Onsite: High energy Tuesday at #CoopTHiNK 14
Over 600 credit union professionals have made the journey to New Orleans, LA for CO-OP Financial Services’ THiNK 14. From the moment you register you know this is going to be a fast-pasted event that makes full use of technology to encourage attendees to not just sit and listen but to be active participants as well.
Though out the event CO-OP will donate $1 for every tweet with the hashtag #CoopThink to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals up to $10,000. Twitter was a buzz with more then 3,000 #Coopthink tweets in the first two days.
Through out the sessions there was plenty of real-time polling going on through the conference app. It was interesting and sometimes an eye-opening experience to witness the different perceptions of the group on where we stand as an industry.
The morning general session was tagged “Living the Promise”. Speakers Debbie Millman, President of the Design Division at Sterling Brands and Welby Altidor, Director of Creation at Cirque du Soleil discussed how we should, as an industry, embrace the credit union brand promise.
Debbie Millman stated that the credit union industry should be a movement. She discussed how the credit union message appeals to millennials (and to everyone) and how the story needs to be shared with pride.
Welby Altidor spoke on not only meeting the aspirations of the people you are trying to attract but exceeding them. He discussed staying focused on what it is credit unions do, who you are and what you are all about.
The afternoon general session was billed “Consumer Experience”. I have the good fortune of sitting in on a lot of sessions throughout the course of the year. I will tell you Gary Vaynerchuck’s was by far the most impactful I have watched in a long time. If you have to opportunity to listen to Gary speak, do it. You won’t regret it.
The afternoon started with the above mentioned, Gary Vanderchuck, co-founder and CEO of VaynerMedia and Randi Zuckerberg, former Director of Market Development and Spokeswoman for Facebook. Randi is currently the founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media.
Gary Vanderchuck covered so much in his session. The #CoopThink tag on twitter was lighting up with quote after quote. A couple thoughts that have stuck with me that Gary discussed were how we are completely underestimating the speed of change and that we need to market in 2014. This means to stop marketing the way you always have. You can take that past marketing and say stop doing what is comfortable because it’s the way you always have in the past.
Randi Zuckerberg started her conversation talking about the early days of Facebook and the entrepreneur mentality. She talked about the hack-a-thons that still take place at Facebook where people can fast-track ideas. Many of the features that you see on Facebook today come from hack-a-thons. Randi then moved into 10 changes she is witnessing in business. One that stuck out to me was that all businesses are now media companies due to social media.
Day two of THiNK 14 had everyone talking. Stop back tomorrow to find out what CO-OP has in store for Day three. Follow along live on Twitter at #CoopThink.
Make sure to stop by the THiNK 14 Blog for the Daily Recap of Day 2
