sometimes seen as the middle child between millennials and baby boomers,will see its peak in 2018 at 65 million people. They are seen as the original innovators, adaptable, and hopeful. This leavesthe millennial generation, who are technologically driven, live to work, and, while are some of the most educated of the generations, have the least skills with little long-term employment.
While we try to define an entire generation with specific buzz words or characteristics, there is a sizable amount of gray area. How can these strengths and weaknesses be translated into tangible action items in the workplace?
2. Play to each other’s strengths (and compensate where needed).
Now that we have an understanding each group’s strengths and weaknesses, how do both groups play to each other’s strengths?
The best place to start working with millennials and to play to their strengths is in the area of technology. It’s no secret that the meetings and events world is one of the fastest changing industries, with technology leading some of the biggest paradigm shifts in the industry. In a study done by Pew Research, they examined the generational gaps that lie between millennials and older generations and found that Baby Boomers cite their source of distinction as their strong work ethic while millennials and Generation Xers cite their affinity and use of technology.
In bridging the generational gap between both camps, older generations that are characterized by their strong work ethic but lack the experience with technology that millennials have grown up with. Conversely, millennials seek engagement through technology and social media. To apply this to meetings and events, let’s say you’re planning an event where your focus is to bolster social engagement or second screen technology use while at the event. Why not empower your millennial staff members to decide the technology tech tools to help achieve you event’s goals?
3. Set rules of engagement– and foster relationships.
Both generations communicate in very different ways. Millennials for example, value second screen technology during meetings and events. However, using cell phones could be misinterpreted as being uninterested or unengaged. The parity of communication styles could solved through a thorough understanding of the rules of engagement between both parties:
- What is each generation’s preferred mode of communication: email, phone calls, texts, tweets?
- What are the timelines for responding? Millennials are always digitally connected but just because they’re connected doesn’t mean they’re ready to answer work emails after-hours.
- Millennials value mentors with experience. Instead of disregarding millennials as needy or overly sensitive, understand that millennials’ need for encouragement and bite-sized goals that tie up to a bigger aspiration.
What other ways have you helped to close the generational gap between millennials and other generations? We learned that millennials highly value genuine relationships. For example, in event planning – the Site Visit is a make or break moment in the sales process that we think is going to become increasingly important to millennial buyers.Millennials look at site visits like a “professional first date”. And it’s often a blind-date. It can be the first time a planner will ever meet their contact at a property. Millennials are more engaged and they can see beyond sales tactics. Relationships founded on trust and transparency are key to the millennial buyer.