At a kick-off for an Olympian Meeting event, attendees could be part of a charity walk or participate in a body weight boot camp, or do other exercises. Photo courtesy of Joanna Salazar

Like the generations who came before them, members of Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and the cohort just before them, Millennials (born from 1981 to 1996), are often vilified. Having grown up with the Internet, cell phones, iPads and video games, they’re chastised for having short attention spans, sporting casual attire at work, and expecting to land senior jobs immediately without paying their dues.

However, these young guns also bring a lot of positive attributes to the workforce, which many of them have joined. They are much more attuned to the needs for work/life balance, exercise and nutritious food. In addition, they know that mental health truly matters.

As such, they’re bringing great expectations to association meetings, where they want to see the availability of mental health-related activities designed to keep them calm, yet energized, for the event. They also expect good food and drinks, along with physical activity like yoga, meditation, or maybe cardio fitness classes like Zumba, Stretch & Training and Pilates.

“What Gen Zs want is balance, so attendees in that age group are prioritizing their own self-care over everything,” declares planner David Stevens, wellness architect at Olympian Meeting and host of “Return on Wellness,” a YouTube webcast focused on the ROI of bringing wellness into events.

“Younger generations are much more in tune with their mental health, and prioritize wellness over older generations,” adds Stewart Mann, founder, CEO and COO of Wild Rooster Events. “They also are more open-minded about trying new experiences.”

Unique Wellness

That may explain why Mann recently received his first ever request by an association not to just provide a wellness lounge but, instead, to set an entire ballroom as a relaxation space. The group, which is meeting this summer, has stipulated absolutely no talking in the 2,500-sf room and, in fact, there will be no sound room-wide. However, each guest who enters the space will receive headphones playing relaxing music.

The room’s atmosphere will be “immersive” he says, just like an activity he offers groups that has increased in popularity: sound baths.

“People come out of those feeling very relaxed. An attendee who did one told me that they take naps every day yet they never feel rested when they wake up. Yet after the sound bath, the attendee said, ‘I feel more relaxed than I’ve ever felt after any nap in my life.’ That’s powerful.”

Along unconventional lines, and helping groups relax, Mann has recently started offering “laughter yoga,” an activity that he notes is “gaining popularity.”

The session starts off with regular yoga, with participants doing some poses “to get their breathing down and fully relax,” he says. Then it essentially turns into a comedy show, with a comedian telling jokes. The purpose is to get participants to a clear mindset.

“It is a very crazy concept,” Mann admits, “but it’s powerful and it works because if the group becomes all about letting go then they are at peace,” instead of worrying about emails, calls and the like.

For one group, his company had participants in the funny yoga session tell each other jokes. “It was cool to empower them to make each other laugh.” If Mann were to do this again, he would like to give out prizes for, say, the best five jokes of the day. Earning accolades would make attendees feel appreciated, and might entice them to register for next year’s annual conference.

Mann also provides art therapy to groups, including one where attendees’ canvases are donated to hospitals and other non-profit organizations. “It facilitates healing and relaxation,” he says. Also, it allows attendees to use their creative brain, which raises their levels of serotonin — a bodily chemical that can increase happiness, provide a sense of calm and make one feel more focused. It also lowers stress and improves self-confidence.”

Getting Physical

Quinn Bruster, senior director, meetings and expositions, Kellen, an association management firm, provides groups with wellness activities such as runs, walks, fitness classes like Zumba, spinning and yoga. She finds that the more this is done, the more attendees look forward to it the next day, or at the next conference.

“Wellness doesn’t just last for the three days of the conference, it goes on afterward,” she says. “We’ll hear from our stakeholders, ‘oh my goodness, I can’t wait to do xyz wellness activity at the conference next year,’ or an attendee is into yoga now and after trying it at the conference he lost 40 pounds! So, offering these activities lets attendees know that we understand their wellness matters.”

