Nexus Connection

Professional Development Tidbit: The PR of 'Gift Questions'

Posted by Lisa Hochgraf

Today I'm prepping the July "PR Insight" column for publication on Thursday on cues.org. I so agree with one of the points made by author Scott Mills, president of William Mills Agency, Atlanta, that I thought I'd bring it to you as sort of the "professional development tidbit of the day."

Pretend you're in an interview with a reporter. Wisely, Mills advises:

• Take full advantage of the “gift question.” Most interviews will end with a question like: “I think I have all the information I need. Is there anything that you would like to add?” Do not let this slip by. This is your opportunity to paraphrase what you feel was the most important information from the interview.

I'm a reporter. I always end an interview with this kind of open question. The opportunity Mills describes is ripe.

 

In the column, Mills offers a host of other fine ideas for responding to a media inquiry. If you want me to e-mail you a preview copy, please let me know in the comments.

 

 

Perennial Student? What are you Learning Today?

Posted by Lisa Hochgraf

A good while back, when I was studying at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I liked learning Chinese literature (in translation) one semester, botany the next. I took classes in all kinds of dance, Spanish language, and even calculus and physics. I found the learning associated with going to college so agreeable I told my dad (a key funder of the undertaking) that I thought I'd be a "perennial" student.

At the time Dad said, "No way." But now that I've got a master's in journalism (the photo is Dad, Mom and me at my Northwestern University graduation in 1993) and been an editor for 15 years, Dad seems to think I've actually succeeded with that early idea of becoming a perennial student. In my career I've written about everything from businesses in Dane County, Wisconsin, to mind-altering drugs to bus tours.

I feel fortunate that the largest bulge in my career portfolio contains articles about credit unions. By reading, talking with people in the industry, doing onsite credit union visits, and attending conferences and meetings, I've had the opportunity to learn and write about everything from loan automation to information security to e-mail marketing to ergonomic workstations to charter conversion.

And I'm still learning. Right now I'm collecting information about hybrid charters, "exotic" mortgage loans and digital magazines (if you know something about these topics, please give a shoutout in the comments!). I'm also looking forward to learning a bunch by attending CUES' Directors Conference this December. (I'll be celebrating my 40th birthday there--if you're planning to attend, do let me know.)

Are you a perennial student? What are you learning about credit unions today, this week, this month, this year? How are you facilitating your own learning?

People Who Need People...

Posted by Christopher Stevenson

My wife and I just put our house on the market. It's been a pain getting the house ready and finding a Realtor®, but the biggest disappointment in the process was the realization that open houses are now passe. I've always found open houses kind of exciting, whether I'm shopping for a house or selling one, but of the four real estate professionals we interviewed, only one still believed open houses are an effective selling tool. Why? Online real estate sites, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and so on.

People in the market for a new home don't venture out on Sunday afternoons, hunting down the requisite aluminum sign with the pointing arrow. Instead, they go on line any time of day or night that they get the urge, take virtual tours, and use interactive online calculators to figure out their mortgage payment. Now, I'm not stupid; I use those online tools myself and know everyone else does too. That said, it never occurred to me that the online tools are so effective that they would replace old-school open houses. If I'd put my home on FSBO, I'd be spending my weekends prepping for open houses. Thank goodness for my Realtor's perspective.

So what? What does this have to do with CUs or marketing?

Group think and faulty assumptions prevent us from doing what's best for our credit unions and members. If we don't break out of our day-to-day routines, network with CU peers and contacts from other industries, read stimulating material, and so on, we tend to stick to what we've always done, even if it's not what's best for accomplishing our goals. Sometimes you just need to have someone tell you your ideas are passe and it's time to move on.

How do you do it? Start with reading blogs and participating in Twitter. (Trust me when I say that there are all kinds of folks on Twitter who aren't afraid to tell you you need to do things differently.) Attend conferences, seminars, and networking events, both in the CU community and outside of it; consider joining a service organization.

