Checking our social media feeds has become a part of our everyday life, and it’s especially true for millennials. It is as habitual as brushing their teeth or buying a pumpkin spice latte. Yet in an age of ever-growing computing power, readers have more difficulty concentrating on content now than ever before.
It’s unavoidable; we’re surrounded by technology! But what can organizations do to ensure they’re capturing the interest of readers, to ensure that what they’re saying rings true? The first step is to look outward in. Grab your audience’s attention not with self-serving news, but rather by capturing shifts from around the world that are impacting them either directly or indirectly. With the association industry, shifts will leave an impression on their members, particularly if they benefit that audience.
And these shifts happen every day. For example, what if a shift told you how to organize your next conference? The International Association of Conference Centres (IACC) recently conducted a survey that measured what meeting planners of all ages prefer and how it affects venue and conference space selection. Not surprisingly, they found that meeting planners of three generational groups have different prefences. Some of the insights are below:
Generation X
- Dislike phone calls
- Prefer going to tradeshows to discover specifics about a venue
- Places greater importance on food and beverage offering
- Care deeply for the location of the event
Baby Boomers
- Prefer high-quality service over anything else.
- Are very cost conscience
- Care deeply for the location of the event
Millennials
- Dislike phone calls
- Make sure activities are available nearby
- Prefer attending venue promotional events to find out specifics about a venue
- Place greater importance on the technology capabilities of a venue
The idea for the survey came from IACC’s CEO, Mark Cooper, who said “these findings will help prepare to meet industry suppliers and enable them to tailor their products and services to accommodate the individual needs of each generation of planners.”
So what does this mean for your organization? Instead of going about their every day routine of providing the same information to all of their members, the IACC decided to shift their thinking to focus on what their members want and prefer by hearing from them directly. Now, they can tailor the content they provide, as well as their membership offerings for each generation represented in their members. It’s not about one size fits all. While conducting a survey might be a small shift, what your organization does with that information can have a huge impact.
If you would like to learn more, please follow us on Twitter for real-time coverage of ‘shifts’ and check back here for my weekly moments of shift.
