The Gen Z Experience: Inclusive Leadership and Event Design

Taylor Smith:

Awkward shows authenticity, and that's so important right now. If you want to connect with people, just be yourself. That's what I've learned. When I try too hard to come off as super serious and professional and amazing, and I was just like, I can be unserious a little bit. Let's make this fun. Let's just be real. We're just here to get to know each other, and if you're a little goofy, be a little goofy. Make people laugh. That'll make people like you. Just be yourself.

Alyssa Peltier:

Great events, create great brands, but pulling off an event that engages, excites and connects audiences, well, that takes a village, and we're that village. My name is Alyssa.

Rachel Andrews:

I'm Rachel.

Felicia Asiedu:

And I'm Felicia.

Alyssa Peltier:

And you are listening to Great Events, the podcast for all event enthusiasts, creators and innovators in the world of events and marketing.

Rachel Andrews:

Hello, everybody. What is going on in this wide, wide world of events? My name is Rachel and I am your host for today's amazing podcast of Great Events. Today, we have on our episode, I'm very excited to have my friend, Taylor Smith, who is a content developer and resident Gen Z expert at Meetings Today. Hi, Taylor.

Taylor Smith:

Hello. Thank you for having me.

Rachel Andrews:

Oh, my gosh, so excited to have you. I met Taylor, was it last year at IMEX? I think it was last year at IMEX. It was so funny, we were actually talking about Gen Z in an article for her column that she runs for Meetings Today called The Z, so I'm so excited to have you on today, Taylor. Today, we're talking about the intersection between events, Gen Z, understanding how event props can work better together across that. What Gen Z values, just Gen Z and our industry in general, et cetera. I feel like this conversation could go in 8,000 different directions, but I'm excited.

Taylor Smith:

Yes, I'm so excited too. When it comes to Gen Z, as a Gen Zer, I enjoy talking about it. I'm here, let's go.

Rachel Andrews:

For listeners, I love to kick off with just a little bit about you, our guest for today. Why don't you give everyone a little bit of background, how you got to Meetings Today, how you started your own column. That's super cool. Yeah, tell us everything.

Taylor Smith:

I was a journalism major at Ball State University and I graduated in May of 2022 and ended up starting my job at Meetings Today six days after graduation. Thankfully, I had it lined up, I knew what the plan was, and going into graduation I was like, "Okay, I've got a week to just do nothing and hopefully, reset before I start my big-girl job at Meetings Today." I was actually an intern for St. Louis Magazine and my editor there was like, "Hey, my friend just left her job at this magazine. I don't know much about it, but I know that they sent her to Hawaii on assignment once." I was like, "Send that application my way." Shoot my shot there, but it worked out so perfectly. I had no idea that I'd end up where I am, but this job has turned out to be my dream job.

I wouldn't give it up for anything. It's been the most exciting two years of my life so far. In January of 2023, so about six, eight months after I started my job, my boss was like, "Who are these Gen Zers? What do they want? What are they going to do to our industry?" I was like, "As a Gen Zer, I could possibly write about that." He came up with the idea to start that Gen Z column and he was like, "Go for it. I think you should just start it and see what happens." I had a lot of support from my team behind the column and just started writing about Gen Z and myself and my experiences and doing a bunch of research into what Gen Z values and who they are in the workforce. It just took off from there and it keeps growing and it's so crazy. I'm very thankful for every second that The Z is taking me and opening doors to new opportunities.

Rachel Andrews:

I love it, The Z. Very cool. I hope our listeners follow along to that too, because personally, as a leader, I managed a few generations and I feel like from a leadership perspective, we're all looking at the workforce coming in, the differences in working styles. There's a whole slew of things that we're looking at. Not everybody works the same, not everybody reacts the same to different things like recognition. I'm very interested in this topic as are a lot of my peers are because I'm an elder Millennial, I guess. I guess I'm just a Millennial at this point. The generation spans so many different people. My younger brother is just on the cusp of Millennial and Z, but he identifies as a Millennial.

