Thursday, May 28, 2023
Topic: Transition to Adulthood

Attendees:
Shannon, Hoover
Nicole, Tarrant
Bridget, Homewood
Gelenda Norman
Erika, Powderly
Tamara, Irondale
Maura, Trussville

We discussed that this was an illusive and hard-to-capture audience ranging from late teens to young couples beginning families - with lots of unique groups in-between (college kids, etc.) For a while, there was this genre called "New Adult" using a label for a type of book that was popular about 10 years ago - young romance with modern situations and settings. Those books have now just been consumed into the romance genre, at least here at Hoover!

In order to capture this audience, we need to rethink what this group does, who they interact with, and how best to serve them. For this reason, we have ample opportunities to create new and unique collections and programs, along with using ALL forms of social media (because no one person uses just one platform.)

To share some of my thoughts on words that describe this category, I've come up with: over-committed, lonely, broke, seeking validation, unskilled in life, self-sufficient, savvy in technology, world-wise, skeptical, and much much more. There are a lot of contradictions in this population too. As stated, they are aware of climate change and are willing to volunteer their time, but they also spend more time online playing games and escaping from reality. (Or is that just my view?)

I love Homewood's "Grownish" program series - that sounds like a great way to bring people in!

Some programming ideas were 

• Game Night
  
• Basic Sewing
  
• Library of Things for patrons to try new hobbies or cooking utensils
  
• Colleen Hoover read-alikes
• Basic Adulting classes
• Basic Bicycle Repair
  
• Anything to do with side hustles or making extra money
  
• Karaoke or Spoken Word performances
• Trivia
• Jam Sessions (play the same music, bring your instrument & join)
• Make kid events suitable for young adults (corn hole, giant jenga, mini-golf -- they want to be kids again!)
• Anything with cocktails or mocktails
• More events off site, at restaurant or coffee shop or bar
• Current events such as environmental issues
• Free Movies (make them interactive?)
• What else?

One of the keys to engagement is to make sure they keep coming back. So, do what you have to in order to get their contact information so that you can send out personalized emails or texts to participants as events roll out. I give door prizes out at events, requiring folks to enter their names (and contact if they want to stay in touch). This seems to amass a bunch of people willing to return to events.

What ideas do you have? What types of activities do you have planned? What are your opinions of this demographic??