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From Budgeting to Blanket Forts: Programming for �20-30somethings

JEZ LAYMAN

ADULT SERVICES LIBRARIAN

INDIAN PRAIRIE PUBLIC LIBRARY – DARIEN, IL

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Who are these kids anyway?

College students & recent graduates
Adults in their 30s with homes & full-time jobs
May have young children or even teens at home
People working one, two, or even three part-time jobs
Children of the 80s & 90s
Newly married couples
Singles ready to mingle
Singles tired of having to mingle

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Why do they need us?

We can create a sense of community among 20-30somethings were they can make valuable connections within their age group
Provide a bridge between teen services & adult programming
Create and support lifelong learners and library users at every stage of their life
Many young adults move to new areas during this time in their life
It’s difficult and often scary to meet new people

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What do they want?

Offer a wide variety of programs
Series vs. one-time
Ask everyone what they want
Steal Borrow from other libraries, including children’s & teens
Search beyond libraries. Social media like Pinterest is great!
Talk to the people who show up. What else do they want?

Because there are so many types of people that fall into this category and they all have their own unique needs, it’s important to offer a wide variety of programs. There will be no one thing that will attract or interest every 20 or 30-something, just like there is no program that will appeal to every senior citizen.

It’s better to offer an ongoing series of programs targeted specifically at 20/30s, rather than trying only one program. It’s also important to BRAND them as a series, rather than just hope the right audience will find things among all of your other programs. Show your patrons you’re making an effort and doing something special—and try to do it often. I offer #LibSocial on an average of twice a month and patrons have come to expect most programs will be on the first and third Friday of each month. This helps them plan ahead and make the library part of a routine.

Seriously, ask everyone. Ask staff in their 20s/30s, ask staff with kids in their 20s/30s. Ask regular patrons, family members, friends. I’ve asked complete strangers. “If the library could offer any kind of program, what would you like to see?” They’ll start to say “oh, I don’t know what you normally do” or “what I like probably wouldn’t work.” Don’t let them! Encourage them to tell you their interests, then decide if a program can be built.

Be my friend on Pinterest – I’m typesetjez

A new programming group for librarians serving 20s/30s is just starting! We want you to join us! Our first meeting will be on November 2^nd at Geneva Public Library.

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Program Ideas

AKA WHY YOU’RE ACTUALLY HERE TODAY.

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Types of Programs

Art/DIY
Fandom/Theme
Games
Life Skills
Movies
Social
Nostalgia

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Art Therapy Nights

Adult Coloring
Zendoodle
Play-Doh
Kinetic Sand
Calming Music
Good Conversation

Length: 1.5-2 hours
Cost: < $40
Offered approx. once per quarter

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Mug Decorating

Structured Crafts vs. Free Crafting
Decorate ceramic mug with Sharpie Paint Pens
Hot Chocolate Bar – play with recipes & make a gift bag to go inside your mug

Length: 1-1.5 hour
Cost: $40 for mugs & markers; $20 for hot chocolate bar

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Bad Art Night

Get rid of your art supply scraps
Ask your coworkers or the public for donations
Anything can be used for crafts if you try hard enough
Set up a “gallery” and allow participants to vote on their favorite art
Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!

Length: 1.5-2 hours
Cost: Free?

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DIY Stress Relief

Worry Dolls – clothespins, pipe cleaners, & thread
Stress balls – balloons & flour
Comfort Dog Visit – everything is better with dogs

Length: 1 – 1.5 hours
Cost: $30

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Dry Erase Organization Boards

Create a custom dry erase board using a picture frame and some scrapbook materials

Length: 1 – 1.5 hours
Cost: < $50

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Inside the Box: Board Game Night

Provide a small handful of games
Attendees can bring their own games to share
Popular games: Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Kill Doctor Lucky, Monikers, Kill Hitler, Codenames
Bring snacks!

Length: 2 – 2.5 hours

We started with 1.5 hours & players kept asking for more time

Cost: $0 - $20

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Plug in & Play: Video Games

Jackbox Party Games
Mario Kart Competition
Retro Computer Games
Open Gaming

Length: 1.5 – 2.5 hours
Cost: $0 - $40

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Escape Room

Buy a kit from BreakoutEDU
Use pre-made BreakoutEDU games or make your own
Schedule lots of time for room setup
Make doubles of all clues as backups or to quickly reset the room for the next group
Groups of 4-8 work best
Give clues – decide beforehand how to do this.