Taylor Smith:

I call myself a Zillennial a lot of the time because I'm the older side of Gen Z, and I'm the oldest granddaughter, oldest daughter, oldest niece. My parents were Gen Xers, and I was raised by people who weren't with Gen Z and I didn't have those Gen Z influences on me when I was growing up. I do have a lot of Millennial tendencies, but being raised in the digital era, there were aspects of Gen Z that I did eventually take on, so Zillennial is like my take on it,

Rachel Andrews:

Zillennials, love it. That's one Buzzword. I imagine you've gotten to interview some pretty cool people working for The Z. Any fun highlights recently that we can look for?

Taylor Smith:

I recently put out a column, it was actually the first time The Z was a cover story for our magazine, so that was super exciting for me. For our October issue, I interviewed three industry leaders who are just these powerhouse women in the industry, and it's Deb Parsons, Donna Rogers and Carolyn Pund. It was a very vulnerable and authentic collection of what happens when we go through transitions in life that we may not have been prepared for or anticipating and how much that can impact both your life outside of work, but as well as your professional career and your confidence and you question your purpose and what's next for me. That was a really touching story for me to be able to write. I learned so much from them and I really look up to them at this point. They've taught me so much. That was a really exciting story and it's my latest column that was out, so definitely check that one out.

Rachel Andrews:

I love that you're bridging the gap too. You're not just talking about what Gen Z wants. You're talking about all of the above. You're talking about everything for them to learn how to navigate, the other generations as well in the workforce, but also, we can also listen to the podcast to learn more. We should be crossing the gates here.

Taylor Smith:

One of my goals when I started my column was I don't want this to be as a Gen Zer in the industry, I already felt isolated and on my own, which is why I started the column to find other Gen Zers like me, but I didn't want anyone else to feel excluded from the content I was creating. I wanted it to be a resource for everyone, no matter what generation you identify with or how long you've been in your career. Like you said, bridging the gap and bringing us all together.

Rachel Andrews:

Nice. Love it. Cool, let's pivot into events and how it relates to Gen Z, because a lot of our listeners are event profs, students. Actually, we have a lot of student listeners. Shout out to any universities listening. We also have just a ton of random hospitality, tech listeners. It's all over the map. I like to dumb it down too when we do these podcasts a little bit to say, okay, let's level set for some people. When we're talking about event design, how do you feel like event profs or maybe event profs that you've talked to are weaving that into their event design? How are they thinking about all the different generations coming to their event? For me, I don't know, some of it is, it's hard to ask in registration. What generation do you identify with? You try to understand your demographics a little bit more. For you, talking about designing an event, let's just say it's a conference and you're designing something for all generations, what do you think as an event designer like I am, what do you think I should start with when I'm thinking about it?

Taylor Smith:

One of the things that I think it's important to touch on is always like what's trending in the industry? What is something that everyone, no matter how old they are, is talking about or interested in? Right now, AI is all the rage. Everyone wants to know more about AI. We're all scared of AI. We're all excited about AI. You can't have an industry conversation without AI coming up in it right now. As digital natives, Gen Z is one of the generations that's super excited about this. They're familiar with it, they're not really afraid of it because they've been adapting to new technology their whole life, but it's something that other generations are still learning and Gen Zs are still learning it too. When we look at event design, I think that's looking at those trends, and even wellness as another trend is something that it's not a buzzword anymore, it's here to stay, and no matter how old you are, wellness is important to everyone.

Finding those ties that are trends in the industry important to the conversations we're having, but something every generation can relate to or is talking about, I always look into those conversations and recommend people do the same because that's really what's bridging that gap again, and then still staying on the technology side. I have seen more and more, like you don't really go to an event without having the event app at this point. There's always an app to download where you can connect with other people and see the map of the event floor or the agenda for the event. Having that is something more and more people, we all have smartphones now and Gen Z is so used to it, but everyone can benefit from that event app and connect with others and find things out. I think it's a super organized way to make everyone feel engaged. They could use that app however they want, but you're still catering to the Gen Z audience who's probably not going to have printed paper of the agenda and their appointments.

