Sept. 3, 2025

Behind the Scenes of ACU Strategic Growth Conference

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What if the next conference you attended didn’t just inspire ideas, but actually drove change? In this episode of Leaders in Lending, hosts Lynn Sautter Beal, Drew Megrey, and Barry Roach share practical strategies for turning insights from ACU Strategic Growth Conference into meaningful action. They explore how credit unions can prioritize takeaways, implement initiatives, and keep momentum going long after the event ends. From selecting the right vendor partners to engaging frontline staff, this conversation is packed with tactical advice. Plus, they challenge common assumptions about the value a conference can translate to in business.
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Do you come back and your energize. It's like, oh,

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we could do this, we could do this, we could

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do this, and there's all great ideas and then life

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gets in the way.

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There's multiple different sessions that will be beneficial now or

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maybe later in your line of business. Download all of

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it while you're there.

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Sometimes the best ideas don't always come from the agenda

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or from the speakers. It's from having lunch with the

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guy across from me who's got the same problem I have.

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Maybe pick small things to do, like it doesn't have

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to be we're going to.

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Change our entire contact center strategy.

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We're going to do a very small AI chat pilot

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in one thing. So thinking about how you can maximize

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your credit union's time at a strategic growth can be overwhelming.

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So how do you turn what you learned into action?

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So we're going to talk about how to prioritize, implement,

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and keep the momentum going going back into your credit union.

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So Barry Drew, how can teams prioritize all of the

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ideas that they hurt at strategic growth with getting overwhelmed

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with just the sheer amount of things that you could

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spend time on.

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Well, I think it's going to start with one, how

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many people you have going to the conference, right, So

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there's some credit unions going to send multiple people. There's

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gonna be some credit unions going to send one person

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and getting a download one before you go, and prioritizing

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where you want to start at the conference. Is it

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with vendors, is it specific types of topics that you

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want to bring back to the credit union? Then setting

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up you know, if it's multiple individuals, who's going to

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cover what part of the conference? If it's one single individuals,

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are there people from the credit union that are going

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to decipher that they want to learn more about X,

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Y and z, And how do you bring that action

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item back to the credit union based on how many

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people you have at the conference?

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Yeah, And I think also these are typically more seasoned

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professionals going to these conferences, so they usually would have

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a team of people maybe reporting to them. And so

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I always found with these sorts of conferences, it was

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always useful to at least share the agenda before you

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go to the conference with your team, see if there

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are other topics that may not necessarily be of interest

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to me as the attendee, but certainly others on my

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team may be thinking about that, So try and sort

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of get ahead of it a little bit and understand

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that which sorts of topics are going to be most

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important and most salient for the credit union strategy.

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I think on that too, like the majority of the

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time there's credit union professionals from the credit union that

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are going to these conferences. But we've been to multiple

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conferences where someone from the Board of Directors is there

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and the Board of Directors has this holistic view of

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you know, all things from growth perspective, get a download

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from the internal teams before the Board of Directors comes back,

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and then bring it back to the el T post

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that post the conference.

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What sort of personas do you see attending? And I

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think Barry you said that you know, it tends to

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be more kind of senior leaders the credit union. Is

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it across different areas where lending member services or like,

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how do you think about that? And maybe that difference

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for the size of the credit union too, of how

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many people they say and what levels.

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They are, I think size of the credit un but

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also the topic of the conference of self strategic growth.

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To me, there's more of a connotation of more of that.

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The chief strategy officer, maybe a chief operations officer, the

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marketing folks certainly would be interested in going to it

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from a from a growth perspective. Those are usually the

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personas that that we encounter at these conferences. But understand

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that there's topics there for everyone throughout throughout the credit

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un many different competencies that there's gonna be some great

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ideas come out of it. And now how do we

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actually take those great ideas and actually turn them into

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actionable items for a credit UNI.

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Yeah, and that's a I guess kind of a great

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follow up question.

