Last night, I had a great time presenting to one of the University of Maryland‘s newest business fraternities. It was the first time I had an opportunity to be alone with a whole herd of the newest generation — the millennials. The group included mostly business, accounting and finance majors, from freshmen to seniors.
They fit much of the research — smart, tech-savvy (everyone had a Facebook page) multi-taskers who want to be engaged.
I have to admit, it was a bit intimidating as I thought about how to hold the attention of this multi-tasking, intelligent generation of digital natives, so I focused on a few key videos to use as conversation starters.
We covered the current economy (they are concerned but do not believe early media hype about the Great Depression), the trends in business and the CPA profession (yep — we still have a cubicle, number-cruncher image). The most fun was the generational-issues discussion (they don’t like being stereotyped but do think much of it is accurate). The biggest insights for them were the generational differences and the image of the CPA profession. (At least three are reconsidering their majors!) I learned that they will engage if you make the effort, they do respond to multimedia (glad I had a few videos) and they are ready to work if they believe they can make a difference and will be listened to.
Thanks to Alissa Bourne, who arranged for me to present (as part if her pledge tasks). She is the daughter of two CPAs, Phillip Bourne of Norberg, Davis, Bourne & Painter and Karen Bourne at Marriott Corporation.
Pictured at left are Alissa Bourne, Nick Deckard, yours truly, Emily Christoff, Sasha Derkacheva and Ashley Lenz of their Executive Committee. Note the “creative” shot …
I was impressed by their professionalism. Alissa was there to greet me and brief me on the audience and purpose. They brought in snacks for the break and presented me with some UofMD gifts after the session.
Here are some of the videos I used:
- Did You Know (great clip about future trends)
- 60 minutes special on Millennials
- Career as a CPA: Defining America’s CPA — Maryland
Here is a link to my presentation.
CPA career resources:
I hope the students share some of their thoughts by posting comments. 🙂