Posted by Christopher Stevenson
A year in the making, CUES Experience has finally arrived.
Experience kicks off Tuesday night with a celebration for the Golden Mirror Awards, the highest honor for credit union marketers. It will be a fantastic time to honor the industry's most innovative, creative, and effective marketers with award presentations and a kickin' after-party at the RWFB Rooftop Lounge at the Chambers Hotel. (Thanks to our friends at Priority for helping make the after-party a great time!) There is no other party quite like the GMA after-party!
The thing is, you're bound to be torn between sticking around at the party or going home to get rested up for the following day, which kicks off with an interactive session with Arkadi Kuhlmann, CEO and chairman of ING Direct. I spoke with Arkadi last week and I'm really looking forward to his session. He's promised to share his insights for increasing market share and competing with the traditional big banks. Can't wait.
I'm not just hyped about Arkadi, though. Wednesday continues with breakout sessions from many of the people I admire most in the industry: Steve Williams and Terence Roche from Cornerstone Advisors, Inc.; William Azaroff, the mind behind Vancity's online strategy and community engagement; Morriss Partee, chief experience officer, EverythingCU.com; Ron Shevlin, senior analyst, Aite Group; Tim McAlpine, chief strategist, Currency Marketing, and the driver behind Young and Free Alberta; and the list goes on.
Thursday brings the site visits to some of the most prominent and innovative companies in the Twin Cities area, including the Minnesota Twins, Mall of America, Pixel Farm Interactive, Summit Brewing Company, and Fair Isaac. We're not just touring these companies; we'll sit down with the executives and learn about their approach to business. What do they think sets them apart from the pack? Then we'll return to the conference site for facilitated workshops to distill implementable take-aways for your credit union. No other major CU conference provides such an exciting way to gain a cross-industry perspective.
Steve Williams and Jeremy Gutsche, founder of trendhunter.com, will cap off the week with sessions on IT and Marketing: The Ultimate Collaboration and Unlocking Cool, respectively.
There's no doubt about it, Experience is going to be a trip. I can't wait. If you're there, be sure to track me down and say hello.
