What Is Your Feeder Strategy for the Upcoming Generational Workforce Shift?

What Is Your Feeder Strategy for the Upcoming Generational Workforce Shift?

By Nancy Drapeau, PRC
Research Director, CEIR

CEIR currently has a survey in the field, the Generational Workforce Shift Study. If you are an organizer and received an email invitation, please participate!  Share what your organization is doing in this area.

This anecdote helps highlight why it is important to participate in this study!

I was raised in a blue collar town in Maine where football was king. When it was a home game, half the town was there. Ok, that is an exaggeration though thousands would go. For many years, Biddeford cranked out state football championship teams or at the very least, contenders for the Class A Title. Why did they consistently achieve this outcome? In part, it was an outstanding feeder system.

Participants were recruited from a very young age starting with peewee football. As the athletes aged, the program kept up with their abilities and interests. We had a heck of weight room that many benefitted from, including me as a track and field athlete. Equipment was kept state-of-the art. Training programs ran year-round, to help the kids develop and in the end, by high school the teams were consistently excellent and community support kept pace, with parents remaining committed to staffing volunteer needs and fundraising to keep the program alive.

There is a worthwhile analogy to this story for exhibition organizers to reflect upon. The sports program that consistently paid attention to its young athletes in terms of program offerings, helping them achieve their goals individually and as teams, and providing content that resonated with them and built an enduring community, one that athletes and the community wanted to be a part of, and the kids could not wait to be a part of when the season arrived.

In 2015, it is anticipated that Millennials will take over as the largest generation in the workforce, as Boomers start to exit for retirement. Organizers today need to assure that marketing and content reaches and resonates with young professionals as much as it does for those currently at the helm for their organizations’ product and service purchases. Ignoring them only gives them a chance to find and connect with other ways to obtain the information they need to be successful in their jobs.  And other CEIR studies reveal that young professionals want to be a part of exhibitions. The secret is to give them the content they want that will keep them coming back!

Please join me at Expo! Expo where I will be presenting a session revealing  key study findings and best practices shared on tactics found to successfully attract and retain young professional.

For more information on the Expo! Expo! session, go to:  What Organizers Are Doing to Prepare for the Generational Workforce Shift

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