Budapest, Vancouver, and Millennial Communicators

I've returned from my travels and would like to say that Budapest is quite deserving of its reputation as the "Paris of central Europe." It's absolutely breathtaking. One word of advice, however, if you're ever in Budapest be weary of the taxis and how much they are charging...they can be a bit unscrupulous.

While in Budapest, I had the pleasure of spending time with eight art students from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. I was there to assist in chaperoning them for a Drawing and Cultural Studies course. I have to say, I'm now truly enlightened on the concerns and behaviors of the millennial generation. Case in point, communication home was a bit of a chore and we were reliant on calling cards and internet cafes. I found it interesting that in the limited amount of time the students had online, they made it a priority to check in on their myspace accounts.

Realizing that these students are the next generation of workers in our corporations, we should be aware that this is a common and expectant means of communication for them. Could you imagine the absurdity of working for a company that didn't utilize email? I believe this new generation of workers will likely react in the same way when they realize how underutilized social media is in today's corporations. Alright, that's my only plug for blogging in this posting, I promise.

But speaking of blogging, I just listened to one of the IABC conference podcasts hosted by Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz. The podcasts can be found on the IABC official blog. Conference cast #12 is an interview with the new IABC chair, Glenda Holmes. In the interview they discuss issues of advocacy and ethics in our industry, the "I" in IABC, and the future of the IABC blog. There are several other podcasts that I'm sure are also worth the listen.