A slight tangent - more than age

First and foremost - thanks to Lindy, carterv and rees for great comments from my last post - I definitely plan to build off of those comments - however I saw an interesting post by Maddie that stirred up some controversy that I wanted to weigh in on.

The way I see it - there's only 3 ages that matter:

16 - you can drive
18 -you can vote
21 - you can drink
(feel free to let me know if I missed any)

Every other age is just a mindset. Other than social security (I didn't mention this because you could retire earlier with proper investments) - there is no other age that changes anything about life. What affects life is the choices we make and the actions we take. So why would anyone really try to put a number on young? I don't recall any magic transition.

Good example - my grandfather who is 65 still kicks the crap out of me (I'm 25) when we play tennis on Saturday mornings. As far as I'm concerned, he's still young. On the other end, the creator of facebook is 23 and a billionaire - does that make him old?

Maybe it's the mindset of associations - in vs. out, member vs. non-member, membership A vs. Membership B vs. Membership C - that causes us to have a tendency to formally group everyone into exclusive groups.

As far as I'm concerned, your as young as you let your self be (I don't know the age of the other YAP admins - its useless info - I have too much else taking up my gray matter).

Thanks for reading,
bob

When it comes to Social Networks - Age Ain't a Thing

Think your members are too old to get online? Think all this web2.0 is just for millenials and generation X?

If you think that - I have just two words for you:

You're Wrong

Remember - Age is just a number! (To be honest I'll probably continue to post under young association professional well into my 70s.)

Thanks for reading,
bob

P.S. If you do feel age is just a number - become a YapStar! (must have facebook profile - though we are on linkedin and twitter)

I'm Back! - For Now

Holy Crap - What a month from Hell.

But alas, I've crawled down the beast's back and now I'm out (bad Dante reference. Just finished Inferno so I literally was in hell!)

Well - way back on Feb. 1, I did what I feel is one of the most nerve racking things a young professional can do (or any professional for that matter) - speak at an ASAE event. See, while many of the other speakers are speaking to their peers, I'm speaking to individuals at my boss's level, or boss's boss's level. Not to mention I have the stigma of being a youngin'. (Great comment from my Great Ideas Session a year or so ago: I was a bit leery of Bob at first, but he pulled it off...)

Well thankfully I prevailed and I think my Tech Conference session went well. I did get some nice mentions, so I'd like to thank Frank, Shaun, and Kristi for mentioning the session and continuing the conversation. Also thanks to everyone else who sat through and commented and helped make the discussion great!

So I'm learning one thing if nothing else - age isn't anything but a number. (I am 25 and was 24 when I gave the Great Ideas Session). Especially in today's internet world - where technology is changing everyday - making experience a thing of the past. (All of my sessions I have and will speak on deal with technology). So young professionals, if you want to increase your learning curve, learn about these new technologies, how to use them, and then have fun convincing your Sr. Staff to implement them. (You'd be surprised how many of these technologies you may already be using, i.e. theFacebook.) And open your own blog (or better yet join this one. Just email me at rawolfejr@yahoo.com) - we need more millennials in the blogoclump. Because as a young professional you really have an opportunity to grow in the association community. No need to wait, start commenting or blogging now!

Also congratulations to Lauren, and Robert (I apologize but I can't remember the third speaker) for a great Young Professional Session. Special kudos to Alyssa Thomas for running the session and keeping it on track!

P.S. I have more experiences to blog on - some hopefully good, most ok, and a few just for fun.

Thanks for reading,
Bob