Here's the scoop. We all, no matter what our background or intelligence, fall into a rhythm in our day-to-day lives. That rhythm helps us cope with challenges and change, but it also hobbles us as we try to do our jobs better. As far as I'm concerned, the best antidote is to spend time with people who aren't afraid to tell us we need to do better or to pitch us ideas that can promote excellence.

Do you have people?

Our Web Site More Fully = Us Now

Posted by Lisa Hochgraf

Remember my post "Our Web Site = Us"? (If you do, thank you so much for your faithful reading!) In that post I talked about being embarrassed that our online index of articles for Credit Union Management magazine timed out when a member tried to access the "Trends" article category.

But we're a professional development organization. We believe in growth, learning and making things better. So about a week ago CUES' Web master, Jenny Jackson, sent me an e-mail saying:

"This is now working and it is FAST!"

And so it is. CUES members and non-members alike can now find--rapid-fire fast--past Credit Union Management about everything from ATMs/Kiosks to Lending to Web Design. And a good many of these are on line for your click-through perusal.

No more embarrassment here. This is a great resource!

(Also check out our archives of daily cues.org articles by topic. These include print magazine articles available on line.)

Young People Might Pick Happy Over Wealthy

By Brad Garland, founder, Banktastic.com, and CEO, The Garland Group

People want success. Many people, oddly enough though, work towards someone else's idealistic goal of the American Dream. Spouse, kids, house, dog, car, white picket fence. Why? It's especially surprising considering that following others' ideals can lead to anxiety, depression, and unhappiness. College students have seen their parents work very hard, late nights for years and still come home stressed about barely being able to pay their bills.

Fortunately, kids grow up learning lessons from their parents about what to do and what not to do in life. College students are learning to look for things that will ultimately make them more happy than rich. It will ensure, in any economic situation, they will enjoy what they do. It will also train them to be more fiscally responsible so they can live out their American Dream.

As you work with members to help them find the financial future that's right for them, it may pay off to know whether they want you to talk with them more about how to grow their assets into a large net worth--or more about how financial security can help them do right by themselves and the world. You might start by thinking about younger members as perhaps more likely to pick happy over wealthy.

Below is a video I found from the Get Rich Slowly blog that does a nice job of taking a scientific approach to this problem. Consider this as you put together your next financial education program for members.

Brad Garland is founder of the community site Banktastic.com and CEO of The Garland Group, Wylie, Texas.

Tune in to a New CU Social-networking Site

Posted by Jamie McMahon

Last fall Lisa wrote a post on the "fun first, detailed explanations later" marketing approach, using examples such as the Young & Free Alberta campaign to illustrate how credit unions may be able to draw young people in with entertainment, then mix the "boring" financial-related information into that entertainment or even leave it entirely for later.

While the approach probably isn't ideal in all situations, I think Mount Lehman Credit Union's new online community The Mount Lehman Show is a perfect example of what could be a successful model. It draws you in with its own Facebook-like social network, providing members their own profiles as well as the ability to upload photos, videos and blog posts. That represents the fun.

The information part comes through the actual show, which has online episodes posted at the top of the Web site's home page. They themselves are tinged with a bit of wackiness: The inaugural episode features an introduction from Mount Lehman CU's CEO Gene Blishen, a "get to know an employee" segment, and a clip of the CU's mascot, Payday the horse, dancing on the credit union's lawn. The show, however, only constitutes a small portion of the site, which is dominated by member-generated content.

Why might an online community like this be successful in attracting young people to a credit union? For one, exploring the lighthearted bits and pieces of the site was a refreshing experience for me, a 22-year-old set to enter the worst job market in recent memory and tired of news of economic doom and gloom. But I also think it's important to look at the social-networking capabilities of The Mount Lehman Show as more than just entertainment. Here are a couple ways such capabilities go beyond fun and actually begin to promote loyalty to Mount Lehman CU:

They encourage aggregate behavior. It's easy, even for my me and my friends, to dismiss communities like Facebook and Twitter as nothing more than procrastination tools—as channels through which we generate the ridiculous notion that the world cares about what we have for breakfast every morning. Taken by themselves, for example, my Twitter posts are absolutely useless. But when they're added together, and added to the posts of my friends, they begin to form aggregate behaviors that we all use to guide our daily lives. We may not realize it, but when deciding how to act, what products to buy, and yes, even which financial institutions to trust, we rely more on our friends and these networks than we do on TV or radio ads. What's great about The Mount Lehman Show is it provides a very specific version of that sort of network, allowing young people to explore and gain confidence from financial behaviors of their peers—the most obvious and important behavior, of course, being joining the community and Mount Lehman CU in the first place.

