A few months ago a few of us had a chance to participate on a “strategic communications committee” at Johnson Space Center that was convened to discuss NASA’s strategic communications strategy released in ‘07. After a few meetings on the committee, we asked if we could share our perspective with the group on why we think an entire generation isn’t connecting to NASA. A few amazing mentors at Johnson Space Center from the Advanced Planning Office empowered us to participate. Since then we’ve given the presentation numerous times to everyone from PAO and HR to Constellation and a number of other organizations throughout the agency. One of the main underlying points in the presentation is that our generation wants to be involved in space exploration. We want to be involved in the innovation. We want to be part of the discussion. We expect to participate.This week we had the opportunity to participate in the NGEC-2 Conference at Ames Research Center in California. Garret Fitzpatrick and I gave the presentation - and to our surprise, even had a chance to present it to Buzz Aldrin since he was at the conference. ARC Center Director Pete Worden - who has ignited a movement at NASA (@CoLab) - was also present and was encouraging as ever. Looking back, it was a really interesting experience to present to a man who has inspired thousands of people throughout the world through by something many of us dream of doing - walking on the moon. My expectation is that our generation will soon follow in his footsteps and participate ourselves - but it will require engaging a generation to do so…This presentation has been created so that anyone who wants to can take it and use it. Share this with your management. Share this with your parents. Share it with people who don’t understand why you like to snowboard in the afternoon, work from “offsite” on your mac, use Twitter to communicate with your friends, and expect to be involved in the “big picture” at work. Here’s a link to the presentation. Post a comment if you use it or have feedback… and look forward to a follow-up presentation currently in the works!
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February 19th, 2008 at 9:24 am
I just sent this Gen Y presentation to a couple of people at NASA that are Baby Boomers and asked them to communicate back. The idea is that the Gen Y presentation is one perspective and the Baby Boomers presentation will be a second perspective, and when brought together we can synthesize to come up with approaches forward.
Now I know that rev 11 of the presentation is a product of 10s of synthesis, however it would be interesting to see if the Boomers respond to the request.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:26 am
That’s a great idea! I would love to see that presentation. To help with the revisions and with providing everyone the latest copy of the presentation, we should just post all three presentations here.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
This variations of generations’ perspectives could help mold the NASA wide CoLab presentation and ensure all generations and walks of life are included in the message of opening up NASA.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I like it.. but there is some irony about using such a long flat power point to talk about Gen Y.
The presentation itself should be a live document:
- Video! Or moving/video on the slides.
- What about having questions and slight delays to let people think about the responses? (Blue’s Clues Strategy)
- Build in a survey during the course of the presentation so by there end there is data gathered?
Other ways of reaching out…
- Official NASA Channel on YouTube (allowing for video response)
- Day in the Life of a NASA Employee (Daily Video Pod Cast focusing on different person’s day)
- Encourage a Competition to the public to make the best NASA promo video, winner gets great seats at shuttle launch or something.
February 20th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Interesting comments Alan. I definitely think we should see how we can make the presentation more interactive. One idea was to make the powerpoint into a movie to post to youtube, probably with a voiceover. I think it would be cool to have several different voices do the voiceover, sort of make it a representation of a bunch of different age ranges within the generation.
I like the idea of having questions with delays too. Something like: “what percentage of people do you think support the space program?” then “who supports the space program more, young people or old people?” … “by how much?” … “what ARE young people more interested in?” … ect.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
YouTube movie would be great.. but consider people’s attention span. Make the movie an abridged version, 5 mins or less, then it can also be posted on http://www.5min.com.
Also, think about trends. Like the comment “that would make a good t-shirt.” Trends appeal to Gen X and Gen Y… what are some Trends that NASA could jump onto or even start their own?
February 20th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
This would make for a great presentation style
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Don’t use all stick figures and one person talking, but the general idea behind it is good.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Alan-
NASA does have a competition to develop new public outreach videos. NASA Means Business is an annual grant program organized by NASA, administered by the Texas Space Grant Consortium. http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/nmb/
You can see some of the entries on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAMeansBusiness
The ‘awww’-inspiring “Reach” video came from this competition and is now featured on the NASA 101 interactive feature (http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/mmgallery/index.html)
February 27th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Brilliant!
