Happenings
Posted by Doug Williams on February 29th, 2008
One thing credit unioners love is conferences. So, here’s a non-comprehensive list of where all the cool people in the movement are hanging out. If you you’re going to any of these or have information on an event that isn’t listed here, add it to the comments.
CUNA GAC (Washington, DC)
Colin Powell, Dave Barry, Marie Osmond, and Chris Matthews headline. At the Washington Convention Center starting Sunday and lasting through March 6, 2008.
Brent told me to mention the TwittaBloggerSocial meetup on Tuesday, March 4 from 8:30 p.m. until everyone’s loaded at the Capital City Brewing Company at 1100 New York Avenue, NW.
BarCampBankSF (San Francisco)
In Berkeley, actually, at the University of California campus on March 29, 2008
BarCampBankNE (New England)
Cool location: America’s Credit Union Museum in Manchester, NH on April 5, 2008
BarCampMoneyNYC (New York)
Another cool location, just more urban. 1301 6th Ave between 52nd and 53rd in Manhattan on April 12, 2008
FinovateStartup08 (San Francisco)
A showcase of dozens of the coolest things happening to the future of money happens on April 29, 2008. Today (2/29) is the last day to register at a discounted rate.
CUES Experience (Minneapolis)
A marketing and technology conference that breaks outside of traditional conference walls. In addition to sessions, attendees load up in a bus and tour innovative companies outside of credit uniondom. Happens May 13 – 16, 2008.
Brent is facilitating a tour of Summit Brewery. Every time it comes up in conversation he starts giggling and clapping.
BarCampBankDallas is still in its nascent stages and the organizers are hoping for a June date.
Partnership Symposium 2008 (Indianapolis)
Ron Shevlin hosts. An annual convention of technology, credit unions and how to marry the two. Brought to you by Forum Solutions and Trabian Technology. October 1st and 2nd, 2008, Fishers, IN.
Events updated: (2/29 at 2:15p)
I’ll be at GAC too and looking forward to seeing everyone (I’ll try to be at the meetup on Tuesday eve as well).
I’d be remiss if I didn’t shameless plug the upcoming CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council Conference in Nashville – March 16-19.
The session I’m most looking forward to?
Should We… or Shouldn’t We: A Point/Counterpoint on Implementing a National Branding Campaign Randy Harrington,, PhD., Extreme Arts & Sciences, Eugene, OR and Paul Lucas, Marketing Consultant, Clifton, VA Moderator: Rob Kimmett, SVP Marketing and PR, Massachusetts Credit Union League, Marlborough, MAsorry for the crazy boldness.
Since the barcamp in Seattle was done some time ago, what tangible accomplishments can be attributed to it?
These conferences take money away from our members and need to provide tangible benefits.
@Doug and Brent, thanks for mentioning the TwittaBloggerSocial Meetup at the CapCity Brewery next Tuesday evening at the GAC. I’m really looking forward to that and meeting some fine folks in person like Jeff Hardin and Rob Rutkowski.
Also just coming onto the radar screen is a possible BarCampBankCharlotte.
@Sue – BarCampBanks are either free or $25 to cover some basic expenses like t-shirts and coffee. They are unconferences for people interested in discussing innovation in the financial arena.
For those interested in learning more about social media, I recommend you also watch for any PodCamps or Facebook Developer Garages happening near you.
I’m heading off to GAC on Sunday and CapCity Brewery on Tuesday. I’ve bought the plane tickets for BCBSF, but I’m having second thoughts. I’m trying to make my way up to CUES Experience, and I will be at FORUM’s Partnership Symposium. Hope to see everyone there!
Doug, can I get a list of who is cool in CU Land, so I know who to suck up to?
I wish I could meet some more twitter folks in person, but I won’t be at any conferences any time soon. Have fun guys.
I will be at BarCampBankSF with my wife and kids. Using it as an excuse to get out of the house and meet some other folks who actually seem interested in creating impact in the industry. Very excited.
@Sue, I attend a few of these conferences as a marketing agency representing credit unions. I always take away a lot of information that is very usable. It is sometimes hard to attribute an ROI for conferences. How do you calculate ROI on trendspotting and forecasting?
I had a client who came up to me at a conference after a seminar to ask me if a service touted by a speaker was right for their credit union. I told her no, in my opinion it was not (after we both attended the same seminar). We saved her credit union tens of thousands of dollars from chasing something that would not have benefited their membership or gained any adoption by their members. However the service would help other credit unions greatly. If she would have “done what her friends were doing” I think it would have been a bad thing. I doubt that savings made it to the P&L either.
But the educational value and exposure to new ideas and services could definitely make your marketing more effective and give you a chance to ask vendors very pointed questions in a low pressure situation.
