engaging baby boomers online survey analysis and workshop preview oacao conference 2014 presented...
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ENGAGING BABY BOOMERS
ONLINE SURVEY ANALYSIS AND WORKSHOP PREVIEW
OACAO CONFERENCE 2014
PRESENTED BY: SUE HESJEDAHL AND LISE DUBE
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Engaging Baby Boomers Grant
Engaging Baby Boomers Online Survey
How Boomers Are Diff erent
Why Centres are experiencing Challenges in attracting
boomers
Top Programs for Boomers
Successful Marketing Initiatives
Changes That are Working to Engage Baby Boomers
Baby Boomers and Volunteering
Regional Workshops
Interactive Website
OUTLINE
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March 2014 received a $25,000 grant from New Horizons for Seniors Program for project focused on engaging baby boomers.
Goal is to create tools and resources to connect boomers to our OACs and encourage their engagement and attendance
Project arose from the input of OACAO members who suggested recruiting younger seniors will be the single greatest challenge to face Older Adult Centres over the next two years (OACAO Member Profi le 2013).
Considered 3rd highest issue faced by our Centres with 6.9 out of 10 Centres indicating this need.
ENGAGING BABY BOOMERS GRANT
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“Boomers” (also known as baby boomers) is a term used to describe people born during a period of increased birthrates in Canada lasting from 1946 to about 1965 (Historica Canada), making boomers 49-68 years of age.
WHO ARE BABY BOOMERS?
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Conduct an OACAO member survey to gather sector information about the challenges and successes of programming to the Baby Boomer sector
Present survey findings at OACAO Conference
Conduct research and collect best practices
Use survey findings and research material to prepare and present workshop presentations in 7 regions across the province
Post resources on OACAO interactive online website available for membership across the province
GRANT DELIVERABLES
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Survey posted July 29 and closed August 14
54 responses out of 132 invitations, 2 opted out
41.5% response rate
Majority of Centres responding were stand-alones
52.2% of Centres said between 10-20% of their
members were boomers
However, % of boomers at Centres ranged from 2-
75%
ENGAGING BABY BOOMER ONLINE SURVEY
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28.6%
12.2%
59.2%
Locality of Centre
Rural
Suburban
Urban
ENGAGING BABY BOOMER ONLINE SURVEY
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OACAO members noted many areas where boomers are different from their current membership Want to stay fit
Interested in life-long learning
Larger disposable income
BUSY
Still working
Have a broader range of interests
HOW ARE BOOMERS DIFFERENT?
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Tech Savvy
HOW ARE BOOMERS DIFFERENT?
“an older adult member will ask for information about our next trip in a hard copy while a boomer will say can you text me that info please.”
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More demanding,
opinionated, higher
expectations
Do not see themselves as
old
Don’t like commitment
HOW ARE BOOMERS DIFFERENT?
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HOW ARE BOOMERS DIFFERENT?
“BBs are more self- involved and want programs tailored to their needs. They are worried about being associated with much older people even if the older adults are in better physical condition. They are busy with family obligations. They have different goals for themselves.”
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WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW
How Boomers truly are different
How these differences may influence their participation at OACs
Demographic information about Boomers
REGIONAL WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES
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Centre PERSPECTIVE
Centres not understanding/meeting the needs of boomers
Centres are stereotyped or stigmatized
Facilities are aging; too small
Don’t have the right equipment, want a gym setting
Facing competition from the community
Centre hours not fi tting with boomer needs
Integration with the older generation is hard
WHY CENTRES ARE EXPERIENCING CHALLENGES IN ATTRACTING
BOOMERS
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BOOMER PERSPECTIVE
Boomers have the wrong image of our Centres
Boomers feel too young to be going to a Centre
Boomers are too busy to join
Boomers are not typically joiners
Boomers want no commitment
WHY CENTRES ARE EXPERIENCING CHALLENGES IN ATTRACTING
BOOMERS
Click icon to add picture
Boomers
are not
ready to
accept
their age!
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However, some Centres are not having a problem attracting boomers!
Some Centres, when asked, answered, not applicable.
“Our Centre does not have this experience.”
Why are some Centres more successful inengaging boomers?
WHY ARE CENTRES EXPERIENCING CHALLENGES IN ATTRACTING
BOOMERS?
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Fitness
Technology
Special Events
Arts and Crafts
Dance
Life-long Learning
Trips and Outings
Cards and Games
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
TOP PROGRAMS FOR BOOMERS BY CATEGORY
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167 responses
50% of responses related to a fitness activity
Top responses Yoga (17) and Zumba (13)
Tablet training showing success (9)
Special events also popular with boomers
TOP PROGRAMS FOR BOOMERS
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“I have a fairly good number of boomers at my Centre - If anything the declining segment is the older seniors for us and the acti viti es that they take part in (bridge and other card games parti cularly) are declining in numbers and falling off our calendar.”
TOP PROGRAMS FOR BOOMERS
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Only 68 responses
Foot care highest rated individual response (10)
Top 3 categories:
Health Services (e.g., foot care, physio) (20)
Alternative and Complementary Health Practice (e.g. , massage, reiki) (10)
Health Information (8).