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Like you know, as you you send people to conferences,

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you're you know, you're spending money as an organization, you

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want to get something out of it. They may have

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their board of directors members there, So how do you

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think about maybe ideas where leaders could help build that

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accountability and and uh and kind of turn some of

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those things into actionable items when they come back.

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You have, in any line of it business some type

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of strategic planning session, and you should have a strategic

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planning session around conferences if you're going to multiple conferences,

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whether it be strategic growth or GAC or all these

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other different conferences the ACU runs. Have a dedicated team

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to again going back to what I was saying, have

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a team dedicated to X problem. Why problem? Then bring

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that back internally and then how can you create internally

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of the strategic plan something that's going to be looked

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at on an ongoing basis. So you have quarterly business

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reviews as your line of business pretty standard. Are you

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coming out of these conferences and looking at these actual

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items actually taking place or have they kind of gone

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back into the repository of things that aren't as important.

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Maybe having some type of plan like that.

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You know, that's a good point because I think a

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corely check in on this is so important. It used

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to be just full disclosure. As a former credit and

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CEO charged with making sure the strategic plan was updated

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on an annual basis, way back in the day, we

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would complete the strategic plan and it almost went on

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the shelf a little bit. It wasn't really looked at

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as much anymore. And I think now the strategic plan

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can really be used to center the entire organization around

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what the vision emission is and then the tactics I

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think come out of that strategic plan. The timing of

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this growth conference is very beneficial because being in August,

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you start to see a lot of strategic plan conferences

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and I should say within the Credit Union board, strategic

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retreats and someone happening in the fall in order to

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get into planning and budgeting for the next fiscal year.

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So that's again the timing is great, but let's just

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make sure that what we're taking from that strategic plan

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is not just kept within the strategic plans, it's being

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looked at on a regular basis, and again centering things

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around st.

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Yeah, and you think about like the lending space and

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just financial services in general evolves so much in a

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month two months. You never know what's going to come

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in the news. Maybe something that you said in a

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session at a conference doesn't pertain to your business today,

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but it could in two months as things shift with

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it within your internal rails.

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Yeah.

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So I think that there's probably any any number of

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topics that they're hearing about any conference, but particularly as

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strategic growth. How do they think about maybe finding the

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right topics that can have the fastest impact because you

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do have these like planning cycles.

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You've got to plan for next year get.

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Things into the budget and into the both the people,

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people and money resources.

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But what are some of the big takeaways that.

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You think from a product strategy that could drive the

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fastest growth.

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Yeah. I think a lot of times we go to

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these conferences, we get these new ideas and we're like, oh, well,

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we have some maybe we don't have the systems in

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place to actually operationalize it's the way we want to

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and sometimes bringing on new systems and bringing on new

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vendors that can be a year long process. There's a

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whole lot of due diligence required and the whole vendor

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management process that maybe has to front the ability to

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actually execute on a new idea. I mean, credit unions

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have a lot of systems today and aren't necessarily harnessing

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all the power of it. Like, maybe there are some

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ways that we could operationalize some of these new ideas.

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It may not be perfect, it may not be the

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optimum member experience that you want, but let's at least

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get some quick wins and some quick successes. And in parallel,

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if you think that there's another system or another vendor

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who you think could do it better, you can in

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parallel look through that whole vendor management process. But at

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the same time, let's get some quick wins now with

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utilizing the tools.

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That we already have and on that too. There's multiple

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different sessions that will be beneficial now or maybe later

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in your a lot of business. But download all of

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it while you're there, and then going back time to

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the kind of to these QBRS sessions. Just because something

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isn't viable to your business in the short term within

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the next two or three months, make sure you're able

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to again download all of that and be able to

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come back and look and say, Okay, this probably makes

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sense for us now we have this integration conversation that

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we had with X y Z vendor. This might make

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sense for us now, and then you can re explore it.

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Yeah, I think very one of the things you said

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made a lot of sense. Like you know, maybe pick

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small things to do, Like it doesn't have to be

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we're going to change our entire contact center strategy.

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It could be that we're going to do a.