The destination of a meeting also can help create the platform for a wellness offering, she says. “Maybe a group meeting in Florida will have a wellness activity where they’re outside, such as a walk, because of the great weather. If they’re in Colorado, that won’t work so something else needs to be planned.”

Wellness events also offer associations great opportunities for sponsorship, in a very engaged fashion, Bruster adds. When an industry’s suppliers sponsor a wellness event, employees of those organizations get in on the activity, which gives them a more casual setting than a trade show floor to meet attendees.

“They’re actually engaging with each other, so it makes the activity more exciting and it builds that relationship beyond the four walls of a hotel.”

The sponsorship can also generate enthusiasm for a wellness experience. At one meeting organized by Kellen, a wellness sponsor provided T-shirts in multiple colors and “that created a moment for other individuals who weren’t part of it to say, ‘where’d you get that? Where’s that shirt from?’ So it gets more people involved.”

That’s especially useful if a wellness activity is offered for more than one day at a meeting, Bruster says. “If somebody didn’t go to the wellness event on the first day of the meeting and then they see a T-shirt or branded water bottle, it gets that attendee who probably had a stressful day or night thinking ‘I need to put down the computer or the phone and do some yoga.”

Physical activity is especially important at meetings as so many young adults are now attuned to their fitness, notes Stevens.

“About 50% of gym goers identify going to the gym as part of their identity. As an event planner, if you don’t give attendees the time or the option to get a workout in, they’re gonna leave your event to go do it.”

You Are What You Eat

Another way in which Generation Z and Millennials are making their mark is with their food and drink preferences.

Stevens, a fitness enthusiast and a Xennial, or a person born on the cusp of Generation Z and Millennial cohorts, puts verbiage in his request for proposal stating that, ‘if sufficient protein isn’t provided, we reserve the right to bring in our own food.’

Usually, he explains, “It’s the breaks, not the meals, where they’re almost always providing nothing but carbohydrates. There’s nothing wrong with that if, say, the group is going hiking, but to stay alert during sessions, attendees need protein for prolonged energy to stay alert. So we’ll bring in jerky, protein bars, and items of that nature.”

When it comes to making meal selections, however, Stevens encourages planners to not only order the “healthy” options. “You can’t force everybody to eat grilled chicken and steamed broccoli; you’re going to alienate people. So if you have a green salad, you also have a pasta salad; if you offer a grilled chicken, you also serve barbecue, etc. It’s about giving people agency to make choices.”

Making Good Choices

Sustainability is critically important for the younger generations as they’ve been raised with a greater consciousness of the impact of global warming. There are ways to make an event’s food more sustainable, and there even are benefits to doing so, says Stevens.

“Instead of just ordering the Chilean sea bass on a menu,” he says, “I’ll talk to the chef and say, ‘we want fish on this day, whatever you can get.’ That changes the whole dynamic because maybe someone in the area just caught something that day, and it’s more convenient and cheaper than importing that sea bass, so the chef can stay in line with an event’s budget.”

For Generation Z, having options, not just with food but also around drinking and the event agenda, is central to their satisfaction, he notes.

“Members of Generation Z don’t want endless back-to-back sessions, with no time to sleep or network, and they don’t want an excessive amount of alcohol at an evening function because they don’t want to wake up at 7 a.m for an 8 a.m. session after being at a party and drinking until midnight.”

Stevens cautions meeting planners to carefully consider their choices around wellness activity options. “Think about the why behind the activations and modalities you are choosing. For example, why are you doing a sound bath instead of a boot camp? How does that benefit the attendee? How does that impact their ability to learn or stay focused at your meeting or event? Does what you are doing energize or drain them? If it doesn’t impact your attendee — or worse, if it alienates them — you’re doing more damage than good.”

He adds, “Generation Zers want to go to an event that’s sustainable for them, where they can get a full night’s sleep, eat healthy food if they want to, not have to explain to somebody why they don’t drink if they choose not to, and to be able to spend time connecting with the people that they don’t usually get time to spend with in person,” he says, “That’s what wellness looks like.” | AC&F |