What You’ll Learn

At the Florida Boomer Lifestyle Conference, you’ll get dozens of ideas for profitable businesses, products, and services that address baby boomers’ complex needs. You’ll also learn which trends and market forces are influencing the strategic direction of the most successful people and organizations serving the baby boomer marketplace today.

Successfully engaging today’s boomer customer is all about niches and life stages, not a one-size-fits-all approach. When every penny counts – from both the marketers’ perspective and the consumers’ - companies can't afford to miss the mark when courting their boomer customer. Join us and learn from some of the most innovative and successful marketers whose messages, products, and services are resonating most with the 50+ customer today.

Join us as we explore how to weave messages that zero in on your target customers’ unmet needs together with the most effective mix of traditional media, online media, and other vehicles for reaching them.

The 2010 Conference agenda will also devote special attention to industries serving baby boomers that are poised for explosive growth in the coming decade. Florida’s competitiveness in these industries – which include anti-aging medicine, healthy and sustainable living, lifelong learning, and care giving - will be explored in keynote presentations, panel discussions, case studies and best practices.

Boomers after the Bust
How has the recession significantly altered boomers’ buying behavior? Learn from the experts who have their fingers on the pulse of key trends affecting boomers up and down the social-economic spectrum in the U.S.

We’ll explore:

Latest research and trends on marketing to boomers
Companies and brands that boomers really love
Where the boomers are…online, on TV, and on the go: Strategies for engaging boomer consumers with traditional, social and mobile media
Growth industries: Anti Aging Medicine; Healthy, Active, and Sustainable Living; and More
Reinvention – how boomers are reinventing their lives and careers: meaning is the new money
Recruiting – companies that are successfully recruiting the cream of the boomer talent crop with policies designed to suit their lifestyles

A few gems from the 2009 Inaugural Conference:

The Boomer Woman
From the breakout session "What Do Boomer Women Want? How to Successfully Engage Boomer Women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s," presented by Carol Orsborn, Senior Strategist of Vibrant Nation:

Boomer women are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook
Online connections are driving her purchasing decisions
Women don't rely on referrals from "just anyone." 3 out of 4 will rely on advice outside of their personal network only if the source shows "great knowledge."
For women 50+ there is a change from earlier life stages, in which pleasing others, ignoring their own needs and being loyal trumps self interest. Now, 48% spend to satisfy their own needs and reject advertisers that ignore them.

The New Reality: Economic Crisis Meets the Boomers
From the session: "Financing Longevity: The Market for Products and Services that Help Boomers Live Longer, More Prosperous Lives," presented by Dorcas Hardy, President of Dorcas R. Hardy & Associates:

How will boomers finance their future? Jobs!

Pre-retirees will postpone retirement by 4.2 years
70% want to include work in retirement
Will work even if it means reinventing themselves
Encore careers won't resemble the old one. Some combination of work and leisure is key.
Entrepreneuriship among boomers is stronger now than ever
Civic engagement and "philanthropreneuriship" on the rise
Florida has a unique opportunity to capitalize on its boomer and senior workforce
Create and promote new careers for a mature workforce
Offer flexible work schedules, part time/shared jobs, and training to suit the work preferences of the demographic. Bonus: Employers can save money and make productivity and efficiency gains, too.