Length: 1 hour
Cost: $125 for kit – as cheap as $0 if you do it yourself

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Nostalgia – I Love the 90s

Trivia Contest (with 90s themed prizes)
90s Music
M.A.S.H. & Cootie Catchers
Snacks: Mondo Juice, Cool Ranch Doritos, Gushers, Fruit by the Foot, Handi Snacks
Photo Booth

Length: 2 hours
Cost: $40 (for snacks �& prizes)

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Nostaliga – Blanket Fort Movies

Sometimes adults just want to be kids again
Provide blankets, pillows, rubber bands, rope, binder clips, any tall structures that can be easily moved
Patrons bring blankets & wear pjs
Show a childhood movie
Snack idea: milk and cereal

Length: 2 hours
Cost: $0-10

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Life Skills - #Adulting101

How to Buy Your First Home
Millennial Money Management
Cooking for Beginners
Life Hacks
Meditation/Stress Relief
Basic First Aid
Car Maintenance

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Fandoms & Themed Programs

Anything Harry Potter
Hamiltunes – Hamilton Sing-Along
Doctor Who
Star Wars
Star Trek
Stranger Things
Superheroes

I’ve done two Harry Potter Trivia nights (both were highly competitive), plus my library recently hosted a massive Harry Potter Fest to celebrate the 20^th anniversary. This included wand making, trivia, games, movie showings, house sortings, scavenger hunts, and more. Put Potter in your marketing and people will come.

I hosted a Hamilton Sing-Along in a bar shortly before the show opened in Chicago. We had a private room, everyone ordered food and drinks, and I used the kit helpfully provided by Hamiltunes LA. I sent out a PDF of the lyrics to everyone beforehand and had a few pre-loaded iPads on hand so we didn’t have to print hundreds of pages. We played the soundtrack through my phone on a set of speakers and divvied up the parts at the start of each act. Using the soundtrack rather than a karaoke version helped people feel more comfortable about singing in front of others. Additionally, we all just did a table reading, instead of getting up to perform on a stage or use microphones.

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Marketing

HOW TO GET THE WORD OUT

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Marketing

Millennials are less likely to read your print newsletter—but that doesn’t mean you should ignore it!
Types of Marketing:

Bookmarks
Facebook Events
Meetup (cost: $179.88/year)
Twitter, Instagram, & Snapchat
Email Newsletter(s)
Library Website
Word of Mouth

FY16/17

Meetup has grown SO QUICKLY! We’ve only used it for a year and already it accounts for 15% of attendees in the last year and about 11% overall since I started #LibSocial two years ago. It’s a great way to reach people in your community who may not be using the library or know what kinds of things the library offers. Plus, there’s an RSVP feature built in so people don’t have to go to a second website; it’s already built into a site they use regularly.

I also use Meetup to follow other libraries or see what social groups for 20s/30s in the area are doing. If a program looks popular or interesting, I might adapt it!

Our bookmarks have our GenLit book club meetings on one side and our #LibSocial programs on the other. We cross promote these and only have to update them 4-5 times a year, rather than creating something new for each event.

Posting on Facebook is okay, but posting a Facebook event is better. Again, it allows patrons to RSVP on a site they are already using and can easily share with friends or leave messages to ask questions. Additionally, Facebook will automatically remind people about the upcoming event. Anyone who marks “interested” probably isn’t coming, but wants to save the information to decide closer to the date. That’s okay, Facebook will remind them!

When posting on Facebook, use a link to the event so anyone who sees it can go straight to the page to sign up.

Other social medias act more as reminders of upcoming programs, rather than where people go to find new things. Generally, people need to hear about something at least 3 times before it sticks, so post in multiple places and at different times of day.

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Marketing

Tips

Every community is different. Try to survey your population to see which communication forms are preferred.
Ask on program evaluations: how did you hear about today’s program?
Advertise close to the date & more often.
Create a separate eNewsletter specifically for 20s/30s
Give them their own page on the website
Keep it fun, casual, and use lots of pop culture & meme references
Integrate social media into your RSVP options

Be careful not to put TOO much stock in using the referral methods from people who attend. Yes, these work, but don’t ignore other sources too. You don’t want to stop using something that only works every now and again, because you could be reaching new people instead of the same group over and over.

