---
title: "Membership Hack: A Conference Led by Young Members"
id: "48895"
type: "post"
slug: "membership-hack-a-conference-led-by-young-members"
published_at: "2020-01-03T21:54:21+00:00"
modified_at: "2020-01-03T21:54:21+00:00"
url: "https://associationsnow.com/2020/01/03/membership-hack-a-conference-led-by-young-members/"
markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2020/01/03/membership-hack-a-conference-led-by-young-members.md"
excerpt: "The International Casual Furnishings Association highlights young members’ voices at an annual educational conference. Millennial and Gen Z content leaders present on emerging issues to a multigenerational audience."
taxonomy_category:
  - "Career Development"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "AssociationsNow"
  - "career growth"
  - "industry conference"
  - "Meetings"
  - "Membership"
  - "NextGen"
  - "Young Professionals"
taxonomy_content_format:
  - "Article"
taxonomy_role:
  - "Association CEO / Executive Director"
  - "Director"
  - "VP"
taxonomy_persona:
  - "Association Professionals"
  - "Early Career"
---

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 » Membership Hack: A Conference Led by Young Members

**How to hack it?**At the International Casual Furnishings Association’s two-and-a-half-day [ICFA Educational Conference (opens in a new tab)](https://icfanet.org/2020-icfa-educational-conference)
, members from the millennial generation and Gen Z do the teaching.

“This year’s speakers reflect a younger group of professionals intent upon bringing fresh, new ideas and approaches to solving challenges for a seasoned, multigenerational audience,” says Jackie Hirschhaut, ICFA’s vice president of public relations and marketing. “The program features a combination of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and roundtable groups mixed with ample networking and social sessions.”

**Why does it work?** ICFA’s young presenters address technical and other issues that have recently emerged in the industry. “The program is centered around high-caliber speakers who bring an expertise that is otherwise not easily available to busy business operators,” Hirschhaut says. “The speakers are charged to provide tangible take-home tools for participants to bring back to the workplace as a means of improving their operations.”

**What’s the bonus?**The conference boosts young-member engagement, and everyone benefits when meetings are diverse and inclusive, Hirschhaut says. The event “engages the complete membership: retailers, manufacturers, sales representatives, suppliers and service providers, [and] designers—and boosts [the] overall industry’s synergy,” she says.

(Cecilie_Arcurs/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

[Tim Ebner](https://associationsnow.com/author/tim-ebner/)

Tim Ebner is communications director and press secretary at the American Forest & Paper Association in Washington, DC. He is a member of ASAE’s Communication Professionals Advisory Council and a former Associations Now senior editor.

[More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/tim-ebner/)

Tags: [#career growth](https://associationsnow.com/tag/career-growth/)
 [#industry conference](https://associationsnow.com/tag/industry-conference/)
 [#Meetings](https://associationsnow.com/tag/meetings/)
 [#Membership](https://associationsnow.com/tag/membership/)
 [#NextGen](https://associationsnow.com/tag/nextgen/)
 [#Young Professionals](https://associationsnow.com/tag/young-professionals/)

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