"Young people are a great audience," says Peter J. Berol, founder of Havertown, PA-based Red Stone Management Systems, Inc. "You always know where you stand. There will be no polite chuckling to save your ego." Berol, whose business is largely made up of youth meetings, camps, and conferences for high school participants of up to 500, compares working with teens to a cross-cultural experience: "It's like planning for folks from outside the United States. Language, cultural norms, music, food, and clothes all are just different enough to mark us [adults] as outsiders."
While considered part of the social, military, educational, and fraternal meetings market, (SMERF), youth events nonetheless generate big bucks in corporate sponsorships and garner media attention. Why? Because kids represent the future. And everyone wants a piece of that.
Bring It On
By and large, most youth meetings do contain some element of competition—and others, like youth sports events, are all about competition. According to Al Hutchinson, director of convention sales at the Virginia Beach CVB, "Youth amateur sporting events are huge for us. They account for 80,000 room-nights, or 40 percent, of all future business that we booked this year. The age range is 11 to 17 years old, with kids participating in judo, basketball, baseball, field hockey, sand soccer, and more." While one might expect young athletes to be on the spirited side off the field as well, Hutchinson says, "We haven't had any real challenges; we're a family destination, and these kids are traveling with their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Moreover, they're coming to compete, so they're focused." And, he adds, "There's the beach. The ocean is always good place to burn up energy."
Of all youth sporting events, cheerleading event in particular perennially receive a large amount of corporate sponsorships and media attention. "So far this year," says Mike Humes, spokesperson for ESPN, "we've broadcast two competitions on ESPN that each reached 450,000 households, and we've broadcast 17 competitions on ESPN 2, that each reached an average of 300,000 households." When compared to NFL sports events, which average 6.5 million households, cheerleading doesn't seem like an overly large market share, but Humes maintains such comparisons are apples to oranges: "Cheerleading is a niche, and it's got its audience and its fan base. We put it on the network because the fans want to see it."
Interestingly, ESPN also holds exclusive live coverage rights for the final rounds of the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee competition, which this year aired in early June. Now in its 78th year, the Bee, which took place from May 29 to June 3, pitted 272 competitors against one another in a two-day competition, culminating in a gala awards dinner. According to a planner who has worked with academic competitions, these children tend to be "very intelligent. We often propose adult activities for them because they are easily bored with typical kids' programs."
Then there are talent competitions, such as the Assemblies of God (AOG) Festival of Fine Arts, which took place in Austin, TX, last August. "They were youth from across the country," says Laurie Hartz, a CSM at the Austin CVB, "mostly high school students from ninth to twelfth grade. They come in with their families, or if it's a small group from a church, maybe their youth leader or director. The AOG members were very proud of their kids, and that they were to show off their spiritual gifts." For the convention center and its newly opened 800-room Hilton, the meeting was the answer to a prayer. "The final number, as far as attendance, was about 9,000, and total room-nights was right around 23,000. We estimated it was about $14 million as the total economic impact, which is substantial to our city, especially at that time of year." Laughing, she adds, "These are the types of groups that do so well in the summer—kids are pretty resilient."
Tomorrow's Leaders, Today
To reach this audience, many programs, like "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day," a national public education program sponsored by the Ms. Foundation for Women, start early in life. This year, on April 28, more than 16 million children between ages eight through 12 visited the workplaces of household names like Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Nestle, and the American Red Cross. At New York City-based VNU Business Media (Successful Meetings' parent), Donna Cardone of Nielsen Media Research has helped organize the program for the past two years. "Last year we had 40 children; this year we had 37 junior participants, aged nine to 15," she says. "The first half of the program is made up of presentations from different speakers who have agreed to participate; then we do a development segment, such as a resume-building experience, and explore what they have in common with one another and where they see themselves in 10 to 20 years." Cardone has worked on this program at her past three jobs: "It's a great way for children to get an understanding of what work life is like, of what their parents do."
In a similar vein, the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopig-mentation (NOAH), a New Hampshire-based non-profit, engages its members' children by holding a "Kids Konference" in tandem with the main conference. In 2004, NOAH featured educational programs for children with albinism, including a seminar on driving issues for teenagers. According to Lee Laughlin, NOAH planner, "NOAH will be 25 years old in 2007 and we are now seeing our first crop of second-generation volunteers stepping into leadership positions. They cite their experiences at conferences and the friends they've made through NOAH as the number-one reason they stay involved."
Learning for Life (LFL), a Washington, D.C.-based Boy Scouts of America affiliate that offers career education programs to 1.7 million youngsters in school-based and work-based environments, targets those who know their career interests. Says John Anthony, executive director, "With our exploring program, we have quite a few national meetings. We have our law enforcement- exploring conference, which is held every two years, with 4,500 attendees. And in June, we had a fire-exploring conference, where we had 600 explorers who are interested in firefighting careers." To attend the national conference, which is held this year in Flagstaff, AZ, the young explorers raise money to attend the conference themselves, fill out permits, and secure adult supervision. This is in addition to donations of time and materials that are obtained by LFL. "We've been doing this for 20 years," says Anthony.