They're going to check their phone and see what they've got on their Outlook calendar or something. The event apps are another big thing. Then all of these visual virtual elements, I mean, Gen, Z's attention span is on average between 1.3 and eight seconds. Having videos and virtual elements and fun screens that display art or something that keeps them engaged and entertained is, I think another trend that makes them excited about the event, keeps them engaged in the event. It's exciting for anyone to see something like that, that's activated and moving around and keeping them engaged and elevating the senses and just having these components where you're not just sitting in a room, classroom or theater style and hearing someone speak at you for an hour. There's interaction, there's engagement. You're creating these opportunities for people to connect with one another both via the app or in person because you're giving them the space to move around and talk. I think that's really important right now too, is networking and prioritizing those in-person face-to-face conversations.

Rachel Andrews:

I was making a joke to myself. I was like, 1.3 to eight seconds, I hope that's not from a listening standpoint because we've already lost them.

Taylor Smith:

Hopefully, they're picking up on it. Got to throw some Gen Z slang in there.

Rachel Andrews:

Totally. I think 2020, during COVID, I remember there was a stat I read that was like, unless you capture their attention in 30 seconds. This was for everybody, this wasn't even just a generational thing, unless you capture their attention in 30 seconds. I can imagine that, that's just decreasing by the second, especially in this era of doom scrolling and us being always on TikTok or Instagram or whatever YouTube videos you're streaming or whatever app is being used now because I haven't downloaded anything new recently.

Taylor Smith:

It's true though. I spend more time scrolling through Instagram reels than I do sitting down watching an actual TV show because an Instagram reel is two minutes and a TV show could be up to an hour and it's not changing fast enough. It's not keeping me engaged, it's not getting my attention. After 10 minutes, I'm like, "Okay, what's next?" I can't scroll. That's becoming a habit of everyone right now.

Rachel Andrews:

My dad was telling me that the surgeon general is looking at putting something on social media that's advising against doom scrolling is the buzzword. Advising against that for your mental health, which I find fascinating that they're looking at that, and it makes sense. That's why Instagram has the, or whatever platforms have these time checks that they say, "Hey, you've been on for an hour. Hey, your screen time is." I know one time I looked at my screen time, I was like, "I have been on my phone for six hours today." That's crazy, but it's like the norm for a lot of younger generations just to be on their phone that much. My dad, they'll be like, "What are you even looking at?" I'm like, "You know how you look at your laptop to look at or you watch the evening news? This is my version of the evening news. I'm watching it, digesting it much faster through eight different platforms at once."

Taylor Smith:

That translates directly into our events and how we're marketing them, how we're delivering them, and so bring it full circle. It does, we have to consider the ways that multiple people will be taking in information and our events. Every attendee is going to be different, and as Gen Z enters the workforce, it's just going to be even more different. We have to make sure that we are paying attention to how they function and their practices and what they prefer and really delivering for everyone. It's all about that inclusivity and creating a sense of belonging for people no matter what they do and how they digest their information.

Rachel Andrews:

I would also add activations into that. I think that it's been so important because networking just at a happy hour with nothing to do is very difficult for a lot of people. Now that more people are talking about introverted, extroverted, and generational ways of doing things, I just think it's so important to incorporate other experiences into. I'm not just talking about drinking event. I'm talking about any event that you go to. A new way to bond with somebody, a photo op, something that you engage with. It can be even something silly. Click here to see an image.

Taylor Smith:

Anything that will break up the awkward silence and give them something to go do when they lose or they can't figure out what to talk about next. Give them a little break from using their minds, talking about work. Let them have a little fun and then see there are great opportunities to meet other people who are also enjoying the activation alongside them.

