The Future of Young Professionals Groups

MSAE's Young Professionals Networking Group met to discuss the future of young professionals groups and how MSAE can better serve young professional members. Here are the takeaways:

The big question was how do you define a young professional? Is it by age?  Experience? Age and experience? Each association and young professional group is going to be different, but defining what a "young professional" is to your organization is a good first step.

Finding out what your young professional members want from your organization is key.   Do they want social events? Educational events?  Do they want best practices or platforms to share?  Are your young professionals into giving back?  Maybe a service project is a good idea. Survey, ask, but find out.

Is it important to keep your young professionals? Absolutely.  Even more important is finding out who your young professional members are and how to keep them engaged.  Do they even want to be called a young professional? 

Does your association have a young professionals group?  What is your association doing for younger members?  Please share.