A diverse group of university students and business professionals gathered at the 2^nd Annual Georgia Youth to Business Forum on Oct. 11, 2014 to start an important conversation, helping to answer the question that all twenty-somethings are currently wondering: how can us millennial shake off our bad reputation and snag a job come June?

Throughout the daylong event, students from a variety of majors attended talks on globalization and technology, and trouble shot millennial-centric problems in interactive sessions with the accomplished speakers in attendance, who included, among others: Abhay Paranjape, the director of business development at military defense contractor Lockheed Martin Aeronautics; Adam Lewites, the head of client partnerships at social media analytics startup InsightPool; Brian Valeyko, the director of enterprise data, business intelligence and analytics at global consumer transactions technology leader NCR; and Erica Parsons, executive director of The Hatch, a local nonprofit that provides resources for creative and tech savvy minds to innovate.

Each speaker shared anecdotal, personal stories and gave the delegates key takeaways that caused a buzz at the event itself and via social media, using the hashtag #greetyourfuture.

Valeyko’s comical rendition of his career trajectory had delegates both laughing and in awe of his ability to make opportunities for himself by identifying and eliminating workplace problems and inefficiencies.

“He started at an IT help desk and is now a director of a global company that processes millions of transactions a day,” remarked William Moran. “It’s a testament to the importance of problem solving abilities and a proactive approach to life.”

Some of the sessions led to though-provoking projections about the future of global commerce, and how the current ‘social media activism’ generation should look at developing countries as future equals, not charitable contributions.

“Globalization is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but Mr. Paranjape’s presentation challenged me to actually think about what it means,” said Nisha Katti, a UGA junior studying public relations. “He spoke about the ‘bottom billion’ of the world and how the populations of places like Nigeria and the Middle East are on course to be some of the largest in the world, which can translate into mutually beneficial business opportunities.”

The UGA chapter of AIESEC, the world’s largest student organization, hosted the event and procured in kind donations from Starbucks, Brixx: Wood Fired Pizza, Subway The Home Depot, Menchies and Insomnia Cookies. It will continue to host the forum each year, with the next Y2B projected for October 2015.