I was just opening the car door when he appeared. He practically flew towards me and was completely out of breath.

“Are you taking this car?” he asked. “There’s a soup kitchen that needs volunteers right now and I really have to get there. Can you give me a ride?”

I was struck by the irony of the request.

It was the first day of the SWSW interactive conference in Austin, Texas, an event that attracts about 7,000 attendees.

Of all the people he could stumble into and ask for a ride, he chose me, a career volunteer manager.

“I’d be happy to give you a ride,” I said with a broad grin. “Hop in.”

He was young, probably in his twenties, and he navigated towards the service project using his iPhone.

I was struck by the sense of urgency he felt. His phone told him that the project was short on volunteers and the immediacy of their need seemed to motivate him to get there fast.

When we pulled up in front of the small building, he nearly fell out of the car as he hurried to help.

I felt like I saw the future at the SXSW conference.

The thousands of attendees made up a crowd of the most plugged in, online people I’ve ever seen assembled. Laptops and smart phones were on and active constantly.

Conversation would jump from face-to-face, to twitter, to SMS and back again in a way that oddly felt more natural than I would have expected.

Throughout the conference, my thoughts kept returning to the young man who wanted a ride to the soup kitchen.

That his phone alerted him to a project that needed more volunteers immediately, and that he responded to that, surprised me.

Until now, I’ve operated under the assumption that volunteers planned ahead.

My over committed lifestyle requires volunteer activity to be scheduled in advance, but my experience of this young enthusiast made me wonder if the future of volunteer management will necessitate greater flexibility.

Will the millennial generation be more likely to respond to volunteer opportunities in the moment and, if so, how will nonprofit organizations adapt?