They provide users the means to do something good. My friends and I also want to make the world a better place, and we want to know that we're doing it in significant numbers. (I've seen countless movements succeed on Facebook solely because members saw the sizes of certain groups and realized they could actually make a difference by joining up.) On The Mount Lehman Show site, users can view a video explaining how the CU helps the community, then scroll down and see all the subscribers who have become a part of that. This feeling of collective action is harder to promote if you're simply sending Tweets out to isolated subscribers. (And it's reminiscent of Vancity's changeeverything.ca.)

So I think The Mount Lehman Show adds another level to the “fun first, information later” mantra. Certainly people will stumble upon official information from the credit union through the site, but the information more relevant to them will be obtained through networking with their peers—while they’re simultaneously having fun, that is.

Could this represent the next movement in marketing to Gen Y? Other industries seem to think so: the free service used to create The Mount Lehman Show, Ning, is growing in popularity. Everyone out there is looking to harness the power of social networking, and this allows you to literally focus that power on your organization alone. You can decide exactly what you think fun is to your members, then design your online community to reflect that.

Twitter Success Story

Posted by Lisa Hochgraf

I'm not a Twitter afficionado by any means. I have an account, and good intentions, but I very rarely check in. I must be truly disappointing to those who "follow" me since I have not once tweeted. Never.

But as with most social media channels I've explored, there is sometimes a crystallizing moment in which I realize that real potential exists.

This article/post was one such crystallizing moment for me. Ryan Shell, marketing communications supervisor at $1.1 billionTruliant Federal Credit Union, Winston-Salem, N.C., tells such a story of success about how the CU used Twitter to help--and, therefore, more deeply connect with--a member, that I'm a lot more interested now. 

I encourage you to check out Ryan's post. And if I get the guts to Tweet, I'll be sure to write here about it. 

CUES is now active on Twitter. If you are on Twitter, please follow @TheRealCUES.

Do The Math

Posted by Ron Shevlin, Senior Analyst, Aite Group

Unless you live under a rock (which might not be such a bad idea these days), you can’t help but be exposed to the constant barrage of hype about Twitter. Inevitably, when a new communications-oriented technology comes along, early adopters and evangelists extol its virtues as a tool for reaching – and in this case, servicing – customers and prospects. There’s (seemingly) no end to the number of gushing blog posts congratulating Bank of America and Wells Fargo for handling service requests through Twitter.

Should your credit union follow suit? My answer is NO – at least, not for now. To make my case, let’s do some math. I’d like to share with you the results of research my firm, Aite Group, recently conducted with the Participatory Marketing Network, which has yet to be published.

Marketers generally segment US consumers into four age-based generations: Gen Yers, Gen Xers, Boomers, and Sen… uh, Pre-Boomers. Aite Group and the PMN surveyed Gen Yers to learn more about their social media and financial services attitudes and behaviors.

On to the math: Assume for a moment that your CU’s member base is equally distributed across the generations (this is, of course, a wildly unrealistic expectation, since you’d probably give your right arm to have 25 percent of your member base come from the Gen Y community).

Next, here’s the first data point from our research: Just 22 percent of Gen Yers currently use Twitter. Could this percentage go up? Of course, but since this group is the most avid users of technology, and many see Twitter as something “older” consumers use, it’s anyone’s guess how high this percentage will go, and how fast. And by the way, of those Gen Yers that do use Twitter, 85 percent follow their friends, 54 percent follow celebrities, and just 29 percent follow companies (which, by the way, include credit unions).

