Three Reasons to Thank Millennials

Convene's June cover story, "Generation Y Speaks," looks at the experiences and expectations of Millennials in the meetings industry, from a perspective that really shouldn't be as rare as it is: Gen Y's own point of view. (The author, senior editor Hunter Slaton, is himself a member of Gen Y.) The story reframes the conversation -- always a great way to bring fresh thinking to bear on a topic.

In the same issue, regular columnist Dave Lutz does a little reframing of his own, offering a list of ways that organizers could make conferences more Gen Y-friendly.

I was struck while reading Dave's list -- and a similar list he posted elsewhere -- that many of the things that would make Gen Y happy would make us all a little happier with the meetings we attend.

Here are three simple reasons, borrowed from Lutz, why we in the meetings industry should probably thank the nearest Millennial:

1. Millennials expect and demand access to free Wi-Fi. Most meeting attendees, even if they are not checking in on Foursquare, want to stay connected to their smart phones and laptops. At a recent conference I attended, I had to physically travel a couple of times a day to a spot where I could log on. It changed how I spent my time at the conference -- and not in a good way. I've come to feel entitled to access to free Wi-Fi, too.

2. Millennials are foodies. Forty percent, according to Lutz. And three cheers for that. Enjoying food and cooking are not limited to Gen Y, of course, but my experience is that Millennials are masters at making the connection between good food and living well. Have you ever been on a picnic with a Millennial? They don't pack lunch so much as curate it.) Trying to cater to the Millennial palate would likely mean better F&B experiences for everybody.

3. Millennials want to do cool things. They want to have experiences, not things, Lutz writes. That desire dovetails perfectly with brain research that emphasizes the role of experience and exploration in learning. We are hard-wired to be curious, and the most successful learning environments are those that allow us to interactive, according to molecular biologist John Medina. (For more from Medina, see the upcoming July issue.)

So if Millennials get what they want, we'll have more technologically seamless meetings, with great food, and richer, more valuable learning experiences.

Sounds pretty good to me.

'Busting a Move' at a Convention

Wikipedia defines "flash mob" as a "large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then disperse." The term is applied only to "gatherings organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral e-mails."

Does it have a place in conventions? Since this seemingly spontaneous bit of entertainment interjects an element of surprise and fun, maybe it's not totally pointless. Last month, the "first ever restaurant industry flash mob dance" was coordinated by the National Restaurant Association (NRA) at the 2010 NRA Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show. According to NRA's website, the mob dance, set to Lady Gaga's "Just Dance," was choreographed by dancer Christina Chen (that's her in front), exclusively for the NRA show at Chicago's McCormick Place. The participants included show attendees, chefs, culinary students, exhibitors, and others:

Here's what happened when the Opera Company of Philadelphia performed a "Flash Brindisi" at the Reading Terminal Market:

Unusual, yes. Pointless, perhaps. But it's okay in my book if the only point of these flash performances is to surprise and delight audiences.

Extra, Extra!: Convene Newsstand

Each Monday, the newest Convene editorial staffer — which currently is yours truly, Senior Editor Hunter Slaton — rounds up meetings- and hospitality-industry news from the past week, in order to compile a top three-story list for inclusion in PCMA's Tuesday e-newsletter, called ThisWeek@PCMA.

So each Monday morning finds me combing through the past week's Google News Alerts and industry publication e-mails, and clicking on anything that seems interesting. My Web browser thus becomes stuffed to overflowing with interesting meetings-industry news items. Then I narrow down the list, write my stories, and send these along to my executive editor for review.

But so much gets left out! That's where it's good to have a blog. No more space limitations, ever! With that in mind, here are links to a handful of interesting stories that didn't make this week's newsletter:

On July 1, Starbucks will begin offering free Wi-Fi in all its coffee shops — including those in hotel lobbies. As any seasoned traveler knows, most hotels charge (a lot) for Internet access ... so will this cause guests to crowd hotel Starbucks in order to avoid "outrageous" hotel Wi-Fi fees?

If you've ever experienced sticker shock when shopping for, say, a couch, you'll be able to empathize with the Wilmington (N.C.) City Council, who recently authorized a quarter of a million dollars to furnish the town's forthcoming new 107,000-square-foot Wilmington Convention Center, opening in "late 2010." That's 2,500 chairs and 720 folding tables!

An airline made a 10-year-old throw away her pet turtle! (The airline denies that its employees ever told the girl that she had to throw away her pet in order to board the plane ... but the airline's employees also said that she could not get on the plane with the turtle, so you do the math.) Thankfully, another airline employee, a kindly ramp supervisor, rescued the turtle, which was later reunited with its owner.

Hotels might be getting a bit shabbier over the next few years, according to analysis by NYU Tisch Center divisional dean Bjorn Hanson. Total capital expenditures will be $3 billion in 2010, or 9 percent less than 2009's $3.3 billion and 45 percent below the record-setting $5.5 billion spent in 2008. Said Hanson: "In periods of declining industry performance, many discretionary projects, and even some items that might be noticeable to guests, are cancelled or postponed."