Baby-boomer here. I play at JPL.
My immediate reaction was “OMG, is all this true? What have we done? We’ve blown it.”
Then (long before I saw Alan’s comments above) and mostly joking to myself, I said, “boring; flat PPT; no animation. LOL.”
But then I thought, “Brilliant!” You used a communications channel that we (baby boomers) are used to (flat PPT). You understood intuitively that you need to understand your target audience and communicate in their own language. And your message is essentially that same idea. We need to understand your “language” and communicate with you in that language.
Frankly, I think if you do insert all the video, or even just voiceover on the slides in UTube, you will lose us. Besides, right now, I’m sitting in a cubicle at MIT’s career center between interviewing students to work at JPL and I could not have turned up the volume (and my headphones are back at the hotel from my Skype telecon I just had). So thanks for keeping it in flat PPT.
I love NASA and what it’s done and what it’s doing and I’m horrified by what you said about GenY not “getting it” and thanks so much for telling us about it. Really awesome job and I admire your courage. We need you!
February 28th, 2008 at 1:32 am
NASA Watch covered your work. Looks cool.
I was a fourth grader, in Omaha, Nebraska, when Challenger exploded. When our class talked about it, NONE of my classmates were in favor of the space program. They wanted to know why we were wasting our money, people, time.
I was thinking that’s a Gen X perspective, but I and my classmates are on that X-Y border.
I hear that Clay Anderson managed to change some of that, gave Nebraskans some connection, but I haven’t been back lately to say so for myself.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I just looked through it and its a great job at Powerpoint. It even broke Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule the right way. But it did prompt a question:
What do you mean by “participation” and what does the rest of NASA think the word means? For me the word means that the entire POINT of NASA is to make it so that normal people can live and work in space during our lifetimes. No more of this “one day your grand kids can live and work in space”. To make it relevant it has to be about us. Now.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:09 am
Cross posted from the AIAA blog
Please bear with this GenX input but here is a different perspective, and one you may not want to hear. I saw the briefing by the NASA GenY employees and must say it was EXCELLENT! If our colleges are turning out people that can communicate this well, then they are, at least, doing SOMETHING right. Having said that, here goes.
1) NO seat “at the table” is given, it must be earned. I’ve been in manned space over 20 years. My seat at the table was not given, it was earned by taking my basic education, learning my job, thinking critically, and CONTRIBUTING ideas that helped accomplish the mission. As the Boomers retire, I am finding my seat closer to the HEAD of the table and here is what I see relative to Gen Y. Intelligent, communicative, free thinking, do not know when to shut up, no desire to “stick with it” through a long or tough project, out for instant gratification, easily bored, self-important, and generally only in it for themselves.
Many of these negative attributes ARE NOT GenY, they are true about youth in general, they were true about me and others in GenX at one time.
2) The “establishment” is finding it rather difficult to take the GenY folks into their confidence. GenY folks think that data and information is PUBLIC ACCESS (e.g. music file sharing) but large companies, in fact the entire capitalist system is built on finding a better idea, KEEPING it a secret until the right time, and making your million before any competitor can find a way to do it better and/or cheaper. GenY seems to have a problem grasping this to some extent. Where NASA plays, the “sensitive data” isn’t sought by other companies, but by other governments, and not to make a better cake mixer either.
3) GenY seems to be self-important. For example, the expectation that they DESERVE a place at the table. The Greatest Generation gave us a victory in WWII and an industrial country. Boomers gave us CDs, microwaves, color TV, portable computers etc. Gen X is about to assume the reigns and we’ll see what that group does with their time at the forefront. THEN comes GenY. NO, you are NOT building the next generation rockets, that effort is the swan song of the boomers and the “coming of age” of the GenX folks. I know, I work with them. You are not yet at peak earning years, the youngest of you is just 8 years old. By and large, the older groups are still footing the bill too. So buck up and start earning your place at the table.