Millennials don’t make plans too far in advance and tend to forget about things, even if they want to do them. I also do this sometimes. We just have too many things going on and too many options! Or maybe you’re just really tired after a long week at work. Don’t market at the beginning of a quarter when the newsletter comes out, then never again. I announce programs on Meetup about 10-14 days before the program, giving people enough time to plan ahead in their schedule, but not enough to forget. My eNewsletter goes out on the Wednesdays before programs, which is when I really start getting RSVPs. Don’t worry if it’s a week before and no one has signed up. Keep marketing and give them time.

I create an eNewsletter specifically for 20/30somethings that goes out to over 5800 people. It includes information on upcoming programs (I include the next three, so about 1.5 months worth, which helps with repetition), book club meetings, and recent book releases that might appeal to this group. I use LibraryAware to do this. If you go on their website, you will find a free webinar on reaching niche groups that I recently spoke on that covers this more in depth. We got 5800 subscribers by taking emails from anyone who fell between the ages of 19 & 40 and automatically signed them up, always providing the ability to opt-out later.

If you have a 20s/30s book club, tie the marketing together. Put them both on a single page on your website.

Have fun with it! This isn’t your mother’s marketing. Millennials respond well to memes, gifs, and pictures of dogs. You can try to come up with creative titles for your programs, but don’t get too carried away. They still need to know what the program is about to know if it appeals to them or not. In your social media and especially newsletters, use first person and keep your tone light. Let them know you’re a real person and they’ll treat you like one. It helps create a bond which makes patrons more comfortable to show up to events with new people because they’ll already know someone there.

Allow RSVPs through sites like Facebook and Meetup. Yes, it’s more work for you to combine all those together, but it creates less work for the user, which increases their chance of attendance.

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Challenges

JUST BECAUSE IT’S FUN, DOESN’T MEAN IT ISN’T WORK

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Challenges

Limiting by age
Scheduling
Low RSVPs
Marketing departments
Always assume people will show up late

Limiting by age – what if someone older or younger wants to attend? I’ve had lots of people outside the intended audience try to get into my programs, especially when we first started #LibSocial. Seniors especially are dauntless and will straight up lie about their age to get into something. Talk it over with your department head or director if you want to turn these people away and how you do it. Personally, I find it incredibly important to do this. If your room is full of seniors or children, the 20s/30s won’t stay or come again. Gently tell everyone else that we’re trying to build a community for users to connect with people their own age and you’ll pass the program idea along to work with a larger audience. Prepare for this, because it’s going to happen immediately.

When’s the best time to schedule? I started with Friday nights because that’s what no other programmer wanted—and it turned out to be exactly what my audience wanted! According to our survey in January 2017, the best days and times were Saturday afternoons, Sundays, Friday nights, and Saturday nights, in that order. Additionally, programs starting at 6pm or earlier were too early for this group. 7pm has become my standard program time.

Because many users wait until the last minute to register, don’t panic if your RSVPs are low! Wait until the day before to make a decision about cancelling a program. Also, many people will not RSVP, so keep that in mind. Just like with programming for other ages, it’s impossible to control everything and sometimes timing just won’t work out because of weather, sports teams making play-offs, big events in town, etc. Try again if you can!

Marketing departments might be a roadblock, depending on where you work. They may not be open to changing their style or trying new places, instead sticking with what has always worked. Try to work with them to reach a new audience, but be prepared to do some of it yourself.

We Millennials suck at being on time. Of course, not everyone will be late, but many will be, due to other commitments, work, traffic, kids, or just because we’re bad at being punctual. If possible, allow 5-10 minutes at the beginning to account for tardiness before getting into a program. This also gives people time to get to know each other. But also don’t wait on anyone who hasn’t shown up yet. There’s a much higher no show rate than with other age groups.

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Contact Me!

JEZ LAYMAN

INDIAN PRAIRIE PUBLIC LIBRARY

JEZL@IPPL.INFO - EMAIL ME WITH QUESTIONS OR FOR AN INVITE TO THE 20S/30S PROGRAMMING GROUP

@TYPESETJEZ ON TWITTER & PINTEREST

HTTP://MYLIFEINTHELIBRARY.TUMBLR.COM