Jason Ryan Dorsey speaks Gen Y’s language

They text message instead of making phone calls. They’ll hold five jobs by the time they’re 30 rather than three jobs by the time they’re 50. They’re more worried about losing their cell phones than losing their pensions. They are the members of Generation Y, or people born between 1977 and 1995. As the Gen Y Guy, Jason Ryan Dorsey learns about, writes about and speaks about this fastest growing demographic in U.S. workforce, giving advice on how to attract and engage this generation at events and in the office (a few of his tips are below). He’s the keynote speaker on Tuesday morning at Marketplace. Let’s hope all Gen Yers are up early enough to attend the session.

1. At a lot of events, your first interaction is a “here’s your name tag, find your seat” kind of thing. Planners should be sending leads prior to the event either with e-mail, text or a Facebook group to get people connected so when they get there, they already know people, can meet at a certain place, wear a certain shirt and meet people who like the same things they do.

2. PowerPoint slides are what Boomers use to appear high tech. If you are going to use a PowerPoint slide, use one every 15 minutes.

3. Talk about current events. Gen Y is the most connected generation ever. We get all the news in the world to our phone anytime. If a current event is big enough, we want to talk about it.

4. Deliver communication through channels that match their preferences. For Gen Y, it’s text, e-mail and social media.

5. If you have an audience of Gen Yers, keep them moving with experiential learning.

6. Ask all attendees to e-mail their top three takeaways from meetings. Surveys are OK today as long as they take less than two minutes to complete and offer a place for people to add comments or answer a question in their own words.

7. A Gen Yer decides on their first day if they can stay with an employer long-term. Make the first day unforgettable by giving the person a set of business cards. It makes the Gen Yer feel important and professional.

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