Rachel Andrews:

I went to Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy Unwell show this week, and I walked in and I wasn't sure what to expect because it's interesting, a podcast, they're doing a live show, there's a lot of different things that could happen. I had zero expectations. I walk in and there are, I'm not kidding, 18 different activations. There were live ear-piercing stations, there were interactive bar experiences. There was a make your own bubble tea station. There were a lot of photo activations for social media. We were making TikToks everywhere. It was wild. I was like, "I feel like I've just entered a different portal. This is amazing." Permanent jewelry, temporary tattoo stations. There were so many cool ideas there, but then the actual content, what's interesting is I was just like, "How is she going to have two hours of content for just a podcast?"

There was choreographed dancing, there was live music, there was like a pop-up concert. There were surprise guests. There were videos. There were very cool fun visuals on the side that she had of just random tweets that happened or she told her whole story, but she told it in a choreographed almost Broadwayesque way. It was very cool. It captured everybody's attention because if you're just sitting there listening to a podcast, you could be scrolling on your phone and bored. She did not make it boring. She was very much in her brand of Call Her Daddy, but it was like, wow, I'm watching Gen Z being entertained right now. It was great. Cool. Well, I know we kind of touched on networking. Are there other ways that you would recommend creating more of those, let's call them safe spaces for networking opportunities?

Taylor Smith:

Yes. Us Gen Zers, we tend to be a little introverted. We get a bad rep for not knowing how to communicate sometimes and having face-to-face conversations with people. I do think that translates into, I mean, we were for two years during pivotal moments of our lives stuck inside where we didn't really have face-to-face interaction. We were so used to social media that we just became these online personas for a while, and getting back out there, introducing yourself, having those conversations is very daunting and intimidating, especially when you might be the youngest in the room and you're meeting with people who have these fancy titles and work at these high-tech companies and you're like, "Oh my gosh, how do I fit in? How do I make them care about me? How do I make them remember me?" I remember going to my first industry events and just not knowing how to make myself a part of those conversations because there are these circles and little clicks of people that are already having these conversations.

It's awkward when you don't know anyone to butt in and make room for yourself. I encourage every industry professional, when you're at a networking event, when you're at a happy hour, just take a few minutes to look around, see if there's anyone standing awkwardly by themselves on their phone trying to look busy and invite them to join your conversation. Because that's just sometimes all they need is that invite and to feel welcome and to feel like, okay, I am safe to go make myself a part of that circle over there. Networking goes both ways. We have to, as new professionals in the industry, be willing to introduce ourselves and sell ourselves and tell people like, hey, this is who I am. This is how I could benefit you. This is why we should connect.

On the flip side of that, it's just as important for established professionals to go out of their way to make sure that they're creating an environment in which young professionals will want to walk up to them and say hi and introduce themselves. We can be creating that safe space and making room for new networking opportunities. My friend, Mandi Graziano, she actually wrote a column with me all about tips and tricks for making networking less awkward, and she calls it circle crashing. Where you do, you crash the circle that people are having a conversation in and become a part of it. That's something I think we just need to normalize and make less awkward and less intimidating. Just be willing to let people join your conversations because that's how it all starts.

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah. Oh, my gosh, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at, I just have had so many awkward conversations where I do that. I'm a 50/50 or I can be extroverted and turn on when I want to be, but it takes a lot of energy for me to do it. You wouldn't know it knowing me in the industry because I'm so bubbly, I would walk up, but I've had so many moments where I've walked up into a circle and been like, "Hi, my name's Rachel," and then crickets. It's just like, cool. I will Homer Simpson into the bushes and see you never. This reminds me of a LinkedIn, a viral LinkedIn conversation. I think it was Megan Henshaw or Liz Latham from Club Ichi.

There's been a lot of discussion on, hey, it's really hard to network for any generation as an introvert. Hey, how do we design experiences to be better for people? There was just a lot of great discussion on that, and I personally hate it when clicks just stand around and they don't incorporate it. Maybe that's just because I create experiences for the industry with Cvent CONNECT. I want people to be able to connect with each other. That's part of the reason I plan events is creating those experiences for people. When people go and they aren't inclusive about their conversation, they have these closed circles.

