With new lower costs to attend Maryland Credit Union League education sessions-as little as $15, for some-small credit unions need only to "step up to the plate and find time and commitment" to participate, according to Michael Beall, CEO of the Maryland Credit Union League.
The new, lower prices follows an agreement reached with CUNA's Center for Professional Development (CPD). The partnership allows MDCUL to plan local sessions and utilize expert speakers from CPD.
"For us as a smaller league, that was a big step," he said. "They have become our back office support for education. Now we have 40 people in Madison (Wis.) helping us set up those sessions."
Beall said the terrific response from credit unions thus far has allowed the league to restructure its cost scale so more small credit unions can participate.
"We see a lot more support from credit unions coming out and going through the training," he said. "The next stage is really to try to reach out to small credit unions."
Traditionally, all credit unions were charged $259 per attendee for a full-day session and $159 for a half-day. Under the new plan, rates are reduced 50% for CUs under $20 million, 75% for CUs under $10 million and 90% for CUs under $2 million. Cost for the latter to attend a full day session is now $25; half-day, $15.
Beall said costs to attend MDCUL's Annual Meeting and Convention were also slashed to $129 for CUs with less than $20 million in assets, $65 for those with less than $10 million in assets, and $25 for those with less than $2 million in assets. Credit unions with more than $20 million in assets will continue to pay full price for both the education sessions and the annual events.
Beall said league officials plan to reach out more to small credit union leaders to find out what topics interest them and how they would like the information to be presented.
"We're planning to do some conference calls to let them know what's coming up at the league and get feedback from them as to what they want," he said. "We want to make sure they know they have a stake in the sessions."
He said there has been some experimentation with evening and Saturday sessions-the latter didn't do so well-and some discussion to plan special days in which multiple topics are offered.
