BCBNE – The Tweets

On April 5^th, as most of you already know, I attended BarCampBank NE. While in the sessions I tried my best to do some live tweeting of my favorite quotes. I went back and read them and found that they contained some information that I missed in my original recap of the day. Taking a cue from Morriss Partee, Here are a few of them and what I took away from them.

During our first discussion session, David Inverarity posed the question, “shouldn’t we have a system so that our members get a say in where our donations go? It is their money after all.” This struck a chord (might I say an epic power chord) with me.

Where does all this donation money come from? Well, from the members of course. This money would usually be redistributed out to members in the form of dividends. Because we use it for donations, the members don’t technically get a return on it. It is money that would otherwise go back into their pockets, so why shouldn’t we consult them as to where we donate their money?

Later in the morning, Ron Shevlin offered some sage insight. It might even be my favorite quote from the whole day. As I mentioned previously in this post, Gene Blishen had just finished describing how Mt. Lehman Credit Union offers large tents to members for weddings or other gatherings. Ron chimed in saying, “Its not about the stories we tell members, its about the stories they tell themselves.”

What is it about your brand that keeps people coming back? What story do they tell themselves in their minds that makes them choose you over the bank down the street? Everybody has a reason for using the same brand over and over. We, as credit unions, talk about the importance of telling your brands story, but it is even more important to create stories that the members tell themselves.

Later in the evening, my final tweeted quote came from Morriss Partee during a great conversation concerning the merging of credit unions. He posed the question “will P2P lending move in to fill the void as the number of small credit unions and community banks decreases?”

There is a general push for credit unions (and banks too) to get larger and larger. Many credit unions are merging with smaller institutions and the small credit union seems to be somewhat of a dying breed.

There is a need for a feeling of community. It is the reason social networking has exploded the way it has. The same goes for P2P lending. People like to feel like they are part of a unique social circle and companies like Zopa and Prosper are catering to that through social lending.

As the number of small credit unions decreases due to mergers and other factors, P2P lenders may move in to pick up the people who seek a personal touch in their banking. How can a large credit union hold on to that personal service with so many members?

An Incredible Weekend of Conversation

My brain is still reeling from information overload from BarCampBank New England. What a weekend. The wealth of knowledge that came out of this meeting of the minds was astounding.

America's Credit Union Museum

The day started with an tour of the Inspiring, educational, and moving Credit Union Museum. All I can say is wow. The way this movement started is incredible beyond words. As I sit inside a huge building, the understanding that credit unions started as a tin box where poor mill workers who could not get service from a bank deposited their earnings blows my mind. To see the actual house that served as St. Mary's Bank (the literal translation of La Caisse Populaire Ste.-Marie is “Bank of the People,” St. Mary’s) was awe inspiring.

My favorite quote from the tour was when Morriss Partee (EverythingCU.com) pointed out the fact that, as we stood next to a bench in a hallway, "this is the place". It gave me goose-bumps knowing that I was standing where, almost exactly 100 years ago, the first mill workers waited to deposit their first dollars into the first credit union in the USA. America's Credit Union Museum is a place that every single employee of a credit union, from Tellers to Presidents, should experience. It will literally change the way you see the movement.

Social Media Discussion

The first session, proposed by Ginny Brady of UFirst CU, was a great discussion regarding social media and its uses. My favorite quote from the session came from Ron Shevlin, "it isn't about the stories we tell people, but the stories they tell themselves. It is about creating experiences."

This quote came after Gene Blishen described a very unique offering that Mount Lehman Credit Union provides it's members. They have 2 large tents that they offer, free of charge, to their members for weddings, funerals, and any other large gathering they may be holding. What a great way to connect with members. When somebody associates your credit union with such an emotional event as a wedding, you can bet that it is a bond that will last.

If you can use social media to facilitate the spread of these kinds of stories it has the potential to be a powerful "word of mouth" message.

Current IT Priorities

Next up was a session started by Dave DelVecchio who brought up the major IT issues facing credit unions now. Needless to say, it was a lengthy list. As tech continues to advance it brings up many security issues, risks, and higher implementation costs.

Which segues nicely into the next topic of mergers.

Christian Mullins of CU Potential led a very detailed and interesting session on credit union mergers. He talked about many of the wrong reasons for credit unions to merge, including growth for growths sake. Huge credit unions gobbling up the small ones just to increase field of membership and assets. The ever insightful Ron Shevlin posed the question, "what are the right reasons to merge?"

According to Christian, when a credit union can no longer sustain itself on its own. To compete with the large banks credit unions have had to make the move to offer similarly diverse options such as online banking, account origination, etc. Many of these small credit unions simply don't have the assets to implement this kind of product and so they lose a competitive advantage and become unsustainable.

Gene Blishen pointed out that at this point a credit union could still try and stay a "boutique", but that is harder said than done.

Wiki's, YouTube, and Collaboration.

Next we moved on to the subject of wiki's, youtube, and collaboration. Despite being incredibly nervous and scattered, I managed to get some discussion going about fostering a community of credit unions. Ron Shevlin again jumped in with some great advice. He started off by asking, "what will you give me for my answer?" Apparently my offer of 75% of a bottle of coke was enough for him to continue. "Everybody will always ask, what's in it for me?" There has to be some value to the individual before there is a sense of community. It is never about the technology, but the purpose, value, and direction behind that tech. Just because you have a wiki or discussion board doesn't mean people see value in using that space.

Charlie Kroll (CEO of Andera) added that perhaps it is a matter of fostering that community and THEN implementing a technology solution to bring them closer together.

Finally, David "Man of a Thousand Tabs" Inverarity demonstrated some of the technology that his credit union is using in Canada. This included showing the group their Wiki site for employees as well as their great One Member One Vote campaign. It was incredible to see the new way they are letting the board candidates connect with the membership, share their message and vision, and encourage those that might not see a need to vote.

ROCK OUT!

We ended the day with a session of Rock Band. Ron Shevlin, Morriss Partee, and I rocked the house with a little Boston, Flyleaf, and Soundgarden. Then it was off to dinner at Richard's Bistro, which I would recommend to anybody looking for an incredible meal in Manchester. Plus the restaurant was surrounded by several credit unions...making that much cooler.

Thanks to everybody for making this such an awesome event. Thanks to Morriss Partee for organizing this BarCamp, and a very special thanks to Peggy Powell for letting us crash America's Credit Union Museum on a Saturday. She is the sole employee and does some incredible work. I'm hoping to go back to the Museum soon so I can absorb some of the things I may have missed the first time through.

Here's to many Barcamps in the future!

Only One More Week!

One week until BarCampBank New England! I haven't been this excited for something since getting a PS2 for Christmas!

It's being held on the site of the first credit union in the USA. What better place to sit down with some of the people who are changing the credit union movement to brainstorm, discuss, debate, and inform than at America's Credit Union Museum.

I'm really excited to be able to meet some of the big dogs in the blogotwittershpere such as Morriss Partee, Ron Shevlin, Ginny Brady and Gene Blishen as well as some cool people from Andera and Geezeo.

A BarCamp is like no other conference you've ever attended. It offers an opportunity to speak with people rather than be spoken to. It offers the opportunity to bounce ideas around, collaborate, and create relationships with people who are shaping the way the industry will look in the coming years.

If you have the chance (there's still time to sign up!) take the opportunity to come to Manchester on April 5th for what promises to be an incredible experience.

Have an awesome weekend everybody, I hope to see you all next weekend in Manchester, NH.