More importantly – as far as I’m concerned – is Gen Yers’ response to another question asked in the survey. Of those Gen Yers that use Twitter, just 9 percent said that they’d have no problem sending service-related tweets to the financial institutions with which they do business. Granted, 24 percent said they might do this, but would need more information about how it work. But 65 percent said they wouldn’t use Twitter for service because it’s either not the right channel or they don’t trust their FI to reliably handle the tweet.

Shall we put our math equation together now?

25 percent of members from Gen Y times 22 percent who use Twitter times 9 percent who would use Twitter for service = ONE-HALF OF ONE PERCENT of your member base that you will be creating a Twitter-based service capability for. If your CU has 50,000 members, that’s roughly 250 members.

Now I realize that the Twitterati will counter this argument by telling me that I’m wrong, it’s about the future, about attracting Gen Yers, about establishing a brand image of being innovative, etc. And those aren’t bad counterarguments. But they all fail to address the question that any good credit union executive should be asking here: What are the other alternatives available to the CU to “attract Gen Yers”, “establish a brand image”, etc.?

In other words, could the same objectives be achieved by offering a personal financial management capability online, like Delta Community CU and Stanford FCU are doing with Wesabe and Geezeo?  Or is there another department or function within the credit union that could better use someone’s skills instead of having them focus on Twitter?

And let’s really think through the Twitter service process: Will service tweets have to be re-entered into the CU’s service or CRM apps? If a member calls the CU or walks into a branch, will other CU personnel have the ability to see what was tweeted?

One blogger writes:  “Think about how text banking works.  I text bal to MYCUBAL or whatever and 10 or 20 seconds goes by and my balance comes back. Why don’t we do the same thing with Twitter?  Log into online banking and link your Twitter username to your online banking account.” No security issues or concerns there, eh?

For now, Twitter is like a yo-yo. They both go up and down, they’re fun to play with, but if you’re not careful, you can get hurt. If you want to know how Twitter can hurt, ask the people whose Twitter IDs have been hijacked and have seen vile and disgusting tweets go out under their name.

If your CU’s goal is to attract and retain Gen Yers, providing service through Twitter is not going to be very helpful. I did the math.

Doing the Right Thing the Right Way

Posted by Christopher Stevenson

I had a lousy travel day yesterday. I was traveling back to Madison from Denver where CUES was hosting our School of Business Lending and School of Risk Management. The weather had been marginal and I knew that flights were probably going to be delayed, which is no big deal to me. I figured if I could get as far as Milwaukee, I could rent a car or take a bus and get home. Besides, I was flying Midwest Airlines, one of the few airlines I've never flown, and I was excited since they have a reputation for clean, spacious airplanes and great customer service, even with their recent cost-saving measures.

Time was going to be tight between the end of School of Risk Management and my flight. I had checked in on line and didn't have any baggage to check, so even with returning the car, riding the shuttle to the terminal, going through security, and then riding the tram to my terminal, I managed to get to my gate an hour before my scheduled flight time. I was feeling pretty good about my efficiency.

My flight was delayed. No biggie. I sat at the gate and read my book.

When the plane did come in, the Midwest attendants made an announcement that they wanted to do a quick turn. Once everyone was off the arriving plane, they would board immediately. Fine. The arriving passengers disembarked, we lined up, and filed down the jetway. Since the attendants were in a hurry, they didn't bother to scan boarding passes; they just tore off the stubs and kept us moving.  

I boarded and made my way back to seat 17B, two rows from the back of the plane. Someone was in my seat. We compared our stubs to confirm we were both assigned to the same seat and then flagged down the flight attendant and let her know.

"The flight isn't full, so just sit here in seat 18B. It shouldn't pose a problem." Wrong.

For a so-called fast turnaround, the plane was taking an awfully long time to back up from the gate. I heard murmurings from the flight attendants about there being 38 passengers, but only 37 were supposed to be on the plane. Since I was the one with the duplicate seat assignment, they checked my boarding pass, said it was fine, and then checked it again. Eventually, the flight attendant made her way down the aisle with the passenger list and checked us off one by one. Guess whose name was not on the list.

