Identifying best practices, opportunities and barriers in meeting planning for Generation Y

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify best practices, opportunities and barriers when planning virtual and hybrid meetings for a Generation Y audience (1979–2000). Using a modified Delphi technique, an expert panel of meeting professionals completed four rounds of the Delphi to determine group common consent. The panel of experts who participated had planned traditional, virtual and hybrid meetings for associations, corporations and/or government groups. Resulting recommendations for best practices for virtual meetings included offering shorter sessions to remote participants and providing easy to use technology; opportunities included gamification and interactive components; and barriers included perception of effectiveness and attendees preoccupation with technology. For hybrid meetings, best practices included adding social networking components, and providing positive feedback to participants; opportunities included incorporating interactive components and including challenging but solvable games; and barriers included perception of fun and keeping material challenging enough.