Engaging young professionals can be tough, especially when it comes to events. Throw the word ‘networking’ out there, and people seem to run for the hills.
But you know what makes networking a lot less intimidating and a lot more appealing? When there’s an activity to break the ice. (And no, nothing cheesy.) Remember, young professionals want to connect — but you’ll be much more successful at engaging them if you can help them do so in a way that’s going to be fun.
The next time you are planning an event or event activity for young professionals, keep these ideas in mind:
- A cooking class*
- A Kickboxing class*
- An escape room
- A BYOB painting class*
- A succulent building workshop*
- A Top Golf outing (or even just standard putt putt)
- A bonfire (complete with s’mores)
- A picnic
- A ping pong match-off
- A wine or beer tasting*
- A biking and/or rollerblading excursion
- A yoga and/or meditation class*
- A pottery class*
- A scavenger hunt*
- A (friendly) laser tag battle
*With a little creativity (and possibly additional resources), these eight can be done virtually!
It’s all in the name…
Now one VERY important note here: to make your young professional event truly appealing, you have to get clever with the name. Like we said, don’t just call it a networking event.
Rather, make your event sound fun — because it will be! It’ll be a fun event with fun people…with the added benefit of networking. Who could resist?!
Here are a few event name ideas to give you a better idea of what we’re talking about:
- For your kickboxing event: Box Talks
- For your ping pong event: Pints and Ping Pong
- For your beer tasting event: Banter and Beers
- For your picnic event: Picnic with Your Peers
Summed up, if your event doesn’t seem like a chore to go to, and it’s something people would actually want to do after work or on the weekends, your attendance numbers will rise — trust us! (And this is coming from a young professional!)
