MADISON, Wis.-The Credit Union Executives Society introduced a new conference pricing policy during 2009, offering its members the opportunity to "Pay What You Can" for two meetings.
According to Dawn Poker, SVP and chief learning officer for CUES, the move was a "great success."
"We did Pay What You Can for our 2009 Symposium and CEO Network," she explained. "Probably the public relations angle was the best. We got a lot of recognition by our members and by the movement as a whole. We also got recognized for innovation by organizations outside the movement."
Barbara Kachelski, SVP and COO for CUES, told Credit Union Journal receipts for the 2009 Symposium came in at approximately 85% of what would have been the full attendance fee. She said this was a "really good indicator" for several reasons.
"First, those who could afford to paid full price," Kachelski assessed. "Those who could not afford it paid, perhaps, 70% of the fee. The amount varied greatly - there were a very small number of people who paid nothing."
For the CUES CEO Network, which took place in November, the figure was 77% of the total attendance fee. Kachelski said CUES has heard from many members who congratulated the Society for this policy - and "those are the ones paying the full price. They tell us they are happy being part of an organization that does something like this."
CUES took a further step of putting a video stream of most conference general sessions online. Kachelski said this allowed those members who could not afford to pay for airfare or a hotel - even with a reduced conference registration fee - to feel as if they were a part of the conference.
"Our mission is professional development, and now more than ever our members are in need of advice and education. So we are happy to do what we can. Other meetings have picked up on our concept. It is gratifying to see the community take notice."
The Pay What You Can option will be applied to the CUES Symposium conference, which takes place the first week of February 2010. Kachelski said this is a necessity as the recession is not completely a topic for the history books.
"We have heard from members 2010 will be just as challenging as 2009. It depends in which part of the country people live, but some credit unions are bracing for 2010."
