8.Millennial Generation 2014 Fenich

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Journal of Convention & Event Tourism

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http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wcet20What the Millennial Generation fromAround the World Prefers in TheirMeetings, Conventions, and Events

George G. Fenich, Sheila Scott-Halsell, Godwin-Charles Ogbeide &Kathryn Hashimoto

a

aa

b

c

School of Hospitality Leadership, East Carolina University,Greenville, South Carolina

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Hotel and Restaurant Administration, Oklahoma State University,Stillwater, Oklahoma

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Click for updates Hospitality and Restaurant Management, University of Arkansas,Fayetteville, Arkansas

Published online: 08 Aug 2014.

To cite this article: George G. Fenich, Sheila Scott-Halsell, Godwin-Charles Ogbeide & KathrynHashimoto (2014) What the Millennial Generation from Around the World Prefers in TheirMeetings, Conventions, and Events, Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 15:3, 236-241, DOI:10.1080/15470148.2014.929993To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15470148.2014.929993PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

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Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditionsDownloaded by [Florida State University] at 04:52 01 January 2015 JournalofConvention&EventTourism,15:236–241,2014Copyright©Taylor&FrancisGroup,LLCISSN:1547-0148print/1547-0156onlineDOI:10.1080/15470148.2014.929993

WhattheMillennialGenerationfromAround

theWorldPrefersinTheirMeetings,

Conventions,andEvents

GEORGEG.FENICH

SchoolofHospitalityLeadership,EastCarolinaUniversity,Greenville,SouthCarolina

Downloaded by [Florida State University] at 04:52 01 January 2015 SHEILASCOTT-HALSELL

HotelandRestaurantAdministration,OklahomaStateUniversity,Stillwater,Oklahoma

GODWIN-CHARLESOGBEIDE

HospitalityandRestaurantManagement,UniversityofArkansas,Fayetteville,Arkansas

KATHRYNHASHIMOTO

SchoolofHospitalityLeadership,EastCarolinaUniversity,Greenville,SouthCarolina

TheextantresearchrelatestowhattheMillennialgenerationprefersintheirmeetingsandevents.ThefocusofthispaperistocomparethewantsandneedsofMillennialsfromfivedifferentcontinentstoascertainsimilaritiesanddifferences.ThisisthelargeststudyeverdoneofMillennialswithregardtomeetingsandevents.Whilesomedifferenceswereuncovered,itwasfoundthatMillennialsareaveryhomogeneousgroup.Thus,eventprofessionalscanusesimilarstrategieswhentargetingthisgroup.However,itwasalsofoundthatthereweresomedifferencesinspecificareasandeventprofessionalswoulddowelltoascertaintheirmixofattendeesbynationaloriginandthenapplythemostsignificantfindingsoftheresearchathand.KEYWORDSandneeds

millennials,meetings,events,conventions,wants

INTRODUCTION

ThereisincreasinginterestinwhatmakestheMillennialgeneration“tick.”Thesearepeopleunder26yearsofageandhavegrownupduringaperiod

AddresscorrespondencetoGeorgeG.Fenich,SchoolofHospitalityLeadership,EastCarolinaUniversity,EastFifthStreet,Greenville,SC27858.E-mail:fenichg@ecu.edu

236

MillennialsandMeetings,Conventions,andEvents237

ofunprecedentedtechnologicalchange.SinceMillennialsaretheconsumersoftodayandthefuture,meeting/event/conventionplannersareparticularlyinterestedindeterminingwhattheyneedtodotoattractandsatisfyMillen-nials.

LITERATUREREVIEW

TheyarereferredtoasMillennials,GenY,NextGen,CGeneration,Bridgers,NeXters,GenerationDot-comorEchoBoomers(Sweeney,2006;Ballone,2007;Cetron&Davies,2008).Thisgeneration,bornbetweenapproximately1979and1994ismadeupofmorethan70millionindividualsworldwide(Hewlett,Sherbin,&Sumberg,2009).AnextensivereviewoftheliteratureshowsafairamountwrittenabouteducatingMillennialsatthesecondaryanduniversitylevel,sincemanyarestillinschool.Whatiswrittendoesnotaddressmeetings,events,andconventions.Furtherlittle,ifany,empiricaldatahasbeencollectedregardingtheirimpactonthemeetingsmarketplace.

