The days of stuffy business meetings in rooms filled with people who look and think the same are gone. With millennials beginning to sweep the workforce, old business traditions are being replaced by new ideas and innovations.
Hustle Culture Con, a convention for millenials interested in business, aims to teach young people how to succeed in this new workplace era. The convention, which occurred Saturday in Seaport’s District Hall, hosted speakers to explore the topics of finance, social branding and networking.
The millennial-centric clothing brand Hustle Culture hosted their inaugural convention as a way to, “learn, network, dance and get free Hustle Culture gear,” according to the company’s website.
Mike Scola, founder of Hustle Culture, said the brand has recently gone through a rebranding and wanted the convention to reintroduce their brand, as well as provide young people with a space to learn more about how to succeed in today’s business environment.
“Our inspiration, as a brand, from the roots of our brand, was to create a movement, to create a message,” Scola said, “and to take the connectivity that other brands have that are massive entities, brands such as Nike.”
Tickets for the conference ranged from $25 to $100 and an estimated 120 people attended.
According to their website, Hustle Culture is, “a lifestyle brand centered around empowering millennial hustler’s with the #HUSTLECULTURE ethos of #ATTRACTIONBYACTION.”
Scola said he regularly attends business conferences and, because of this experience, he hopes
Hustle Culture Con will be a catalyst for more similar events to start happening in Boston. Hustle Culture held the event in Boston’s Seaport District in order to take advantage of the thriving network market and entrepreneurship space, Scola said.
“What I’ve noticed is that even in the entrepreneur communities that I have been a part of Boston for 10 years now,” Scola said. “We have always felt like it was lacking,”
Myke Metzger, one of the event’s speakers, emphasized the idea of having an objective when attending networking-style events. Setting goals, he said, makes it easier to feel accomplished when one leaves.
“If you are somebody who is maybe a little socially awkward, or maybe you don’t know anybody here, come to the event with the intention of meeting five new people,” Metzger said. “My goal, personally, is to pick my favorite presenter from the event and actually go and meet that person and spend some time talking to them.”
Mark Forster, vice president and event manager at Hustle Culture, said he thinks it is important to have a goal while organizing these events to ensure you are intentional in your mission and shut out outside influence.
“If you go in with an intent, whatever that intent means for you, you stick to that intent,” Forster said. “Stick to your gut, stick to what your head says, don’t get influenced by other people.”
Scola said he hoped by the end of the conference attendees would develop a new perspective about business.
“The way you lead these events,” Scola said, “you’re inspired, you feel like you are a part of a community, you feel ready to take on the world in a new light.”