That's all the extra news for this week. Tune in next week for more meetings-industry news and ephemera (or, to receive our main-edition ThisWeek@PCMA e-newsletter — plus of course many, many more benefits — become a PCMA member).

* If you want to subscribe to PCMA's second weekly e-newsletter, UpComing@PCMA, which A) also features meetings-industry news items, B) is sent out every Thursday, and C) is open to non-members, you can do so by e-mailing your request to upcoming@pcma.org.

Convene On Site: London, Part 3

The theme of the day here in London seems to be adaptability. The press trip in which I'm participating stuck to London Eastside today, and as we made our way from Borough Market, to the East End, to Olympic Park, to Canary Wharf, we heard one story after another of something old that has become new, or something tired that has been refreshed. We began to get a sense of that yesterday, when we learned that ExCeL London was built on the site of the Royal Victoria and the Royal Albert Docks -- the busiest docks in the world at one time, reduced to an industrial wasteland when they were selected as the side of the ExCeL project. And we saw plentiful evidence today as we toured the formerly downtrodden heart of working-class London, whose revival is most visibly symbolized in the huge Olympic Park project.

But maybe the best story reflecting Eastside's spirit of evolution came from Lance Forman, managing director (and fourth-generation owner) of H. Forman & Son, the oldest salmon smoker in the United Kingdom, whose combination factory, restaurant, and event venue is pictured above. As Mr. Forman offered a tour of his facility -- the closest venue to the new Olympic Stadium, which sits about 150 yards away -- he pointed out a squiggle of purple paint that a local graffiti artist had blasted onto his warehouse. Recently, he said, organizers of the Hackney Wicked Art Festival 2010 asked him if they could use Forman & Son as a venue, and he told them that they could -- provided that they identified the best local graffiti artists and had them decorate Forman's restrooms. Two artists ended up spending a week painting striking graffiti-style murals in the facility's men's and women's rooms. To me, this is a terrific form of CSR -- Mr. Forman made a decision to ignore the graffiti marring his warehouse and to invite local artists to contribute to a business that is helping revitalize their community.

Perhaps equally important, we had lunch this afternoon at Mr. Forman's eatery, Formans Restaurant and Bar, and it was rather amazing. But then, I would say that.

Sacred Time

I can't tell you how many times I've asked myself, "What city am I in again?" when traveling for business. If the extent of their host-destination experience is their hotel and the convention center — with maybe a restaurant or two thrown in for good measure — how can meeting attendees have a distinct impression of where they've been?

With the focus on cramming meeting itineraries with rich content to make sure attendees get what they came for, I hope we don't lose sight of the place they've traveled to. Giving meeting participants a few free hours between the end of a session and an evening event can be all they need to get a sense of their surroundings. Why not include suggestions for local activities, such as a short walking tour, in your conference program?

Sometimes, they'll just want to strike out on their own. An impromptu visit to an historic and cultural site, taken with friends and colleagues, can peg a meeting and its host destination in someone's mind for years to come.

Last week at the PCMA Education Conference in Montreal, Convene Account Executive Wendy Krizmanic, Scientific Societies Director of Meetings Betty Ford, and I took advantage of a few free hours to venture to St. Joseph's Oratory, on the northern slope of Mount Royal. Wendy snapped some photos (including the one above) while I filed the experience in my memory bank, where it will be linked with the conference as part of my wonderful experience in Montreal.

Convene On Site: London, Part 2

It's an interesting time to be in London, meeting people from the events industry, because in just two years, the city will host the biggest event in the world: the Summer Olympic Games. At the ICC London ExCeL Launch Event today, everybody was talking about that within the context of the ICC project, which doubles ExCeL's meeting space, and adds a 4,000-seat auditorium and a 3,000-person banquet hall. The consensus seems to be that, taken together, the ICC and the Olympics are a game-changer for London.

"People always want to come to London," Amanda Jobbins, vice president of European marketing for Cisco, said during a "London Future Forum" panel discussion at today's event. "Here with the ICC, they've got another reason." In January, Cisco will bring its annual Cisco Live conference to ExCeL -- the first time that the Europe-based event has been held in London.

In 2012, ExCeL will host seven Olympic sports and five Paralympic events. "The brilliance of 2012," said Daniel Ritterband, London's director of marketing, and another London Future Forum panelist, "is it's a catalyst." Added Bill Morris, director of culture, ceremonies, and education for the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games: "London is a wonderfully porous city that can welcome people from wherever. ... [The 2012] London [Olympics] will be truly spectacular, but in its own way."