Downloaded by [Florida State University] at 04:52 01 January 2015 METHOD

Thestudyathandaddressestheshortcomingintheliteraturebyelectron-icallysurveyingMillennialswhogrewupindifferentpartsoftheglobe.A“snowball”strategywasemployedandparticipationwasmade“fungible”byofferingaroundtripairfaretooneluckyrespondent.Theobjectiveistocompareandcontrasthowthetargetpopulationsaresimilar,ordis-similar,intheirwantsandneedswithregardstomeetings/events/conventions.Morethan1,500usableresponsesweregarneredfromrespondentswhogrewupinAsia,Africa,Europe,NorthAmerica,andSouthAmerica.Thesurveyhas78questionsandusesa5-pointLikertscaletoaddressthreeprimaryelements:

1.FactorsthatmotivateMillennialstoattendmeetings/events/conventions.2.Preferredcommunicationchannels.

3.WhatMillennialslike,ordonotlike,intheirmeetings/events/conventions.

ANALYSISOFAGGREGATEDRESPONSES

Theaggregatesetofresponseshavebeenanalyzed.Someofthekeyfind-ingsare:theywantedutainment;theywanttobeengaged;andtheywantshort/simple/structuredevents.Face-to-faceistheirmostpreferredmethodofcommunication.Inaddition,theywantprofessionaldevelopmentoppor-tunitiesandmostimportantly,theywanttoknowhowtheywillpersonallybenefitfromattendingthemeeting/event/convention.

238G.G.Fenichetal.

ANALYSISOFRESPONSESPARTITIONEDBYRESPONDENT

COUNTRYOFORIGIN

Theresponseswerepartitionedintofivegroupsbasedonthecontinentwheretherespondentgrewup.Theresearchteamfeltthatthisisthestrongestindicatorofbackgroundandethnicity.ThegroupsareAsia,Africa,SouthAmerica,Europe,andNorthAmerica.Outofthetotalnumberofrespondents,theethnicmixwas:◦◦◦◦◦

Asia=6.3%Africa=1.3%

SouthAmerica=1.1%Europe=1.7%

NorthAmerica=.6%

Downloaded by [Florida State University] at 04:52 01 January 2015 Therewasanotabledifferenceintheagesoftherespondents.SouthAmer-icansweretypically25to30yearsold,whileNorthAmericanswere20to23yearsold.

The5groupsofrespondentsaresurprisinglyhomogeneousintheirresponsestothe70orsoquestions.Thegroupmeansonlyrangedfrom3.79to4.00.ThissuggeststhatmeetingandeventplannerscanusethesamestrategiesindealingwithMillennials,regardlessoftheirnationalorigins.Further,thegreatestdifferencebetweenthemaximummeangroupscoreandminimumgroupscoreonanyquestionwasjustslightlyover1.0furthersuggestingthehomogeneityofMillennialsacrosstheglobe.

Theanalysisthatfollowslooksatthethreemajorcategoriesorgroupsofquestions:(a)howMillennialscharacterizethemselves,(b)whatmotivatesMillennialstoattendameetingoreventOrwhattheyexpectatameetingorevent,and(c)communicationmethodsandchannelspreferredbyMillenni-als.Onlythoseresponseswiththegreatestdifferencesbetweenmaximumandminimumscoresarediscussed.

ANALYSISOFCHARACTERISTICSOFRESPONDENTS

Fortheseriesofquestionsthatdelvedintocharacterizingeachoftherespon-dentsa5-pointLikertscalewasusedwhere1=notatall,2=notmuch,3=neutral,4=somewhat,and5=verymuch.

•Whenaskediftheylikesessionswheretheycan“tweet,”SouthAmericanslikedtheideathemostwithascoreof3.56,whileEuropeanslikedtotweettheleast(score2.).

MillennialsandMeetings,Conventions,andEvents239

Downloaded by [Florida State University] at 04:52 01 January 2015 •RespondentswerealsoqueriedwithregardtowhethertheylikePower-Pointpresentations.SouthAmericansmostpreferredPowerPointwithameanscoreof4.56,whileNorthAmericanslikeditleast(score3.94).

•Whenaskediftheyprefertextmessagingovere-mail,Africanrespondentsmostpreferredtext(4.00),whileEuropeanspreferredtextmessagingtheleast(3.04).

•Whenaskedwhethertheylikeonlinecommunication,itwasfoundthatAfricanslikeditthemost(4.56),whileAsianslikedittheleast(3.74).

•Whenaskediftheylikelectures,Asianslikedlecturesthemost(4.08)whileNorthAmericanslikedlecturestheleast(3.24).

•Regardingtheirpreferenceforspeakers,Europeansfavoredspeakersthemost(3.92),whileNorthAmericanslikedspeakerstheleast(3.12).