In contrast, the national convention of the Future Farmers of America, a youth organization with 480,000 members that has ties to agricultural education in the public school systems, attracts some serious sponsorship. The convention, which has brought 50,000 attendees to Louisville, KY, for the past six years, has a budget, says Dale Crabtree, team leader, convention and special events, "in excess of a million dollars without any problem; it would probably be closer to $3 million." This figure is due to major corporate sponsorship, including a career trade show that takes up 175,000 square feet, 23 competitive events that carry a $10,000 scholarship each, and more. This year, the FFA will meet for the last time in Louisville, KY; next year, they will begin a seven-year stint in their hometown of Indianapolis.
Safety First
The recent cases of Natalee Holloway and Brennan Hawkins have highlighted the liabilities of youth-oriented travel and activities. At presstime, the body of Holloway, an 18-year-old high school student who went missing on May 30 from a group trip to Aruba, had not been found. More happily, Brennan Hawkins, the 11-year-old Boy Scout who was lost in Utah's Uinta Mountains for four days, was found unharmed on June 21.
While a missing child is everyone's nightmare, for planners working with school-sponsored trips and youth groups, it is a worst-case scenario of any meeting. For that reason, background checks, supervision, and insurance coverage are key, advises Berol. "A full background check of your staff, as well as getting everyone 'additionally insured' (people, property, and programs), is a minimum." Says Anthony, "We have what we call Youth Protection Training, which all adult supervisors have to go through. It talks about the relation between the advisor and the youth." Hartz reminds, "Make sure children are accompanied by adults, and watched over. And that they abide by curfews."
They're Still Just Kids
In spite of their smarts, sophistication, and talent, they're still just kids. For example, when leaving home, some kids—especially girls—will bring their pillows with them. Perhaps they started doing it for a sense of home and security; however, being kids, they soon managed to turn it into a "kid thing." Says Eric Miller, spokesperson for the Amarillo CVC (whose own daughters travel with their pillows), "They'll decorate the pillow cases, so everybody will know where they're from."
And then there are the pranks. "At our firefighter explorers' meeting," says Anthony, "someone streaked. We think it was one of our kids, but it could have been a student at Texas A&M." And in Austin, even some of the AOG kids proved they were no angels: "Some alarms were pushed and the escalators were stopped," remembers Hartz. "Nothing major, just little things that don't really hurt anyone, but which can be a nuisance—for other groups especially."
Most planners cite the kids' excitement and enthusiasm as their chief reward. Says Crabtree, "If you've ever been in an auditorium with 50,000 individuals who are nothing but energy—that's what drives you." Adds Anthony, "The joy and thrill that they get from being recognized, and the relationships that they build with their adult advisors. After the firefighters' competition, the chief of the firefighting school got choked up at the closing ceremony. He said, 'We learned a lot from you kids this week that we're going to put into our fire school.' He could see how dedicated they were about learning."
SIDEBARS
Picky Eaters
With everybody angling for their pocket money, today's kids are among the savviest of consumers. Says Berol, founder of Red Stone Management Systems, Inc., "One of our camp promoters has co-branded a program with Canyon Ranch for a spa week for girls that includes the food that has made CR famous." As one planner observed, "If kids are a bit older (11 or more), they may not want 'kids' food.' Most preteens I know would rather have the filet mignon than chicken fingers."
Sometimes health is an issue. Says Lee Laughlin of New Hamphire-based National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation (NOAH), "We have snacks available that are a balance between something quasi-healthy and something appetizing, while avoiding common allergies."
Others know what they want. Having met in Kansas City, MO, for its first 72 years, Future Farmers of America attendees were surprised when, convening in Louisville for the first time in 1999, that city ran out of steak. Says FFA planner Dale Crabtree, "They weren't quite ready for us the first year, that's for sure."
As You Plan A Youth Meeting . . .
• Make sure to check with any outside vendors to see if they have age limits on certain activities. Says one planner: "The last thing you need is to show up at an event and half the kids cannot participate in an activity because they are too young."
• Have plenty of adult supervision. Peter J. Berol of Red Stone Management suggests a ratio of one adult to 10 teenagers, but lower for younger kids and tour groups.
• Make sure you have enough food.
• Make sure you have enough liability insurance—especially for off-site activities.
• Have the right activities for the right age group, and try to separate different age groups, since younger kids can be intimidated when older kids are around and older kids can dominate.
• Perform background checks on anyone who might come into contact with your group. Berol: "If young folks can find your program, so can the predators."