Monthly Archives: September 2008

See ya at the Symposium!

Partnership SymposiumI’m leaving tomorrow morning for the Partnership Symposium. I’ve been excited about this conference since I missed it last year. Many of my favourite CUers said it was a highlight of the year.

The agenda is amazing and contains some of the best speakers in CU-land. After what happened today in US politics and the global markets, it’ll be very interesting to be at a credit union conference. For me, it’s a very strange time to be in the FI world.

I’m delivering the keynote on the second day. My presentation is called Engaging with the Social Economy, and I’ll be speaking about how Vancity creates community in the areas where we operate.

I’ve never been to Indiana before, but it looks like I’m flying in, doing the conference and flying out, no time for a real visit.

Well, if you’ll be there make sure to say hello!

Didn’t WaMu’s CMO get a memo or something?

I had a surreal moment today.

I read the news that WaMu is now JPMorgan. Great.

When I moved back to Canada five years ago, I left some of our US money in my WaMu account. Well, whatever, it’s a small amount and I’m sure it’ll be fine. And then I get this little email marketing nugget.

WaMu News | The holidays start today.

I got this email TODAY. At 6:47pm. Didn’t their CMO get a memo or something? Am I about to start saving for the holidays… today… at WaMu? Hmmm, let me give that a little thought.

Two things I liked about the email:

  • There was this reminder in the tagline: Deposits at Washington Mutual are FDIC insured. Whew!
  • I can easily unsubscribe from future WaMu email marketing.

What would I have preferred? Some acknowledgement that the bank that holds MY money has been taken over and a link to some information that I need to know about how it affects me. Some recognition of what is actually going on.

WaMu

At least they now have some information for WaMu customers on their homepage about the takeover, which they didn’t when I first received this email.

Say it with me now: Whoo Hoo!

Looking forward to Finance 2.0.

The Finance 2.0 SummitA few months ago I was put in touch with Kristin Rodriguez at Financial Research Associates who was starting to put together a conference about social media and finance. She was calling it Finance 2.0, but beyond that she was simply seeking advice and support to put on a great conference.

Over the next few weeks, we spoke a lot, and she caught on extremely quickly, talking to many of the best and the brightest in the online world of banking innovation. The result is that I’m on the advisory board of what should be an amazing conference at the intersection of community engagement and banking.

Some of the highlights I’m completely looking forward to are (and no offence at all to the people on the agenda I’m overlooking):

  • Trey Reeme – Are You a Spider or a Fly? Defining Your Relationship with the Web
  • Ron Shevlin – Why Are We Talking About Finance 2.0 When We Haven’t Figured Out Finance 1.0?
  • Tim McAlpine – Young & Free Alberta: Integrating Marketing & Social Media to Connect with Consumers
  • Ed Terpening – Crashing the Party: Are Financial Institutions Welcomed on the Social Media Scene?
  • Shari Storm – Best Practices in Blogging: How to Maximize the Benefits of This New Medium
  • Morriss Partee – Perfecting Your Palette: Recipes for a Successful Social Marketing Campaign
  • Jeffry Pilcher – Results 2.0: Using Web 2.0 Tools to Achieve Real Business Objectives

I’ve heard many of these speakers before, and I’m looking forward to hearing from them again

My session is called Using Social Media to Connect With Your Community: It Really Does Change Everything. I’m excited and honoured to be sharing the stage with these amazing thinkers and experts.

I am particularly excited to finally meet the amazing Ed Terpening in person. He will be chairing the whole event, and his take on things should prove illuminating and insightful.

I’m also really excited to hear from Jeffry Pilcher. After meeting him this weekend at BarCampBankBC, and catching his energy and enthusiasm, plus after reading Gene Blishen’s review of a recent presentation, I imagine he will close out the two-day conference with a bang.

If you’re looking for a conference on the future of financial services marketing and engagement, check out The Finance 2.0 Summit – Channeling the convergence of social media and finance: Practical marketing strategies to connect with your customer. Coming to New York January 26-27th, 2009.

Let me know if I’ll see you there!