I had an attendee ask me one time (in a very accusatory tone) “Do you know the difference between marketing and advertising?” I, of course, answered her question. She was frustrated that every agency she worked with just created ads. She needed help with marketing and branding and was having a difficult time finding the right one. If it weren’t for the conference she would have had to call around and maybe end up with just another “Ad Design House” again, wasting money.
Usually the cost of the conferences really are worth the information that you get in exchange. Within reason that is. It should be part of the budget, it is part of ours.
I’m going to SxSWi next week, which isn’t credit union focused at all, but hopefully will give me lots of useful/fascinating ideas for web stuff for my employer.
Plus it’s insanely fun (I went 2 years ago on MY OWN DIME when I was at another job), which doesn’t hurt any.
I’ve been wondering if any CU folks will be there….
I find it curious that Doug touts the barcamp conferences as “must go to conferences” for credit unions and yet characterizes the very reasonable question of what other barcamps have actually accomplished as SPAM.
So Doug, aside from characterizing this comment as SPAM, what specifics can you bring to the table about the value of the barcamp conferences and achievements of past conferences relating to credit unions?
There may be very good reasons to attend these conferences, but please step down off your highhorse long enough to enlighten some of us that actually are accountable for our time and money to senior management and our members.
Did anything specific come from the Seattle barcamp?
@ Doug – you forgot to mention the Minnesota Twins “outing” at CUES Experience that I’ll be hosting.
How come Brent gets the beer????? He’s a boy, he should do baseball!! HA!!
If you have never heard Randy Harrington – you haven’t lived. He will blow your mind. Smart, funny, and always challenges the status quo in a way that is not mean-spirited but in the vein of truly wanting to make things better.
@ Juan – I doubt Doug should respond to you based on your “request” Doesn’t sound like BarCampBank is for you.
I’ll see the rest of yous at SF BCB!!!!
Cheers!
Sue, apologies, my spam guard is on high alert of late.
For those of you that missed what Juan is talking about, here’s the post I Roger Goddell-ed (Fawn Hall-ed?) when I was informed that, indeed, I was wrong and Sue was not spam and made a valid point. Re-reading it, she does make a point.
In interest of an open communication, here’s the recreation of my communique:
—
“terrell…I believe Brent has the list of the cool kids and Charlie manages the Burn Book.
I’m not cool enough to be on the list. I’m pretty sure I’m in the Burn Book.
I’ll be at BCBNE and BCMNYC and of course the Pod-nah(can we all universally agree to spell it this way in the future, it’s much more fun to say)ship Symposium.
I also think sue is spam.
Happy leap day.”
—
Juan -
To your point of being on a high-horse. I wasn’t. I just made a mistake. I apologized to sue for it (again, sue, many apologies).
To your point of anything coming out of BarCampBank Seattle, specifically, I’ll have to defer to my colleagues who attended that one, as I did not. Although I’m excited about the one in New Hampshire.
Finally, I think the grassroots-style BarCamp model is tremendous. A group of people get together (that phrase should sound familiar to this crowd) – free of vendors and other distractions – to discuss in person things that matter to them and pay simply the cost of travel (since they’re generally regional, that’s meant to keep costs at a minimum) and a small fee to cover space rental and provisions.
It’s wise to question the ROI before diving into it. I applaud your critical thinking. It’s important to measure any expense that way.
That said, does anything come out of sponsored league marketing conferences?
“That said, does anything come out of sponsored league marketing conferences?”
It’s a good question to ask of any conference or training.
Oddly enough, it’s part of why I blog at conferences. I just try to get all of my impressions down right there in the moment, and then come back and summarize, find next actions, project ideas, etc. in a day or two afterwards.
I have never been to any of the BCBs – I AM going to the SF one next month. I signed up last month. I was just excited that there was finally one in my area.
It is on a weekend, so no time away from the office. It is in Berkley (where my wife has never been so it qualifies as a “Family Trip” to her) so it is only about a 2 hour drive for me. It cost me $25 to meet a bunch of other folks who are into the same things that I am and I get a chance to meet some of these “Know-It-Alls” in person. That alone is worth the cost of admission.
I can’t wait!
I’ll be heading to the GAC tomorrow. Those of you who can’t attend can join the conversation about the “happenings” on the Boardcast and on our Facebook page coverage at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10529376613
This looks like a list of the biggest credit union offices. I’d like to get involved with BarCamp Bank since I am near Berkeley.
Jamie Chase and Kurt Jacobson (who are currently at the GAC conference) have been asked to speak at the Ohio Zenith convention April 24th and 25th. For more information check out Jamie’s post on the Zenith!
I ran into Jamie and Kurt up here in DC. What a couple of cool kids.