Taylor Smith:

Mandi is a genius. She has three ways to approach circle crashing, so you could go in with the did you know approach, and it's like, hey, my name's Taylor, and we're at this event, and did you know that for instance, when we were in Louisville for MPIWC, I was like, "Did you know Louisville produces the most disco balls out of any other city in the US? It's like, this is so interesting. Who is this girl who knows so much about disco balls? I want to be her friend. That's the did you know approach, the circle crashing. It changes the topic of the conversation a little bit, but gives you the opportunity to talk so that they get used to you.

There's the cool things approach is what she calls it, and it's when you go in and talk about one cool thing that you learned that day, and you ask the people around you to answer the same question. Then there's just the straightforward approach where you go in, you say your name, you say what you do, and you're like, "I'm cool because I do this and this, and here's how I can help you." My personal favorite though is the did you know approach and it works every time.

Rachel Andrews:

I love that so much, and I hope people will hear this and be more open and receptive to things like that because not everybody is, especially the older generation, I hate to say it. Folks that have been in the industry for a long time. Maybe they're just sick in networking, maybe they're just like, "Oh, gosh, it's so hard." They have their friends, and I can understand both sides, but I urge everybody to be open, and those are such great ideas for them. I feel like such an awkward person sometimes, but a lot of times it's in your head of being awkward because I've been in the industry two decades and I'm still awkward. It's in my head. Anyone that's just joining the industry shouldn't feel like that because if I feel like that, you probably feel like that too.

Taylor Smith:

Awkward shows authenticity, and that's so important right now. If you want to connect with people, just be yourself. That's what I've learned. When I try too hard to come off as super serious and professional and amazing, and I was just like, I can be unserious a little bit. Let's make this fun. Let's just be real. We're just here to get to know each other, and if you're a little goofy, be a little goofy. Make people laugh. That'll make people like you. Just be yourself. Be willing to be a little awkward. Awkward, makes things fun sometimes and makes you more relatable. Then people are, they're going to relate to you, and that's where those connections form.

Rachel Andrews:

Totally. Love that. I think that's also where activations play a huge part too, because it's like, oh, you can laugh at this thing. We did a human claw machine at Cvent CONNECT. We did butt drawings, but they were called derriere drawings and people were getting their butts drawn. I'm not kidding. They were getting their butts drawn, and there was a line of 300 people deep just to get their butts drawn, and then they were showing their random people that they met, "Hey, look at this drawing of my butt." It was hilarious.

Taylor Smith:

I absolutely knew that. I would get it framed. Oh my gosh, you could do little swaps with your friends. That's amazing.

Rachel Andrews:

these are the random ideas and these are the fun events that I can do. Not everybody in the industry can do those fun over-the-top things, but that was obviously a conversation starter because like, how do you not? It was great. Well, I want to pivot a little bit into, just for all generations listening, just when you're talking to folks about how they're interacting now in the workforce with their leadership, one challenge that I have is just knowing what Gen Z wants. A lot of my, and I would love to hear your opinion about this, a lot of my struggles come from Gen Z not really directly telling me what they want or what they need to be successful in a direct way.

I'm not sure how to navigate that. I want to make sure their career is good. I want to make sure that they're learning. Things that I've struggled with is some of them not understanding why they're not three levels above where they are or why are they're not getting promoted every year, or why can't they do this particular project right this second, they just graduated college. I want to hear the other side of it. What are the challenges that Gen Z is saying is hard for them, and why aren't they telling us what they need?