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Very small AI chat pilot in one thing like helping

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with account opening or something specific, so you can you

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don't need to kind of all the ocean you can.

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You can try to pick some meaningful use cases and

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test pilots out there too.

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Yep, small bites of the apple.

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Right, Yep, absolutely, I think.

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And then you know, as you think about that, like

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new partnerships, new vendors, identifying the ones that are worse

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than spending more time on you know, what are some

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of the what are some of the recommendations you'd make

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to credit union leaders as they're thinking about like how

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to do that, like how to figure out what.

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Is most meaningful and where to start eating that apple?

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Well, I think at any conference, I've always in my past,

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same as Barry prior to CEO Credit Union, go hit

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all of the vendors. They may not be the vendor

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for you right, but they may be the vendor for

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you in six years, six months. What have you get

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the full download from all of them. Another thing that

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you're going to get at a conference that you're not

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going to get over zoom teams what have you is

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you're going to get a general sense of the potential

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engagement of that vendor or that relationship that you have

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with that vendor. You're going to be able to get

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all of that at a conference rather than again on

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a zoom So make sure, you says side time at

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any conference that you go to to hit all of

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the vendors and get their perspective on what they can

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offer to your credit union, and then you can utilize

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that as part of your short term long term strategy.

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Yeah, and use your network. I mean, if I know

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that Lynn deals with XYZ company, and I know Linn

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personally and I can get together for coffee or cocktail

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after the conference, then let's talk about how has that

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relationship been going for you. Did it meet your expectations,

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is it growing in concert with your growth potential within

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your credit union? Do they hit their slas their service

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level agreements? Just sort of simple things like that. Because

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partnerships are so important now for credit unions, you cannot

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do everything that you need to do in order to

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move your member experience further with just internally with You're

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going to need help from others, and that help can vary.

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You know, Sometimes that help can hinder, sometimes that help

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can amplify your credit union value proposition in such a

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way that really does give you a really unique place

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in the marketplace and really sort of drives things forward

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from a member experience perspective. So use your network for that.

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They are the people who can tell you whether this

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is going to work for you or not.

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Yeah, And I like something I think Drew said about,

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you know, getting in front of folks, You're kind of

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getting a sense for who they are as people, what

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they would be like to work with, versus just what

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is the tech, because I think sometimes the tech can

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be a little bit harder to sess out differentiation. But like,

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are these people who are going to be business partners

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of yours like extensions almost like staff augmentation to help

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you do the things that you can't do internally. And

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how do they support you once you are in that

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implementation process or using their products?

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I think on that too. If you do meet with

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a specific vendor and that meets your strategy right now

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00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:23.960
you're in person, any vendor or potential partner is going

244
00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:27.480
to take the coffee or the cocktail you're If you're

245
00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:30.120
interested in what they're saying right now, you can elaborate

246
00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.759
on that while in person, rather than setting up some

247
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random thirty minute to an hour meeting a month from now,

248
00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:37.919
and then you could take that back to your team

249
00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:39.919
and it could be something a benefit.

250
00:11:40.279 --> 00:11:43.759
Sure, And I think you know we talked about the timing.

251
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Right now, you're kind of going into the fall planning cycle,

252
00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:50.440
planning for next year, but like a lot of these

253
00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:53.000
things or longer term projects or maybe as you said,

254
00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:55.039
things that are meaningful.

255
00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:57.279
A year from now but maybe are not your top priority.

256
00:11:58.240 --> 00:12:00.120
How can credit unions going to keep that moment to

257
00:12:00.120 --> 00:12:03.120
them going after the event reps like keep these ideas fresh,

258
00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:06.960
keep that kind of roadmap moving forward, even if they

259
00:12:07.000 --> 00:12:08.519
can't tackle everything today.