The flight attendant said nothing more to me and turned back up the aisle, mumbling, "That's the problem."

Things got worse from there.

The loud speaker blared, "Is there a Chris Stevenson on the plane? Chris Stevenson, please raise your hand."

For crying out loud, they knew I was on the plane. They'd looked at my boarding pass twice and just noted that I wasn't on the passenger list.

I raised my hand.

"Chris Stevenson, please come to the front of the plane."

I stood and walked all the way from the back of the plane to the front--past the accusing eyes of my fellow travelers.

When I arrived to the gaggle of Midwest employees near the airplane's door, one of the attendants said, "You're going to miss your connecting flight in Milwaukee."

"I know."

"We re-booked you on another airline."

"What?"

"We re-booked you on a United flight to Madison."

"You didn't tell me that. Why didn't you tell me?"

"You checked in on line and didn't check luggage."

"So?"

"We had no way to tell you."

"I was sitting in the waiting area for over an hour; you could have called me up to the desk."

"Do you know how to get to the United terminal?"

I walked back to my seat, grabbed my bags and my book and exited the plane.

Midwest had the right idea. They saw a potential problem for a customer and proactively made arrangements to mitigate it. But they not only fell short, they made the situation worse. Here's how:

1. They did not consult with me to see if I wanted to be re-booked. What if I'd already made arrangements for my wife to drive the 60 minutes to the Milwaukee airport to pick me up? What if I'd arranged a rental car or shuttle? Midwest could have created a further mess of my travel plans.
2. They never called my cell phone, e-mailed, or sent me a text message, all of which were available to them. At least try to contact me. 
3. The staff at the gate didn't bother to tell me they'd re-booked me. I was at the gate for over an hour. How hard would it be to call me to the desk?
4. The staff didn't follow the proper protocol for boarding the plane. In an effort to be speedy, they skipped an important step designed to keep incidents like this (and worse ones) from happening.
5. The staff on the plane was too lazy to walk to the back of the plane to talk to me quietly and instead chose to announce my name over the loudspeaker, not just once, but twice, and required that I walk the gauntlet among my fellow passengers. A less thick-skinned person would have been humiliated.

As the old maxim goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Midwest had a great start on providing me top-tier customer service, but over and over again they faltered. They failed in their use of technology (how about sending me an SMS?), face-to-face service (don't call me out with a loudspeaker), and finding out what the customer really needed (ask a question, people!). In customer service, halfway doesn't count. If you do the right thing the wrong way, you may actually make a worse impression on your customer than if you'd left things alone.

Midwest Airlines, clean planes aren't enough. How about showing off some of that service you're known for? Oh, and bring back the fresh-baked cookies. 

Why I've Been Silent

Posted by Lisa Hochgraf

I like to say that the surest way to make this editor be without words is to stand her up in front of a group of people and ask her to speak. But in recent history, I found another: Make much of the news be so compelling, so dramatic, so bad, that everything else you could write about pales by comparison.

I posted nothing on this blog from March 11 until last week's "Our Web Site = Us" not because I don't like blogging anymore, but because the stories I was working on for CUES' magazine about the down economy, failures of corporates and the various bailout plans were overwhelmingly important. Even the "good news" stories about CUs helping members acknowledged that times were tough everywhere. Posting about "Our Web Site = Us" or some other "light" topic in the midst of all that seemed somehow petty, small, unthinkable.

But I'm back. I'm inspired by the leadership wisdom of down times as covered in our June theme issue, which focuses, ironically enough on growth: Don't stop acting strategically now--it'll only make your life more difficult when the economy starts to come back up. In that light, I've got posts to write. We have lots of work to do as an industry to be ready to thrive when things start bouncing back.