Taylor Smith:

I too have heard about Gen Zers, they start at their role maybe at a hotel and they expect to be general manager by the next year. It's just like, that's not how things work. I think it's been a reality for most Gen Zers that they enter the workforce and they realize that they maybe won't be getting the job that they dreamed of having right away, and that they've got to work their way up the ladder and put in their time, and it'll come with time and patience as they learn the ropes. I think one of the things is there's only so much you can learn in the classroom, and without that real-world experience, you're not going to be best fit to take on a top position in your company until you see how it works, until you see someone above you who is doing that job who you could learn from and get that real-world experience so that you are ready and prepared to take that role on.

That's something that every industry is struggling with and that we have to show Gen Z that it's not instant gratification, which is what they're so used to because of social media. If they have a question, all they have to do is type it into Google. Now they could type it into ChatGPT and it gives them exactly what they need within seconds, and that's something that they're used to having happen to them. Patience is something, I think all of Gen Z can work on and needs to be thinking more about as they start their careers, because there are people who came before us and we can't expect them to drop everything to accommodate our needs and our wants and give it to us on a silver platter. I do think that's just something personal almost for Gen Zers that we have to work through.

As senior leaders, we have to be willing to mentor them and give them that opportunity to learn and grow and say, "Hey, I know this is a goal of yours. Maybe in two, three years we could get you there. Let's make sure that you're working with the right people on our team who could help raise you to be this next employee who takes over this role that you have in your mind." When it comes to knowing what Gen Z needs, this is something that I've done so much research on, like who is Gen Z in the workforce? What do they value? What do they prioritize? What does their workday look like? Through all of that research, one thing that has come through is the need to adapt your environment and your workplace to have open communication. On teams, just be willing to let them reach out to you and ask those questions.

If you work hard to create that safe space and just straight up ask them, what do you need? What can I do for you? What are your goals? How can I deliver? How can I help you reach these things? Ideally, creating that safe space saying I am here to have these conversations with you will help them open up so that they can say, you know what? Yeah, I am a little disappointed. I thought I'd be a year above where I am right now, and I'm feeling stuck and trapped and this is what I can do, and maybe I don't know the answers, but here's what you can do to help me get there.

Open communication and giving that timely feedback, getting their feedback, even if it's an anonymous survey sometimes, just to give them the opportunity to speak up and share their thoughts so that you get that feedback and you might not know exactly who the employee is that's sharing that with you, but you've got an idea of what they're looking for. Annual reviews are no longer enough for Gen Z. We need that feedback. We need to know what we're doing. We need to be able to give you an idea of what we're thinking and feedback from our end and have those open conversations where maybe we do talk about tough topics, but we're letting them know that it's safe to do that.

Rachel Andrews:

I read somewhere that it's all about purpose and making sure that your Gen Z employees feel connected to it. Let's just talk about an events associate. They're doing some pretty administrative things, let's just call it what it is, whether that's building an Excel or building a website or a mobile app or literally managing an invite list. They're like, "Why am I not planning a 5,000-person conference yet?" There's things and steps and ways to learn reading contracts and building budgets and learning what a PNL is and projecting things. There's so much in between the administrative and the leadership role that they need to learn before they get there. I think what I've found sometimes helps is if you explain those steps to them, if you explain the differences between what an associate does, what a manager does with events. Sometimes it's not that clear cut in events.

I think the events industry struggles in general with having clear career pathing because every industry is completely different. If you work in the tech space versus pharma versus the financial space, everything is a little different and processes are different in every company. It's hard for us as leaders to build that for them and make it very clear, but that's what they want, is what I've found is just understanding, hey, you're working really hard on this invite list. Here's why it's important, and explaining, hey, every person that you put on this invite list is worth X amount of money to this event budget. Just know that because you're doing X, you're influencing Y." That's helped me a lot, and then they start to learn, okay, this is the street MBA that I need to learn on the job. Here's the steps that I need to be that expert, but if you break it down for them and here are the steps, that's really helped me working with some of the younger folks on the team.