260
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From personal experience being at these conferences, you come back

261
00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.440
and your energize, it's like, oh, we could do this,

262
00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:15.000
we could do this, we could do this, and there's

263
00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:17.840
all great ideas and then life gets in the way,

264
00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:20.919
your your normal business gets in the way. Or now

265
00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:22.639
there's a problem that I've got to I've got to

266
00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:25.159
drop everything to solve and you know, next thing, you know,

267
00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:28.240
it's two weeks, it's two months after and you know

268
00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:31.159
that all those ideas are still there, but nothing's really

269
00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:35.399
been operationalized. So it is critically important to actually you've

270
00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:39.519
got to schedule time for yourself to actually get these

271
00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:42.159
ideas down on paper, to engage with those in your

272
00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:44.600
credit union who can help you push these ideas forward.

273
00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:48.879
To actually be able to take meaningful steps towards making

274
00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:51.279
the change that you want to make. But you've got

275
00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:54.600
to You've got to create that time for yourself. Otherwise

276
00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:56.840
it just gets soaked up with the day to day

277
00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:59.960
that that tends to sort of permeate everything that we do.

278
00:13:00.279 --> 00:13:02.080
And if you can build a team around it, right,

279
00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:05.159
if you have a team that is dedicated to conference strategy,

280
00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:08.720
are there specific check ins? How often are those check ins?

281
00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:11.759
Going back to the QBR type of sense. If they're

282
00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:14.039
able to kind of run the whole strategy of what

283
00:13:14.120 --> 00:13:17.039
conferences bring for value to a credit union and you're

284
00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:19.639
doing monthly check ins there, then it doesn't go on

285
00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:20.480
the shelf, right sure?

286
00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:21.320
True?

287
00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:25.919
I think something maybe the credit unions could also pick

288
00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.159
up on that we tend to do a tech companies

289
00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:31.080
like Upstart, is this idea of hack weeek. I you

290
00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:34.000
know where you have like little teams that maybe you can't.

291
00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:36.559
Allocate resources fully to.

292
00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:38.639
Say an innovation team or more of an R and

293
00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:41.559
D team, but can you have like kind of competitions

294
00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:44.159
between different teams. Do see what you can do in

295
00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:46.600
small little bite See what that the people who are

296
00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:48.480
doing the work can come up with using the tools

297
00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:48.799
that they have.

298
00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:52.080
Hack Week is a perfect metaphor here because I know

299
00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:54.639
some credit unions do have some sort of a Hack

300
00:13:54.679 --> 00:13:59.399
Week type of event, not many of them, but really

301
00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:03.200
all should in some respects because think of it from

302
00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:07.200
upstarts perspective. How many new innovations have we come up with?

303
00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:08.879
There are new ways of thinking have we come up

304
00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:11.440
with in terms of approaching a problem from Hack Week.

305
00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:14.799
We've even created solutions to problems we didn't even know

306
00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:17.720
we had through Hack Week. And think about taking that

307
00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:21.240
same concept at the crediting space. It could be very

308
00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:24.600
very powerful to again move your company forward the way

309
00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:25.120
you want.

310
00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:27.320
Even if it's not Hack Week or whatever you want

311
00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:31.559
to classified as it's not that much time in essence

312
00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:34.679
to build long term short term strategy. As it relates

313
00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:36.519
to this, even if you were to set aside a

314
00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:39.320
day or two days, if there was a dedicated timeframe

315
00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:41.399
of being able to do this, then to burious point

316
00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:45.519
you'd be able to get more out of the scope

317
00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:47.120
of what you're trying to accomplish.

318
00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:49.919
And I think from an employee development and engagement too,

319
00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:52.039
if people feel like they have a voice and they're

320
00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:54.720
not just being kind of told what what innovation looks

321
00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:56.279
like and what to do like. You may come up

322
00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:59.799
with some great ideas that aren't visible except for somebody

323
00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:01.639
who kind of doing that job day to day whom

324
00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:02.120
I see it.

325
00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:04.840
And that's where you get that stuff, is you have

326
00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:07.240
dedicated times set away from not doing your day to

327
00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:10.679
day that you get solutions and you get people thinking,

328
00:15:10.759 --> 00:15:14.759
and it translates into better types of things across.