P.S. If you want to see some of what we CUES editors were working on in response to the economic and corproate crises, check out these March, April and May 2009 Credit Union Management articles:

• Keep the Lights on (about collections),
• 2009: Planning in Chaos (about reaching for opportunity in a tanking economy)
• Wake-up Call (about how boards are dealing with leadership in these times),
• CFO Focus: Pay Now or Pay Later? (about handling corporate bailout accounting),
• Responsible Debt Relief (about a mathematical way to help members and avoid charge-offs) 
• Rising From Ashes (about CUs helping members with personal finance in tough times), and
• Layoffs on the Rise? (about CUs that have had to cut staff).

Our Web Site = Us

Posted by Lisa Hochgraf

Did you ever have one of those experiences that underscores something obvious? My recent work on the CUES membership campaign reminded me that the face of an organization may be just as much digital as personal.

Last Monday and Wednesday, I made calls and swapped e-mails with five credit union executives, with an aim for helping them take fuller advantage of their memberships. I was impressed how this group was definitely checking out cues.org as a first way to get to know the organization, and loved knowing that the CUES Members Share archives have a ton of information for them. Full transparency, though, I was also embarrassed when one of the Management magazine article indexes timed out for one member before it fully downloaded. (We're working on that directly, as well as taking an overall look at the effectiveness of our site.)

So while I was the "face" of CUES for these five executives last week because I was calling and e-mailing, our Web site also played an important role in their perception of their professional development association. Likewise, I imagine tellers and member service representatives at a credit union are critical to its public perception. At the same time, the impact of its Web site should not be underestimated.

Putting the 'Social' in Social Media

Posted by Christopher Stevenson

I've been struggling with social media for business purposes. I have close to 200 connections on LinkedIn, 130 followers on Twitter, and 69 friends on Facebook--only a modest network by some standards. I've met most of the people in my contact list face to face and have formed fast friendships with some, but there are many people in my list that I don't know well or at all. I connected with them because they're smart and I can learn from them, but I can't really count them as part of my network. I don't think we could call or e-mail each other (at least easily and comfortably) because we don't know each other. We know one another's stances on current events in the industry or politically, but have never had a true conversation. Unfortunately, these kinds of contacts are common among social media sites. 

Some have tried to remedy this downside to social media by setting up "tweet-ups," gatherings of  people who are in the same network on Twitter. These gatherings are often at events, like South-by-Southwest or conferences, but seem to be less common among twitterers in a common community. I live in Madison, Wis., and a good portion of the people I follow on Twitter are right here in town, but I've never met them. Tell me, what good is a social network if you don't feel like you can call on it when in need? 

Today, though, I joined a group on LinkedIn called Business Connections of Greater Madison. I found it through a classmate who is also on LinkedIn. I've already connected virtually with a number of business professionals in Madison through the group, but what sets it apart is that it has face-to-face networking events. It breaks down the barriers that are intrinsic to social media and provides real-world ways to connect--really connect--with other professionals.

Social media is most useful if you can convert virtual friends into real-world business contacts. If you use social media, consider coordinating local tweet-ups or networking opportunities. Direct message a contact and set up a lunch. Meet face to face. It can only strengthen your network. 

WOM: Lessons Learned at a FOTC Concert

Posted by Sara Dyer

We all know that negative word of mouth can steamroll a company's reputation, but we typically think of this kind of WOM as a slow-growing fungus. It's causing damage, but it's kind of hidden away from the rest of our business. Left unchecked, it will cause irreparable damage, but if we address it soon enough, it won't cause serious harm. Sites like Yelp! help facilitate the spread, but it's still relatively slow. But sometimes, a company ticks off the wrong person and negative WOM isn't a mold, it's an epidemic.  

Sunday night, I was lucky enough to score tickets to Flight of the Conchords at Madison's Overture Hall (an amazing show, btw--check them out). Their opening act, Eugene Mirman, who has a small recurring role on the band's HBO series, told a story about Delta Airlines losing his luggage. While I can't do his story justice in a blog post, the gist of it is that Delta screwed up, said they were going to fix it, screwed up again, again claimed they would fix it and still did not resolve the issue. In the end, Mirman filed an insurance claim and received a check for his lost belongings.

Now this is where the story gets interesting. Instead of using his claim check to purchase a new suitcase and underwear, Mirman used the money to print thousands of these postcards.