•Respondentswerequeriedwhetherthey“expect”Wi-Fiattheirmeetingandevents.ItwasfoundAsiansmostexpectit(4.51),whileAfricansleastexpectit(3.65).

•OnewouldexpectMillennialstobeveryfocusedon,andinterestedin,“sustainability”and“green”initiatives.Whenqueriedwhethersustainabilityandenvironmentalprotectionpractices(green)isnotimportanttothem,Africansscored2.15,meaningtheydisagreedwiththestatementandsus-tainabilityisimportanttothem,whileforSouthAmericansitwaslessimportant(3.00),alongwithEuropeansat2.74andNorthAmericansat2.75.Thetypicalrespondentalsodisagreedthatsustainabilityisafadwithameanscoreof2.44.

ANALYSISOFWHATMOTIVATESMILLENNIALSTOATTEND

AMEETINGOREVENT

TherewasaseriesofquestionsthatdelvedintowhatmotivatesaMillennialtoattendameeting,eventorconvention.A5-pointLikertscalewasused,where1=leastmotivatingand5=mostmotivating.

•WhenaskedifholdingameetingoreventduringtheweekmotivatesMillennialstoattend,SouthAmericansfeltmoststronglythatitdoes(4.44),whileAfricans(3.50)andAsians(3.57)feltitwaslessofamotivator.

ANALYSISOFPREFERREDMETHODSOFCOMMUNICATION

OFMILLENNIALS

Respondentswerealsoqueriedregardingtheirpreferredmethodsofcom-municationinrelationtomeetingsandevents.Itwasfoundthat:

240G.G.Fenichetal.

•Europeansmostlikedtraditionalletters(3.56),followedbySouthAmeri-cans(3.31).

•Africansmostpreferredbrochures(3.55),whileNorthAmericanspreferthemless(2.65).

•RespondentswererelativelyneutralwithregardtotheirpreferenceforLinkedIn.AsianspreferredLinkedInmorethanothergroups(2.99),whileNorthAmericanspreferredLinkedIntheleast(2.08).

•ItwasfoundthatSouthAmericanswerethegroupthatpreferredtextmessagingthemost(4.06),whileEuropeanslikedittheleast(3.08).

•Overall,Millennialsdonotlikeblogs(mean2.47),withNorthAmericanslikingthemtheleast(2.14)andAsianspreferringthemthemost(3.04).

Downloaded by [Florida State University] at 04:52 01 January 2015 CONCLUSION

TheextantresearchwasthelargeststudyeverdonewithregardtowhatMil-lennialswantintheirmeetingsandevents.ThefocusoftheanalysisputforthaboveshowstheMillennials,regardlessofwhereintheworldtheygrewup,arearelativelyhomogeneousgroup.Thus,meetingandeventplannerscanusethesamestrategieswhentargetingMillennials.NorthAmericanstendedtohaveweakerpreferencesthantheothergroupswhileSouthAmericansfeltmorestrongly.Thegreatestrangefrommaximumtominimummeangroupscoreswasfoundonthequestiondealingwithtraditionallettersasaformofcommunicationeventhoughthedifferencewas1.01onthe5-pointscale.ThesmallestdifferencebetweenmaximumandminimumwasonthequestionwhetherMillennialslikeentertainmentwiththeireducation(edutainment)atonlya.16differenceinmeanscores.Thissuggeststhatallgroupslikeentertainmentwiththeireducation.TheotherquestionwithasmalldifferentialwaswhetherMillennialslikesmallmeetings—theyalldo!

Theresultsofthisresearchwillbeofinteresttoawideaudience;vir-tuallyanyonewhoisdealingwithMillennials:industryprofessionals,mar-keters,andeducators.Thisisthefirstin-depthstudythatexploreswhatMillennialsthinkandwantfromtheirhospitalityproducts.ThisresearchwasmadepossiblethroughagrantfromtheEducationFoundationoftheProfessionalConventionManagementAssociation(PCMA).Thefindingsputforthaboverepresentasubsetofthelargerresearchprojectpartitionedbyethnicity.

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Cetron,M.J.,&Davies,O.(2008).Trendsshapingtomorrow’sworld.TheFuturist,

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Hewlett,S.,Sherbin,L.,&Sumberg,K.(2009).HowGenYandBoomerswillreshape

youragenda.HarvardBusinessReview,87(7/8),71–76.

Sweeney,R.(2006,December22).Millennialbehaviorsanddemograph-ics.RetrievedNovember12,2009,fromhttp://www.library.njit.edu/staff-folders/sweeney/Millennials/Millennial-Behaviors-August-14–2006.doc

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