329
00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:18.120
The I mean, I love that point about It could

330
00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:20.000
be anyone in your credit UNI who's going to sort

331
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:22.399
of have that bright idea to move things forward. It's

332
00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:25.759
ironic that management teams tend to be the ones to

333
00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:28.799
go to conferences and come up with these solutions to

334
00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:32.039
member issues. When how much member contact do they have?

335
00:15:32.279 --> 00:15:35.200
Usually when I was CEO, I had member contact usually

336
00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:36.039
when there was a problem.

337
00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.919
Sure, when it was a real problem, or you.

338
00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:40.600
Know, certainly when we had events and so on, a

339
00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:42.440
lot of handshaking and kissing babies and so on and

340
00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:45.039
so forth. But for the most part, I'm getting problems, right,

341
00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:47.679
someone who's really really mad at us. But guess what

342
00:15:47.720 --> 00:15:52.360
my tellers, my senior loan officers, my branch managers, my

343
00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:57.039
contact certed people are dealing with people daily, and they

344
00:15:57.080 --> 00:15:59.080
are the ones who can tell you, do we really

345
00:15:59.159 --> 00:16:00.919
have a good value problem position out there? Are we

346
00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.600
really executing on what we want to do for our

347
00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:06.759
membership or not? And they can probably even tell you

348
00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:09.360
some of the things you could do better or the

349
00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:13.320
reasons why you're not actually performing as well as you

350
00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.080
think you should. So I think it's even more important

351
00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:21.879
to bring those people into these sorts of brainstorming sessions

352
00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:24.519
to try and find the real Lindstaff.

353
00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:26.639
For the core of why you're doing what you're doing right.

354
00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:31.080
Great, Well, if you're enjoying these insights, please leave us.

355
00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:35.000
A rating on Spotify helps more industry leaders discover the show,

356
00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:37.519
and your support means we can keep the conversation going

357
00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:41.360
all right. Next we are going to talk factor fiction,

358
00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:45.360
So we're breaking down real opinions about conferences, deciding if

359
00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:48.039
we're on board with the time and resources that it

360
00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:51.720
takes to attend them or not. So there's some people

361
00:16:51.720 --> 00:16:53.679
who may think that you can learn more from LinkedIn

362
00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:56.399
in a week than at a three day conference.

363
00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:00.559
So what is that various? A little bit of a

364
00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:01.519
skeptical face.

365
00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:04.359
Going, how's your LinkedIn feed looking lately it's a little bit.

366
00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:07.039
You know, Facebook is at some point not to slag

367
00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:10.680
on linkedinn because LinkedIn is a very useful tool, I think,

368
00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:13.839
especially in our business as we network with others in

369
00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:16.960
the industry and so on. And look, there are some

370
00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:20.000
ideas that come through LinkedIn, but I find that the

371
00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:22.279
idea itself from LinkedIn is more a click or too

372
00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:24.559
away from actually being something that I can act, that

373
00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:27.319
I can utilize. So I want to I don't just

374
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.559
want Lend's opinion on I actually want to look at

375
00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:32.359
the source of this information that's being provided to me

376
00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:37.640
and sort of discern it for myself. Conferences are are

377
00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:41.559
still a valuable resource in order to get those new ideas,

378
00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:44.039
and I'll tell you that sometimes the best ideas don't

379
00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:47.759
always come from the agenda or from the speakers. It's

380
00:17:47.799 --> 00:17:50.720
from having lunch with the guy across from me who's

381
00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:53.640
got the same problem I have, or is looking at

382
00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:56.119
implementing the same solution, or even better, has already put

383
00:17:56.119 --> 00:17:58.680
in the same solution that I'm considering. And that's where

384
00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:00.480
I'm getting the really valuable idea. I don't know what

385
00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:01.640
your experience has been.

386
00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:04.200
No, I agree, I'm on point with you as it

387
00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:07.440
relates to the scope of what LinkedIn looks like now.