The Case for Lunch

Author Tony Schwartz (The Way We're Working Isn't Working) spread out red-and-white checked cloths on the grass at Madison Square Park in New York City at noon Wednesday, inviting busy New Yorkers to take a collective "Take Back Your Lunch" lunch break. He and his team -- Schwartz runs a consulting and coaching company called The Energy Project and is a frequent keynote speaker -- wore yellow t-shirts and passed out buttons, but the event was more than just another publicity stunt. It was meant to call attention to our rat-a-tat-tat work habits and the effect that that has on the work we produce, not to mention our health and quality of life.

Most of us spend our days like the proverbial hamster on a wheel: A Huffington Post poll found that sixty percent of people take less than 20 minutes a day for lunch, 20 percent took less than 10 minutes, and 25 percent never left their desks at all.

"That's crazy," Schwartz said.

Human beings aren't meant to work to like machines, he added. His assertion, based on his survey of interdisciplinary research, is that we are far more productive when we "pulse" between periods of expending and renewing our energy. We naturally oscillate between higher and lower alertness in 90-minute cycles. Taking regular breaks to renew intermittently through the day with food, rest, and exercise is not only healthy and enjoyable, "It drives productivity," he said. "Employers should be pushing employees out the door," pressing them to take breaks, he said.

It's not a way of thinking that gets a lot of support in the mainstream work culture, where demands are ever-increasing and only sissies take breaks. But a shift in that mentality has got to take place, said Schwartz, whose clients list includes Google, Apple, and the Cleveland Clinic.

The collective lunch break in the park will continue in Madison Square Park on Wednesdays all summer long. More than 50 "Take Back Your Lunch" meet-ups in 50 locations in eight countries also took place today -- a remarkable rally considering that the campaign was launched just a week ago.

Said Schwarz: It just goes to show "that there's a hunger --literally and metaphorically -- for it."

Convene On Site: London

This is the view from the Executive Lounge of the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, which is the host hotel for a press trip that Visit London has organized around the opening ceremony for London ExCeL's new International Convention Centre (ICC). (Apologies for the photo quality, but it's not too bad considering I snapped it using the Photo Booth app on my MacBook Pro laptop.) If you've got to get some work done on a beautiful summer day in a gorgeous European capital, this isn't a bad place to do it.

The ICC event is tomorrow, and the neat thing about it is that ExCeL has organized something that's much more than a photo opportunity. In fact, it's a day-long meeting, with a forum on how cities can attract business opportunities, a media briefing by London Mayor Boris Johnson, a keynote presentation, networking, and more. Makes sense, because what better way to show off a new conference center than by hosting an actual conference?

Ice Skating with A SocialFish

60 Tips for Marketing Your Social Media on Prezi

The rave-reviewed presentation above, was created by Maddie Grant, CAE, of SocialFish, and Ben Martin, CAE, for ASAE's Marketing and Membership Conference last week. As Maddie says, it's pretty self-explanatory, and as commenters on her blog agree, it's pretty fabulous.

So what is Prezi? Here's how Executive Editor Chris Durso memorably described it in our April issue:

Click after click after click takes you all over that first slide, twisting and zooming and scanning, and only when the presentation is over do you realize that the first slide is the only slide - a single canvas ... This is Prezi, a presentation application launched about a year ago whose creators call it "visualization and storytelling without slides." Think of it like PowerPoint in 360 degrees. Wearing ice skates.

Have you tried Prezi? Do you have a favorite presentation to share?

By the way, we talked to Maddie and her partner, Lindy Dreyer, in the February issue of Convene.

Convene Reads: The Imperfectionists

During its short life, Convene Reads has confined itself to nonfiction -- until now. Yes, that's right, meetings and conferences are also part of the world of make-believe, including the new novel The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman, which is a wry look at an English-language international newspaper based in Rome. At one point, the paper's editor-in-chief, Kathleen Solson, she participates in a panel discussion at a media conference that will sound familiar to any meeting planner who has created "the future of our industry"-style programming:

The subject of the panel discussion is "How the International Press Views Italy," an enduring preoccupation in the country. She resents having to attend -- it's clearly a task for their young publisher, Oliver Ott. But he has gone missing again and ignores her phone calls. So the conference is left to Kathleen and the paper must manage in her absence. It is not managing well, if the constant stream of text messages on her BlackBerry is any indication.

"Will the newspaper industry survive?" the mediator asks her.

"Absolutely," she tells the audience. "We'll keep going, I assure you of that. Obviously, we're living in an era when technology is moving at an unheralded pace. I can't tell you if in fifty years we'll be publishing in the same format. Actually, I can probably tell you we won't be publishing in the same way,  that we'll be innovating then, just as we are now. But I assure you of this: news will survive, and quality coverage will always earn a premium. Whatever you want to call it -- news, text, content -- someone has to report it, someone has to write it, someone has to edit it. And I intend for us to do it better, no matter the medium."

Is it me, or do Kathleen's remarks work equally well as a stirring defense of face-to-face meetings?