A prairie girl goes to Nashville
by. Jill Huls
The first thing I learned at the CU Water Cooler is that borders and countries are pretty irrelevant\u2014credit Union people are awesome everywhere. So, I missed booking my hotel room in Nashville. With concerts and sporting events overlapping the Cooler, rooms were tough to come by and a wee bit on the pricey side. Sara Dyer (whom I had never talked to nor met before) ended up working some magic and absolutely went above and beyond by hooking me up in the conference hotel and at the conference rate. Hadn\u2019t even made it to the Cooler yet and there it was in action: people helping people. Thanks again Sara!
After making it to the Cooler and having a place to sleep, within 24 hours I learned cool stuff and met cool people in an open, engaging environment where speakers and participants engaged in constructive and challenging conversations. Here are five things and people that come to mind.
1. People helping people
On the night before the conference, dinner with the Currency crew and Young & Free supporters opened my eyes even wider to some really passionate CU\u2019ers across North America working with Young & Free. Did you know Young & Free partnerships have been a part of growing 125,000 new young members in the CU system over the life of program? Pretty cool. We also learned that evening that karaoke is serious business in Nashville, at times creepy, but serious. I can only imagine how creepy the nude karaoke would have been. Only one of our crew had the skills to sing with the stars. Uhhh, the Alabama girls were great singers too\u2026 in their own wonderful way. Roll Tide Roll.
","engine":"visual"}" data-block-type="2">It has been a week now since I returned from the CU Water Cooler in Nashville, which was a fabulous experience from my view. All week I have had questions about the view of the Cooler experience, what I learned, who I met. Thought I would share.
The first thing I learned at the CU Water Cooler is that borders and countries are pretty irrelevant—credit Union people are awesome everywhere. So, I missed booking my hotel room in Nashville. With concerts and sporting events overlapping the Cooler, rooms were tough to come by and a wee bit on the pricey side. Sara Dyer (whom I had never talked to nor met before) ended up working some magic and absolutely went above and beyond by hooking me up in the conference hotel and at the conference rate. Hadn’t even made it to the Cooler yet and there it was in action: people helping people. Thanks again Sara!
After making it to the Cooler and having a place to sleep, within 24 hours I learned cool stuff and met cool people in an open, engaging environment where speakers and participants engaged in constructive and challenging conversations. Here are five things and people that come to mind.
1. People helping people
On the night before the conference, dinner with the Currency crew and Young & Free supporters opened my eyes even wider to some really passionate CU’ers across North America working with Young & Free. Did you know Young & Free partnerships have been a part of growing 125,000 new young members in the CU system over the life of program? Pretty cool. We also learned that evening that karaoke is serious business in Nashville, at times creepy, but serious. I can only imagine how creepy the nude karaoke would have been. Only one of our crew had the skills to sing with the stars. Uhhh, the Alabama girls were great singers too… in their own wonderful way. Roll Tide Roll.