388
00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:10.200
But LinkedIn you're able to go find things right and

389
00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:13.599
it's going to give you something in return. But generally speaking,

390
00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:17.400
what's on LinkedIn is not as much of a download

391
00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:19.359
that you can get at a conference or even in

392
00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:22.319
a Wall Street Journal article. It's very tailored to whatever

393
00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:25.720
the post is about. Emojis always are part of the post,

394
00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:28.920
whereas at a conference you're still able to pick and choose,

395
00:18:28.920 --> 00:18:33.519
but you're getting that full breadth of relationship building elaborating

396
00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:37.279
on whatever the session entailed at a further discussion. So

397
00:18:37.400 --> 00:18:39.839
I would say, if we're going to define factor fiction

398
00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:40.839
that I would say fiction.

399
00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:44.039
Yeah, I'd say fiction as well. And one other thing

400
00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:48.039
with the conference is you're in sessions with experts and

401
00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:51.240
you actually have the ability usually in these sessions to

402
00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:52.720
be able to have a Q and A after So,

403
00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:55.480
you know, I've got a burning question that I've been

404
00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.599
really looking for an idea or an answer to you,

405
00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:01.599
I should say, and perhaps there's an opportunity to do

406
00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:04.920
that in the session, or perhaps you catch that person afterwards,

407
00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:07.160
you know, after the crowd is left, then you can

408
00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:09.799
engage in that one on one conversation with that expert

409
00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:12.319
and perhaps get a little bit of a deeper answer

410
00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:12.839
to the questions.

411
00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:15.519
Yeah, the sessions are spaced out far enough in advance.

412
00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:18.440
I remember I was at Strategic Growth maybe two years

413
00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:20.880
or so ago, presenting on behalf of Upstart, and the

414
00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:22.720
amount of people that came up to me to ask

415
00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:25.759
all things upstart as part of the presentation. It was

416
00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:28.799
kind of overwhelming. But exactly, you could just walk up

417
00:19:28.839 --> 00:19:30.480
and they're going to have that dialogue with you if

418
00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:32.240
they want to get further clarification.

419
00:19:32.359 --> 00:19:35.039
Right two years ago, AI and lending, Yeah, I mean

420
00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:37.519
was a big topic. So I'm sure you're a very

421
00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:38.079
popular guy.

422
00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:38.400
I was.

423
00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:40.079
You always are a popular guy, but.

424
00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:45.160
Let's be honest, extra popular. Yeah, that's maybe a cautionary

425
00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:47.279
tale on use of LinkedIn. If you're using things like

426
00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:50.359
chad GPT to help write your LinkedIn posts, that last

427
00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:53.000
prompt that says would you like me to do X

428
00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:56.160
y Z, don't copy and paste that into your LinkedIn

429
00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:00.799
Occasionally I see that and it clearly into ca They

430
00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:04.240
missed removing that line, so I think you touched on

431
00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:04.839
it a little bit.

432
00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:07.880
Already vary about where some of the best value can

433
00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:10.599
be added, but but there can't.

434
00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:12.839
Some people have this perception that conferences maybe are just

435
00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:14.039
a little bit of echo chambers.

436
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:15.200
You know, the same.

437
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:21.440
Speakers, same topics, you know, not really challenging the status quo.

438
00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:23.160
What do you both think about that?

439
00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:27.400
I would say that's fiction. Again, every conference that I've

440
00:20:27.400 --> 00:20:32.759
been to, I've always come back with ideas or maybe

441
00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:36.480
some concepts that I hadn't really considered before. And again,

442
00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:39.799
whether that came from a speaker in the agenda, whether

443
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:44.119
that came from a conversation with another attendee, but no,

444
00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:48.119
this is pushing my thinking forward. So yeah, I.

445
00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:52.359
Would agree on fiction. Going back to your point earlier, Barry,

446
00:20:52.440 --> 00:20:57.759
you have multiple people there that are probably reoccurring speakers vendors,

447
00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:01.359
but things evolve. What they said last year at the

448
00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:04.319
conference could be different, and if you're in those sessions,

449
00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:07.880
it's much easier to get their expertise as it relates

450
00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:10.680
to that at this current state in comparison to the

451
00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:11.359
prior conference.

