Posted by Lisa Hochgraf
For me, this week at CUES Experience in Minneapolis was a big, positive, wonderful, well, experience.
I loved spending time with people I've met in the blogosphere, but hadn't yet met in person--Tim McAlpine, William Azaroff, Robbie Wright.
And re-connecting with people I've met at least once before--Brent Dixon, Katy Jett, Deb McLean, Morriss Partee, Ron Shevlin, Steve Williams, Denise Wymore--and, of course, my esteemed CUES colleagues.
And meeting tons of new people and gathering a bunch of ideas for future articles in CUES publications.
I loved my offsite experience to Fair Isaac. (I know talking about credit scores for two hours may sound boring to some, but I learned about a particular score that may help credit unions better serve people who don't have a credit history--whether that's the underbanked or members of Gen Y--and post-visit discussion of how credit scoring played a role in the submprime problem was also worth hearing.)
In all, I say woo hoo!
But probably my biggest takeaway was being inspired about how members can be encouraged to return to improving their financial situations by saving more and paying down debt.
Two speakers--Arkadi Kuhlmann, president/CEO of ING DIRECT, and Musette Bracher, VP/marketing at GECU, El Paso--talked specifically about how their organizations have taken a real stand on this issue. And they think more credit unions can do the same. (If you want more on this topic, watch for my upcoming article on Kuhlmann's session in Credit Union Management magazine, and read more about what Bracher's done in "Inside Marketing: The Savings Revolution.")
What was your big experience from CUES Experience?