Taylor Smith:

Yeah, 100%. I think that is super accurate, and it goes back into mentorship and the importance of needing that guidance. Like you said, career mapping is, I mean, I didn't even know I was going to end up in the meetings industry, so mapping my career, I was like, "Oh, my gosh, what do I do from here? Where am I going to go? What's even possible for me in my future?" It was at one point when I started after college, I was like, I don't have a summer to look forward to or an advance that I'm going to do to go to the next grade in school and things like that.

You're in your job, you don't know what comes next. When it's an industry that isn't all that clear, when you're following that path, having that mentor there just to talk to, to have those conversations, to ask those questions, that is so important, I think, to elevating and showing Gen Zers their purpose and their value at a company, and then giving them hope for their future where they know that they're not stuck in this position forever. There are opportunities for them. They see how they could get there now, and they're more eager to do it because they have the help that they need to follow those steps and reach that goal of theirs.

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah, very cool. I think just one more plug for any senior leaders listening. I would recommend that you also listen to the folks coming in. They have a lot of great ideas, and just because you've always done it that way for 15 years doesn't mean that you can't be open to change. That's how you innovate, that's how you get better. That's how you remain relevant. My mom always said, "Don't get left behind." Literally, AI, don't get left behind. This is the future. I was reading some stats, by 2030, Gen Z is predicted to be 30% of the US workforce. Right now, it's 8%. Then by 2030, 75% of the workforce will be Millennials and Gen Z.

We will be leading the charge in six years. That's not that far away, so let's invest the time to work together closely with Gen Z because they really are our future and they really are the folks that are bringing in the new ideas. They're the folks that know the technology. They're the folks that are going to change a lot with AI and help us be more efficient. I think there's just a lot of bridges to gap here between the two, and don't be resistant to it because I feel like the generations working together is only going to make our events industry stronger.

Taylor Smith:

Yep, I 100% agree with that as well. I think going off of that is work toward getting rid of your unconscious biases when it comes to stereotyping Gen Z or making assumptions about other generations. Because the first thing we do is we see someone, we profile them based on how old we think they are, that's immediately preventing us from making any genuine connection that we can make with that person who might be the total opposite of the stereotypes that are typically projected onto their generation. Just catching yourself in the moment if you find yourself seeing another professional and making assumptions about them to be more open-minded to creating and cultivating those cross-generational relationships in your career.

Rachel Andrews:

All right. Well, any final words of wisdom for our listeners, Taylor, and where can our listeners find you?

Taylor Smith:

Be open minded. Be willing to try new things. Have those conversations and don't be afraid to be a little awkward when you're not working, I think is a fun takeaway to leave them with. They can reach me by going to meetingstoday.com/gen-z. That's where they find all my Gen Z content and my column. I'm also on LinkedIn, and my username there is just Tay Wright because there are lots of Taylor Smiths in the world and sometimes it can be hard to find me. I'm sure you'll be able to provide a link or something like that so that they could find me there too, but LinkedIn and meetingstoday.com is where I'm at the most.

Rachel Andrews:

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining. I think we all can take some of this knowledge and use it with our teams, use it to welcome in the new workforce. Let's be willing to open the door for each other, and like Taylor said, you can never underestimate the power of mentorship and opening the doors for other people. It goes both ways. Let's do better. Thank you for joining and thanks for listening to today's Great Events podcast. Thank you.

Alyssa Peltier:

Thanks for hanging out with us on Great Events, a podcast by Cvent. If you've been enjoying our podcast, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

Rachel Andrews:

You can help fellow event professionals and marketers just like you discover Great Events by leaving us a rating on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.

Felicia Asiedu:

Stay connected with us on social media for behind-the-scenes content, updates and some extra doses of inspiration.

Rachel Andrews:

Got a great story or an event to share? We want to hear from you. Find us on LinkedIn, send us a DM or drop us a note at greatevents@cvent.com.

Felicia Asiedu:

Big thanks to our amazing listeners, our guest speakers, and the incredible team behind the scenes. Remember, every great event begins with great people.

Alyssa Peltier:

That's a wrap. Keep creating, keep innovating, and keep joining us as we redefine how to make events great.