452
00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:14.400
They're experts because they are experts, and they're exactly they're

453
00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:16.759
regular invities to speak because.

454
00:21:16.440 --> 00:21:17.440
They add value.

455
00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:18.119
Yeah, exactly.

456
00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:21.240
All right, So so last one and we actually talked

457
00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:24.240
about this a little bit about you know, whether how

458
00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:27.680
many people they can send from different sized organizations and

459
00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:32.880
what the value is for the attendees. But do conferences

460
00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:35.920
maybe only perception that they benefit the biggest credit unions

461
00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.720
who have these large teams and maybe particularly like an

462
00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:41.160
innovation or transformation group that can go.

463
00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:42.960
Factor of fiction.

464
00:21:43.559 --> 00:21:46.319
So the bigger credit unions, they already have a very

465
00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:49.160
built base of their institution, right, they know what they

466
00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:51.039
want to do on a short term, long term strategy.

467
00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:55.160
Getting off of that track is probably much harder than

468
00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.319
for smaller institutions. So I think the benefit of conferences

469
00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:01.519
is actually greater for small institutions because they get a

470
00:22:01.720 --> 00:22:05.359
further depth of what can be offered to create a

471
00:22:05.400 --> 00:22:08.839
growth strategy as part of their smaller institutions all hedge.

472
00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:10.200
It's a little bit of a factor and a little

473
00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:12.720
bit of a fiction. So I was CEO of a

474
00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:14.839
credit UNI that was about two hundred and seventy five

475
00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.000
million assets, and I would ceeover credit U there's almost

476
00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:19.279
a billion. So the ability for us in the smaller

477
00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:21.880
credit union to take some of these actionable ideas, they

478
00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:24.359
weren't very actionable for us because we either didn't have

479
00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:26.160
the resources. We didn't have the car, we didn't have

480
00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:29.559
the expense budget for it, we didn't have the revenue

481
00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:33.720
to support the potential expense that this would be. So

482
00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:37.240
our ability to actually turn this into actionable AMS was

483
00:22:37.319 --> 00:22:40.000
somewhat new to it, a little bit at a larger

484
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:42.640
credit union, a lot more resources, a lot more people,

485
00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:46.240
and I'll say even from a board perspective, the board's

486
00:22:46.279 --> 00:22:48.839
expectations at larger credit UNI were a little bit broader,

487
00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:52.759
a little bit larger than just sort of a shorter

488
00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:58.559
term service strategic objective that we were really charged with

489
00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:01.960
moving this organization forward as fast as we could, because

490
00:23:02.039 --> 00:23:04.400
although okay, billion dollar credit UNI is big, not so

491
00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:06.720
much anymore. I mean, you know, credit unis are getting

492
00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:08.480
bigger and bigger and bigger, and so I had to

493
00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:11.319
compete in a very large metropolitan area with five and

494
00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:14.839
ten billion dollars and twenty billion dollar credit unies. So again,

495
00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:17.119
you know, our ability versus what they could do is

496
00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:19.640
somewhat nearer to do as well. But yeah, i'd say

497
00:23:19.640 --> 00:23:21.559
it's a little bit of a fact and in fiction,

498
00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:25.359
but I would not let that dissuade anyone from attending

499
00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:27.759
the conference, because you're going to get an idea that's

500
00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:30.039
going to be helpful for you in some way, shape

501
00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:30.519
or fashion.

502
00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:32.519
A mean it is what you make of it, right,

503
00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:34.640
if you bring it back and you can implement, or

504
00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:36.839
if you can even learn some new things, they can

505
00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:39.319
help you do the things you're doing better. That they're

506
00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:42.240
in it of itself has value. Thank you so much

507
00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:43.519
for listening to leaders in lending.

508
00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:44.599
We will see you next time.