These days he's one of the hottest public speakers around and still consults with hotels, airlines, and the travel industry.

If you ask him, he will tell you that he is on the old side of the Baby Boomer generation. Why is that important? Well according to Phil, you can't effectively market or communicate with someone unless you understand the underlying drives associated with different generations and how those generations interact with each other.

Today, when he isn't off somewhere giving a keynote address or leading a seminar, Phil is president and owner of Generation Transitional Marketing and The Boomer Marketing & Research Center in San Diego. The Boomer Marketing & Research Center was conceived by Phil in 1995 to help different industries and businesses make a successful transition to the 21st Century.

At the core of Phil's approach is something he calls Lifestyle Marketing a combination of demographics and psychology. In Phil's words, "Demographics can only take you so far. What you can learn from demographics is valuable, however, it doesn't take into account the psychological, cultural, and generational influences. Lifestyle Marketing combines demographics of your customer base, with psychological evaluation based upon keen observation and street-smart experience, wrapped in a system for quantifying and interpreting the attitude patterns observed."

Phil is also the creator of Generation Miner, a suite of tools that join the power of Lifestyle Marketing and behavioral research to Boomer marketing. It takes into account differences in life experience that generations, differences that profoundly affect the ways that Boomers live and consume, and how they respond to advertising.

might affect the meeting industry.

SM: First off can you explain the differences between Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Echo Boomers?
PG: Simply put, Baby Boomers are those people born between 1946 and 1964. Just to give you an idea, there were 28 million Boomers between 50-56 years old in 2002. Generation X are the people who were born between 1965 and 76. Finally we have Echo Boomers - those born from 1977 to 1994.

SM: What marks the difference between generations?
PG: Generations are marked by any break or change in birth rates ? either a rise in birthrates or a decline. The years from 1936-'45 saw low birthrates due to war and depression. After World War II there was a sharp rise in the birthrate and those are the ones we call Baby Boomers. When birth control became popular in the late 60s and early 70s there was a drop in birthrate and that is where the Generation X came from. Echo Boomers are a reflection of another rise in birthrate ? when the Baby Boomers came of age and had children.

SM: What are the attitudinal differences between generations?
PG: Boomers and their senior parents have the biggest generation gap (mind set) in world history. Subsequent generations aren't that far apart. Baby Boomers are independent thinkers. They are less trustful of the past, tradition, politics, etc. They put less emphasis on earning and saving money than on their families and personal growth. Boomers also want to hold onto their youth and refuse to believe that they are old or getting old.

Because of their sheer numbers they hold most of the key jobs (and aren't turning them over to the next generations quite as quickly). At the same time Boomers spend more money on their kids and grandkids than any other generation before them.

In the case of the Boomer generation, especially the younger part of the generation, you've got women out there who are the major decision makers. Boomer women are 2 to 1 single head of household versus their male counterpart. However, another interesting trend is multiple-generation families. Boomers and their younger spouses now have children that can be twenty years apart ? those from a first marriage and those from the second. In both cases they have the same common problem of how to
spend more quality time with their children.

We're dealing with a generation that doesn't want to grow older. We're dealing with a generation that will be lucky if they can retire in their early 70s. What this all means in simple language is that planners and people in the travel and hospitality industries need to start factoring in children and activities to lure these people in even more. The Boomers in particular and now the older part of X are junkies for their kids. And they'll sacrifice other things in order to spend more quality time with children from

So in order to make meetings and conventions even more attractive planners are going to have to appeal to family units. To offer interesting, educational, historic activities and spousal programs.

SM: And what about generation X and echo Boomers?
PG: When a smaller generation follows a larger they are going to be late bloomers (since Boomers have most of the jobs). Generation X and Echos are having a harder time gaining leverage in business and it's taking them longer. More Generation Xers live at home than Boomers ever did. They've been spoiled by their parents and at the same time they've inherited some of their parent's independent 'question everything' nature.

Boomers were the 'me' generation. The lowest voter count in history was Boomers. Generation X and Echo Boomers are more politically motivated but they also tend to ask "what's in it for me?" Gen Xers and Echo Boomers are also more technically savvy. They grew up with computers and the Internet. Your Echo Boomer is pretty much stuck on the computer and not so much interested in personal interaction.

SM: So what kinds of things will motivate Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Echo Boomers?
PG: Make your program appealing for the young, make it adventurous yet safe, and pay attention to the family. More Boomers and their younger spouses are interested in bringing their kids with them on business trips so meetings that have made an effort to accommodate the family will be more appealing.

Programs involved with echo-tourism can also move light years ahead because the Boomers are into environmental issues and educational themes and they are always looking for things to do with their kids and grand kids (the Boomers in particular). The Boomer generation is not only going to be the largest grandparent market by the end of this decade but they're going to be spending more money on their grandchildren for travel in the next decade coming up then all the grandparents put together in the 20th century. Kids are going to be a big part of travel and meeting planners are not exempt from it at all.