4) This one is NOT about GenY in particular, but about youth in general. You come onto the scene right out of some good 4 year college and are under the impression that you are competent. Well, you ARE competent, but you are not yet educated. College lays the foundation and gives you the ability to walk on to the playing field, but you will find that you learn more on the job in the first year than you EVER learned in college. Seek out one of us who are older, find a mentor. To really be successful, you will need one AND you will need to listen to them.
5) Want a good crash course in the reality of the workplace and the way things really are? Read “The Art of War” by Sun Tsu. It’s over 4000 years old and still in print. THAT should tell you something.
You have potential, LOTS of it, probably MORE than we did at your age. You WILL change the world one day, but you also have to realize that, while you may throw out some of our ways as antiquated, you will also find, to your astonishment, that many of them are worth keeping.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Hi. I’m a boomer at Goddard, in organization development and diversity. I LOVE the Gen Y Perspectives presentation! Inspiring and eye-opening. It gives me a lot of hope — and a sense of urgency about making the agency a place where Gen Y can flourish.
On a second look, the one thing I humbly suggest needs some attention in the presentation is its depiction of Generation Y’s diversity. Except for the one slide showing kids of color and saying “We grew up with diversity,” there are only about two other people of color, and all the other images of people are overwhelmingly white. At least in the version I’ve seen. I think the message could be even more powerful by showing the racial diversity of the Generation. Thanks for listening!
March 8th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
@Kim Curry - very interesting point! When people make a CONNECTION to the space program, their interest level increases. That’s the whole point here. We lost a generation in that connection (maybe because NASA’s communication strategy is behind the times, perhaps??) and we’re trying to figure out how to reconnect with them.
@Allen’s point number 2:
I think what would be great to see is a world where being “out to make a buck” is not everyone’s primary goal. We’re in the space biz - clearly we aren’t out to make a buck - we’re one of the few organizations that really does exist on the idealistic level - sure we want to have spinoffs and help America, but we also want to inspire, innovate, push the envelope, explore. Imagine this: a world where peace predominates and we can all explore the frontier in space together. Realistic or not, why do we have to play the game like the “out to make a buck” companies? Let’s show them a better way! That’s what makes us unique. Not saying give out all our info and act like competition doesn’t exist. But if all the great minds come together instead of harboring knowledge for the sake of money and power, think how much farther we could get! Collaboration is key! Gee, that sounds pretty unselfish to me…
To your third point, maybe our contribution can be business reform. You’re right that we are a lot more trusting of putting our information out there for the public. What if we all grow up and don’t lose that - what would the world look like when we inherit the top positions?
I think the cool thing about Chris Nelson’s comment is that the older generations asked us for our input in making JSC / NASA a better place to be - and in doing so, they helped us pick up the ball and now we’re running with it. They basically ensured that whatever momentum has been lost will be regained!! That really excites me.
March 14th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Great job on making a bold and aesthetically pleasing presentation, although at times it borders on being “artsy” for no good reason. I agree wholeheartedly that NASA hasn’t inspired the last generation or two and applaud the authors of this presentation in their effort to get NASA to change its image.
Having said that, I don’t like the way the presentation portrays what it defines as “Generation Y”. With a birth year of 1978, I fall into that category according to this presentation. I am offended by the claims we are impatient, need instant gratification, and are only laptop-toting mobile technocrats. That description is not only inaccurate, it makes us look spoiled and naive.
I don’t know why the presentation’s authors decided to redefine what “Generation Y” means. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anyone define the post “Generation X” crowd as the generation who grew up with cable. Usually, they are defined as the generation who grew up with the Internet, which would place the boundaries more like 1985-present rather than 1977-2000. Plus, anyone who grew up with cable in the late 70s and early 80s likely came from a privileged family and is therefore more prone to being spoiled and having a short attention span. Most people during those years did not have cable. I think the boundaries (fuzzy though they are) should remain with Gen X in the 1970s to mid 1980s and Gen Y from the mid 1980s to present.
Criticism on the Generation Y tactic aside, I think this is a promising effort to stimulate NASA to attract new blood. I, for one, can’t wait for some of the old guard to retire so I can finally get an opportunity to work at NASA. I’ve been trying to land a NASA job for years with no luck. They need to adjust their hiring practices to get more entry level people and less managers.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
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