Understanding the Millennial generation's desire for a personal experience online is giving Charles Sturt University the edge in the higher education sector in Australia.

Staff from Charles Sturt University's (CSU) School of Management and Marketing represented the only Australian university at the Millennial 20/20 conference held in Sydney on 14 and 15 November 2017.

"The event allowed, us, as marketing academics to immerse ourselves in current practices of cutting edge industry firms," said CSU lecturer in marketing, Dr Michael Mehmet.

"There was a strong global representation attending from places including Silicon Valley, the UK, as well as Australia. We were exposed to new technologies, apps, software and 'big data' algorithms that will be emerging publicly in the next 12 months."

Previously an annual event held in London, Singapore and New York, the Sydney conference hosted international business and entrepreneurs as they explored trends of millennial perceptions and consumer behaviour on e-commerce.

According to event organisers, the "millennial mindset of personalisation and user-generated content" is quickly becoming the norm and disruption in commerce is transforming the landscape as we know it.

"We are investigating how we can implement these practices and insights into our undergraduate and post graduate courses, giving us a competitive edge in the market place and also giving our students a competitive edge in the recruitment market place" Dr Mehmet said.

"The other advantage of being the only education institution represented at the conference was we could ensure Charles Sturt University is front of mind in the marketing industry as a practice-based educator, driving innovation and entrepreneurship.

"We were able to build on our connection with dynamic players in the industry and establish some exciting research opportunities."

Another area of interest for the staff was the field of personalised website development with regards to regional connection.

"Talking to some of the companies present really opened up our eyes to what's going on in terms of personalisation and optimised websites," Dr Mehmet said.

"Our students come from varied backgrounds with varied internet speeds, there is technology now available that can assist in customising online learning environments to suit the technical and learning needs of students, regardless of the screen they wish to use."

Joining Dr Mehmet were six CSU staff including Course Director of marketing Dr Alain Neher, Associate Head of School Dr Felicity Small and Professor of Marketing Professor Steven D'Alessandro.Millennial 20/20 is where world-leading consumer brands and retailers come together with the most innovative and disruptive start-ups to shape and realise the future of commerce.