To help provide younger members with career-development training, Atlanta-based Research Chefs Association started doing speed-interviewing sessions for students, explains Jim Fowler, senior account executive at The Kellen Co., which manages the association. Students sit in circles while senior members go from one student to the next doing rapid-fire mock job interviews, grilling students with questions they'll face in actual job interviews. In the second year the sessions have been held, participation has doubled to 160. Some have parlayed the mock interviews into internships, but more importantly, they learned a tangible skill that they can use.

That's critical, says Sladek. “Xers and Ys have to know up front — ‘What's in it for me? What am I going to gain? What am I going to learn? What am I going to take away?’ The more tangible, the better.” That's because Millennials, as well as Xers, are more protective of their personal and family time, so the value in attending a meeting has to be high. They won't just come for the camaraderie.

That's something the National Athletic Trainers' Association, Dallas, discovered. “What we found is that our Gen X and Y members want to come in and learn, get their business done, and then move along,” says Teresa Foster Welch, CAE, associate executive director at NATA. “They don't want to go spend the extra days to have the social opportunities that some of our boomers wanted.” So, starting in 2009, the annual meeting will be cut back from four days to three.

Involve (Get on Board)

“Associations have been slow to bring young professionals to the table to ask them what the association can do to be more attractive to them,” states Dorsey. The International Association of Exhibitions and Events, Dallas, is rectifying that.

In December, IAEE launched an initiative designed to engage and empower young professionals. The initiative, called the IAEE Young Professionals Committee, creates a community for young members and gives them a voice in the organization. The committee chair, Jeanavive Marie Janssen, director of sales at Event Productions Inc., Alameda, Calif., serves in an advisory capacity to IAEE meeting planners, offering ideas on how to improve meetings.

The new committee is also creating a manual with best practices on how to plan multi-generational meetings. Janssen and her team will be out in the field attending association meetings and conventions, looking for meetings that engage young professionals. “We'll get the opportunity to meet people in the industry, maybe get some mentors, but also we'll review the conferences for multi-generational attractiveness.” Ideas will be posted on their blog at their own Web site, www.ypiaee.com, and eventually compiled into a guidebook that will be available to the meeting planning community.

Similarly, the American Association of Law Libraries, Chicago, has created a community called the Gen X/Gen Y Caucus. The group has its own Web page where members can connect, but beyond the social aspect, the caucus has working groups that conduct research and develop new programs and ideas for the annual conference. It also has its own annual meeting, which convenes during AALL's annual conference. And it helps with recruitment and developing the next generation of leaders.

Financial Women International created a “target market advisory” panel consisting of 15 young professionals which leadership seeks feedback from on all association-related matters. They convene by conference call usually once a month, explains Barr. “We get feedback directly from our target market, so we're not sitting in a room trying to guess what this next generation is looking for.” One idea they came up with was creating networking pods or “meet-ups” in various regions so people can meet outside of the annual meeting.

Creating these kind of opportunities for young professionals to give input is important, experts say. “They've got tons of ideas and are bursting to give you feedback,” says Chester. But it has to be taken seriously. If it's perceived as something slapped together to keep the kids happy, they won't participate.

Engage (Mentor Me)

Many association meetings feel less than friendly to Gen Ys, says Dorsey. “The experience of being immersed with a bunch of people twice your age can be overwhelming.” Mentoring programs are one way to welcome Gen Ys, who want to learn from senior members but are uncomfortable doing so in an unstructured manner.

Dorsey suggests assigning a one-on-one mentor or meeting coach to first-time attendees. The association could also give out ribbons or badges to new attendees that encourage members to introduce themselves to 10 new members. Or just have a new attendee orientation that covers everything — from what the acronyms mean to what to wear.

However, says Sladek, while Ys want mentoring, they prefer to network and socialize among their peers — which is why the young professional groups prosper. Large cocktail mixers also can be uncomfortable for Gen Ys. “There's a lot of pressure there with the mingling,” says Janssen.

Also, Janssen warns meeting planners not to “chase” certain technologies because they are popular. Don't get too involved with something that is going to evolve tomorrow, or is already passé. “If their moms are on Facebook and MySpace, [Gen Ys] have already jumped ship,” Janssen says. Instead, if you focus on what the technology is really trying to do — create a sense of community, young professionals will join, she says.

Educate (No Talking Heads)