Millenial Generation: The Youth of America

The topic of how to attract the millennial generation – the one that started being born in the early 1980s and now is entering the workforce – is a hot one for the tradeshow industry.

Many of the associations have future leaders programs to help guide those workers once they enter the industry, and some have plans to capture their attention while they still are pursuing their academic degrees.

But, when you look around most educational sessions at a tradeshow industry meeting, it's more likely that you could count the number of people under 30 on one hand than have the demographic represented.

Some of that could make sense – these workers are young and relatively new to the workforce. But it also could be that their companies aren't spending the money to send them across the country to network, but rather, the companies are investing in the higher-ups who will use the time to make connections and lure clients for the company.

It begs some questions, though: Are there young people in the industry? And, are the efforts on the part of industry organizations to lure more in paying off?

Tradeshow Week found a few of these younger (and newer) workers in to see just how well these endeavors are working.

Like the executives TSW often speaks to, this younger generation also seems to enter the industry through unexpected avenues.

“It was a roundabout process,” Nora Johnson, 25, said of her entry into the tradeshow industry. She hadn't specifically heard of it while in college at the University of Denver in the marketing and digital media studies focus, but, “I knew of events in general. ... I knew that they were fascinating.”

So it's no surprise that when Johnson graduated in 2004, she started looking for jobs in the events industry, and came upon an open position at Conferon Global Services, an Experient company. Now, she's a sourcing specialist with Experient in the Denver office.

“It was a little bit of luck,” Johnson said of her position.

Julie Holzer, 32, also said she wasn't aware of the tradeshow industry as a possible career path when she graduated from college. “I knew nothing about tradeshows coming out,” she added.

Holzer was an assistant cruise director for five and a half years before she decided she wanted to work on land again. By that time, she had a tradeshow connection: Her mother was a manager for Exhibit City News, and Holzer had worked at the publication's booth during the Exhibitor tradeshow one year. Because of that experience, Holzer said she was looking specifically for a position in the tradeshow industry – and found it when her mother recommended her for her current position as national sales manager at Elden Electrical Exhibition Services in Las Vegas.

Julie Eckhart, 28, also worked in a completely different industry before starting her position as education and exhibits coordinator at Geospacial Information and Technology Assn. in February 2007.

“I wasn't looking for anything tradeshow specific,” she added. “I was looking for something nonprofit.”

George Duffy, 28, sales associate at Hargrove, also was unacquainted with the tradeshow industry before he found his way to it.

“I just kind of fell into it through a related vendor,” he said. “I went to a job fair where I found an interesting company that manufactured aluminum for tradeshows.”

For Kelly Helfman, 27, account executive for premium and contemporary brands at MAGIC Intl., which produces the semiannual MAGIC Marketplace, her jump into the tradeshow industry was about being in touch with another industry.

“I was working at London Sole, the ballet flats (shoe) company based in Santa Monica (Calif.), when I heard of an opening at MAGIC, one of the largest fashion tradeshows in the world,” she said. “I immediately jumped on the opportunity, as I knew it would be a great way to really gain knowledge about the overall fashion industry as a whole.”

Ryan Curtin, 24, retail relations coordinator for Project, another MAGIC Intl. fashion tradeshow, also was aware of the tradeshow industry before he crossed over.

“Before joining the Project team, I was a stylist and assistant buyer for an online clothing store in Chicago,” he said. “The company I worked for attended apparel tradeshows regularly.”

So, when Curtin heard of a position at Project, he knew what he was getting into.

“I was interested in experiencing the nonretail side of the fashion industry,” he added. “I wanted to be involved with a show that exhibited the designers I love and provided them with an opportunity to sell to amazing buyers, in hopes that it would grow both their businesses.”

Most times an industry organization has a presentation on the generational divide, the presenter usually mentions the pros and cons of the qualities of millennial generation workers.

Those same qualities were outlined in a 2007 survey, “What Millennial Workers Want: How to Attract and Retain Gen Y Employees,” commissioned by Yahoo! Hotjobs and Robert Half Intl.

The survey of 1,007 Web interviews with men and women 21-28 sums up the general comments made about the generation: “At best, this group has been depicted as eager and tech-savvy, requiring that work be both fun and challenging. At worst, they've been characterized as an over-stimulated, high-maintenance generation hooked on instant gratification. They've also been accused of having a sense of entitlement and unreasonable expectations about work.”

Johnson acknowledged those viewpoints, but said the culture of a company and the flexibility to get involved in the industry were important to her as a new professional, along with support from the company to grow and seek new opportunities.

“I've had that here,” she added of Experient. “It's helped keep me here.”

Johnson has changed positions within the company since starting more than three years ago, and said she worried that she might fall into that stereotype of being “itchy” – moving every two to three years, as millennial workers generally do.

But her company's ability to let her grow and explore other roles and facets of the business has kept her satisfied, she added.

“The more (companies) block someone into a role ... they'll find more of that turnover,” Johnson said.

Helfman said she thinks incentives are the key in keeping the younger generation happy – and retaining them.

“We like to have motivators and goals to hit so we can prove what great employees we can be,” she added.

Helfman also acknowledged one of the flaws generally commented upon with the generation: “My generation is super impatient! We have high goals and like to move up the corporate ladder fast. Slowly, but surely, we all realize you need to pay your dues in any company and have patience.”

More industry organizations are starting groups within themselves for these younger workers, and the newbies are taking advantage of the opportunities.

Johnson quickly became involved in her local chapter of the Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events, she said, and IAEE Young Professionals. She also was this year's recipient of IAEE's Supplier Rookie of the Year award.

“Initially, a lot of organizations were confused and concerned around the younger workforce,” Johnson said. “Now, I would say it's curious.”

Holzer and Johnson both have participated in IAEE's Robert L. Krakoff Future Leaders Institute, which is another one of the ways the industry association is reaching out to the younger professionals in the industry.

“For me, it was eye-opening,” Holzer said.

She added that she's a person who builds relationships, which led her to seek out those networking opportunities when she entered the industry.

“I've always been a joiner,” Holzer said. “I just started to join committees.”

One of the opportunities she said she's thankful for was the opportunity to be a part of her local IAEE chapter in Las Vegas, which gave out a scholarship to a high school student to attend the University of Nevada – Las Vegas' hotel management program.

Eckhart also said she's thankful for the opportunity to network with others in the industry. She previously attended Expo! Expo! IAEE's Annual Meeting & Exhibition to learn more about what other associations are doing.

“I think everyone is friendly, and everyone is willing to network,” Eckhart said. “It's all, I think, about getting involved.”

To attract those millennial workers, though, what should the industry do?

In the survey, the respondents ranked job considerations, with salary being the most important, followed by health and retirement benefits, opportunities for career growth and advancement, the company's location and company leadership rounded out the top five.

Those of the younger generation already in the industry also had some ideas about how to market specifically to their generation.

“Tradeshows can entice younger professionals to work with them by explaining the great benefits like traveling, relationships built with clients, the teamwork aspect, feeling of accomplishment after each show and room to move within the company,” Helfman said. “The larger a show gets, the more jobs that will be created. Who would not want that growth opportunity within a company?”

Holzer, Curtin and Duffy suggested even more outreach geared toward college students, including internships, going to college fairs and even speaking at high schools.

“The industry does have a lot to offer,” Duffy said, “travel, a variety of dynamic work and room for advancement.”

But even more than those ideas, Johnson said, part of the competition with young professionals is that they don't have much experience and often are up against other candidates who have worked in other industries for a few years.

“I would not be who I am or where I am without people taking chances on me,” Johnson said.