It appears that the whole world is descending upon New Orleans for what has been dubbed "Super Gras"—the Super Bowl meets Mardi Gras. And for 10 members from the MPI Central Michigan University student club, the trip should prove memorable.  

The students volunteered on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the NFL Experience. On Saturday, they will volunteer at the DirecTV Celebrity Beach Bowl, and on the day of the big game, they'll work with VIP hospitality inside the Superdome. 

“We are the only student group that gets to work inside that day,” MPI Social Media Chair Lindsay Anderson told reporter Ryan Zuke for a story in Central Michigan Life. “There are other universities going down, but since we personally contacted him and told him how much we wanted to volunteer and work, we’re working more than other groups. Other universities are working three to four hours a day, and we are working six to eight hours.”

The 10 students were selected via an application, and there will be future volunteer events for other students. All these events are not only educational and fun, they also offer great examples of the various job possibilities for meeting and event planners.

“We offer more than just (the Super Bowl),” said MPI student club Vice President Emily Kent. “There are other events, like the Traverse City Comedy Festival. Just because you’re an event management minor doesn’t mean you’re going to want to do the same types of events. We try to get a diverse sample of what the event management industry is really like.”

(Story materials from Central Michigan Life. Images via CMU MPI Twitter profile.)

Every time I come across a story about time, the song "Time Is On My Side" pops into my head. The sense of having control of your own time and not letting someone else dictate it is one of the reasons I like that song. Nevertheless, many people think they don't control time. If you're one of those people who suffer from time famine, there's something positive you can do to combat the negative sense of time. According to a new study, volunteering your limited time—giving it away— may actually increase your sense of unhurried leisure.

Across four different experiments, researchers found that people’s subjective sense of having time, called "time affluence," can be increased. Compared with wasting time, spending time on oneself and even gaining a windfall of free time, spending time on others increased participants’ feelings of time affluence.

Lead researcher and psychological scientist Cassie Mogilner of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania believes this is because giving away time boosts one’s sense of personal competence and efficiency, and this in turn stretches out time in our minds. Ultimately, giving time makes people more willing to commit to future engagements despite their busy schedules.

Furthermore, psychological scientists Melanie Rudd and Jennifer Aaker of Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management devised a way to study the feeling of awe in the laboratory. Across three different experiments, they found that jaw-dropping moments made participants feel like they had more time available and made them more patient, less materialistic and more willing to volunteer time to help others.

The researchers found that the effects that awe has on decision-making and well-being can be explained by awe's ability to actually change our subjective experience of time by slowing it down. Experiences of awe help to brings us into the present moment which, in turn, adjusts our perception of time, influences our decisions and makes life feel more satisfying than it would otherwise.

This research conducted by Mogilner—and co-authors Zoe Chance of the Yale School of Management and Michael Norton of Harvard Business School—is forthcoming in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

BONUS: "Time Is On My Side" by The Rolling Stones

(Story materials by the Association for Psychological Science.)

A new Deloitte survey reveals that millennials who frequently participate in workplace volunteer activities are far more likely to be proud, loyal and satisfied employees compared to those who rarely or never volunteer.

The eighth annual Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT Survey reveals that, compared to those who rarely or never volunteer, millennials who frequently participate in their company’s employee volunteer activities are:

• Twice as likely to rate their corporate culture as very positive (56 percent vs. 28 percent);
• More likely to be very proud to work for their company (55 percent versus 36 percent);
• More likely to feel very loyal toward their company (52 percent vs. 33 percent);
• Nearly twice as likely to be very satisfied with the progression of their career (37 percent vs. 21 percent);
• More likely to be very satisfied with their employer (51 percent vs. 32 percent); and,
• More likely to recommend their company to a friend (57 percent vs. 46 percent)

More than one-third (37 percent) of those who frequently volunteer are more likely to be very satisfied with the progression of their career. These and other findings from the survey suggest a link between volunteerism and the quality of employee engagement as well as favorable employee perceptions of organizational culture.

At a time when one-third of millennial employees are considering other career options, these findings may offer new insights about a powerful way to engage workers among this age group. 

“The data shows that, on many levels, employees who regularly volunteer are much more connected than those who do not volunteer,” said Joseph Echevarria, chief executive officer for Deloitte LLP. “This is a strong argument for making volunteerism a business priority, because employee engagement and organizational culture are inextricably linked to organizational performance.”

The survey findings also suggest that the benefits of creating a culture of service extend well beyond active volunteers. As expected, millennials strongly favor (70 percent) companies committed to the community. However, even among those millennials surveyed who rarely or never volunteer, more than half (61 percent) say they are likely to factor a company’s commitment to the community into their decision if choosing between two jobs with the same location, responsibilities and pay and benefits.

Millennials, who are often characterized by their passion to change the world, are also motivated to volunteer by more than altruism; half (51 percent) of all millennials surveyed want to benefit professionally from their volunteerism. Skilled volunteers, who use their business knowledge to help nonprofit organizations, are more likely to seek a professional return on investment for their volunteer efforts than “hands-on” volunteers:

• Skilled volunteers are more likely than traditional volunteers to say it is important that their volunteer efforts benefit them professionally (72 percent versus 56 percent).
• Skilled volunteers are also more likely than traditional volunteers to be motivated by career advancement (47 percent vs. 34 percent).

Results of the 2011 Volunteer IMPACT Survey are based on online interviews with 1,500 millennials (ages 21-35) who work at organizations with 1,000 or more employees that offer employee volunteer activities or programs.

While here at EIBTM, I asked Michael Owen, CEO of EventGenuity LLC, what keeps him engaged as an MPI volunteer leader.