 

He tells his story at concerts, passes out the postcards to all in attendance, and encourages us to mail them in.

Funny? Heck yes. 

Damaging to Delta's already fragile reputation? Without a doubt.

Delta didn't know they were ticking off an influencer. If they had, they might have resolved the lost luggage issue more effectively. But the thing is, we never know our customers'/members' scopes of influence. Understanding that every one of our customers/members may have significant influence raises the bar for our level of service. You never know who you may tick off.

Better yet, you never know who you may please.   

Are You Experienced? CUES Experience Goes Virtual

Posted by Christopher Stevenson

Q: What do you do when you recognize how important it is that you continue your professional development, but you've decided that in the current economic climate, it's best to limit travel to essential business functions? 

A: You find a really affordable way to learn from the thought leaders in the movement right from your desk.

CUES is taking CUES Experience virtual with a new webinar series. Starting on April 30 and continuing through May 27, you’ll have the opportunity to benefit from the educational experience of a conference without the hassle or expense of traveling. Learn from the likes of:

• Steve Williams and Terence Roche, Principals, Cornerstone Advisors, Inc

In this tag-team session, Steve Williams will review the top ten technology trends for credit unions in 2009. Terence Roche will help you identify the best vendors to address those trends with his annual update on the credit union vendor market.

• Pierre Cardenas, Senior VP Retail, Amplify FCU

Advances in online technology now enable financial institutions to help consumers better understand and manage their diverse finances. Online personal financial management (PFM) tools, document management tools and personal dashboards that are directly integrated into home banking are shaping up to be a significant opportunity for credit unions in 2009.

• Jeff Stephens, CEO, Creative Brand Communications

The strongest brands can be smelled, tasted, heard, felt...as well as seen. Stephens will use financial and non-financial examples and case studies from organizations large and small to demonstrate how a credit union can apply new paradigms and practices from other industries to create a powerful, differentiated brand by building brand equity into all the senses.

• Scott Abeel, Vice President, Product Management and Alliances, Q2 Software

Credit unions face the ongoing challenge of providing their members the ability to complete transactions and access their account information while meeting the changing demands of technology. With over 200,000,000 mobile subscribers in the United States today, cell phones and Web-ready smart phones may offer the greatest potential for integrating online, voice and mobile banking—providing your members with a common experience across all three channels.

• Scott Cornell, President/CEO, SilverCloud Knowledge Systems

Modern credit unions have vast piles of information. Expanded services, increased infrastructure, greater regulation and escalating technology have exponentially increased what CUs must know. Credit unions either implode under this weight, or blossom in spite of it. The difference lies in whether the credit union controls this knowledge—or is controlled by it.

• Jeffry Pilcher, CEO/President, ICONiQ

Fewer people are going to branches, and doing so less often. Yet branches aren’t going away anytime soon, and they remain one of the most effective ways to grow your business. But what is the role of the branch going forward? This session looks at how your branch model needs to evolve as transactions move to alternate channels.

• Matt Davis, Director of Public Relations, Members Credit Union

Join Davis and learn why it’s never been a better time to promote thrift, and how a mid-sized North Carolina credit union did just that to attract new deposits, member excitement and international media attention.

• John Levy, Executive Vice President, Integrated Media Marketing (IMM)

An investment in technology to electronically streamline processes which were previously paper-based will help your credit union become eco-friendly—and create long-term efficiencies within your operation. You’ll also benefit from improved member service and reduced operating costs. 

• Kelly Dowell, Executive Director, CUISPA

It seems that security threats are perpetually evolving. Increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, social engineering, and mobile phone threats require you to adapt right along with the threats. Join Dowell as he focuses on the growing need for an integrated security strategy and monitoring system across your enterprise.

There are still more speakers and topics on the CUES Experience Webinar page, so be sure to check them out.

Oh, one more thing to sweeten the deal on these Webinars. CUES will be implementing a whole new Webinar platform to improve interaction and delivery; if you think you've seen a CUES Webinar, think again.