TOP 3 SERVICES FOR BOOMERS
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WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW
Expand on Programs, Services and Special Events that are appealing to boomers
Explore why certain programs and services are more appealing
Suggest program adjustments which could make programs attractive to all age groups
Hear input from experts in the field of recreation and leisure
REGIONAL WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES
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MOST POPULAR RESPONSES
Change Centre name
Maximize use of social media
“We increased our focus on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr,
etc ... great responses and lots and lots of new
members.”
SUCCESSFUL MARKETING INITIATIVES
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“In the past year our Centre has become much more
heavily engaged with social media and creating an
online web presence. We can see that this is having a
positive impact, as people are reporting that they found
out about some of our events though Facebook. We are
also able to share updates with our funders via Twitter.
Our website is attracting over 4000 views per month
which helps us sell space to advertisers… These are cost
effective ways to reach out to a younger, more digitally
literate baby boomer population to let them know the
breadth of what we do and build brand awareness for
the future.”
SUCCESSFUL MARKETING INITIATIVES
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ADDITIONAL RESPONSES
Promote new and popular programs
Revamp promotional material to a more modern
image
Expand outreach
Increase methods of reaching people (print,
online, etc.)
Keep Centre looking up to date
SUCCESSFUL MARKETING INITIATIVES
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ADDITIONAL RESPONSES
Remember word of mouth still eff ective
marketing tool
SUCCESSFUL MARKETING INITIATIVES
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WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW
How to use social media to engage boomers
Marketing to boomers, what seems to work?
Is age neutrality important?
Sharing marketing success stories
REGIONAL WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES
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MOST POPULAR RESPONSES
Offering classes that appeal to boomers
Offering weekend and evening programming
Increased flexibility, more drop-in programs
“People seem to want the flexibility to go to a variety of
classes instead of committing to a certain class for the
whole session. Instead of signing up for a 12 week fi tness
class, they want to go to fi tness one day, yoga the next,
Pilates the next etc .”
CHANGES THAT ARE WORKING TO ENGAGE BABY BOOMERS
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ADDITIONAL RESPONSES
New partnerships
Off-site programming
Increased social opportunities to visit Centre
“We're aiming to increase the "social" opportunities for
someone to just come into the facility. We encourage
potential members to just stop by and enjoy a coffee
and "see" what we're all about.”
CHANGES THAT ARE WORKING TO ENGAGE BABY BOOMERS
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WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW
Explore Centre models; are certain models more appealing to baby boomers?
What is on the horizon for OACs?
REGIONAL WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES
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Of Centres responding on average baby
boomers formed 19% of the volunteer pool
Range 0-80%
10% (9 Centres) and 15% (8 Centres) most
commonly cited responses
BABY BOOMERS AND VOLUNTEERING
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Executive positions
Committee members
Special Events
Program Leaders
Public Relations
Tech related positions
WHICH VOLUNTEER ROLES ARE BOOMERS FILLING?
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Positions with a short-term commitment
Positions with flexibility
Positions where they feel they are adding
value
Those that have financial benefits
For example, a desirable position would be:
“Program facilitator for a program they like &
have flexibility to say ""I am busy, I cannot
attend this week."
WHICH VOLUNTEER ROLES ARE BOOMERS FILLING?
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“I've found roles where they feel valued and
needed are important. We currently have a
recently retired "Manager" whom has enjoyed
being asked to help on an organizing
committee…We benefited from her valuable
skills and she enjoyed seeing us accomplish
something which would have been diffi cult
without her help.”
WHICH VOLUNTEER ROLES ARE BOOMERS FILLING?
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Kitchen
Hands-on positions
Arts and Crafts
Long-term, high commitment positions
Meaningless Tasks
WHICH VOLUNTEER ROLES ARE BOOMERS NOT FILLING?
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“I believe the younger volunteers don't want to feel "stuck" in a volunteer position. They want and are willing to help where they can, but don't want to feel like "they're back at work". What they do has to have importance and they need to feel valued as their leisure time is important to them. (I believe if they still wanted to work, they would have just semi-retired.)”
“They don't usually like a position that requires them to commit to a regular weekly task.”
WHICH VOLUNTEER ROLES ARE BOOMERS NOT FILLING?
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WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW
Synopsis of the latest info on baby boomer volunteers from Volunteer Canada, academic literature, reports and other sources
Proven boomer volunteer recruitment/retention techniques
How to make Board and Committee work more recognized and prestigious
REGIONAL WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES
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REGIONAL WORKSHOPS
A great opportunity to share stories and learn from each
other!
NEXT STEPS
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South West Region - Thursday, October 30 Life After Fifty - Windsor
Golden Horseshoe Region - Wednesday, November 5Ancaster Senior Achievement Centre
Grand River Region - Friday, November 21 Fairview Mennonite Home in Cambridge
Metro Region - Monday, November 24Rexdale Community Health Centre (satell ite location) in
Toronto
Central Region - Wednesday, November 26Oshawa Senior Citizens Centre – John St. Branch (Room 4)
Eastern Region - TBA
REGIONAL WORKSHOPS
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INTERACTIVE WEBSITE Material about engaging baby boomers will be
posted at oacao.ca: Resources for Older Adult Centres website Home of the Volunteer Management and Fundraising
Toolbox Webinars will be scheduled for early 2015
If you have suggestions for content or if you have contributions for the website:
Email [email protected]
NEXT STEPS
THANK YOU