BOXBOROUGH, Mass. — While many trade associations are seeing conference attendance dwindle this year, three state leagues unveiled a brand new conference.
The Massachusetts and New Hampshire Credit Union Leagues, the Credit Union Association of Rhode Island and the Warren Group, recently hosted the first Great New England Credit Union Show.
The one-day event presented a variety of services, equipment and technology, in addition to seminars relevant to credit unions. The show was designed for CU management, mortgage experts and other financial services professionals as a central forum to learn about services and technology.
"This is a great opportunity to draw credit union executives from around the region for a day of education, networking and interaction with the over 80 companies and organizations that are genuinely excited about the opportunity to talk about how they can meet the needs of credit unions," said Rob Kimmett, SVP, marketing for the Massachusetts CU League, New Hampshire CU League and the CU Association of Rhode Island.
Kimmett said attendees had access to 20 breakout sessions focused on the challenges that they are facing their credit unions "as well as new tools to take advantage of the opportunities that the marketplace is presenting."
The take-away from the Great New England Credit Union Show will vary from person to person, he said. "I expect that some will have met peers that clued them into an interesting new way to approach doing business. Others may have learned something vital in a session on business lending conducted by the SBA or about Web 2.0," he said. "Some others will have taken a new advantage of the opportunity to learn about some companies that have great new solutions for them."
Kimmett noted that today's struggling economy did not impact the show's attendance.
"If anything, the economy is driving attendance up as credit unions executives look for better ways to do business," he said. "In addition the show is local and the admission is only $25 per person, and that fee is waived if the attendee is sponsored by an exhibiting vendor. We think that this show presents a pretty compelling value proposition in this economic climate."
