Reflections on Net.Finance East.
Last week I was in New York for Net.Finance East. Truth be told, I’m kind of ODing on conferences, and with all the financial turmoil and chaos affecting the banking sector, I wasn’t sure I was looking forward to this conference. And yet it was one of the best conferences I attended all year.
One of the key signs of a great conference is an engaged audience, looking for ways to contribute and participate by asking good, challenging, insightful questions of the presenters and having good conversations at breaks and in between sessions. That happened in spades.
Maybe it is the tough times we’re in that brought us all together in a spirit of knowledge-seeking and camaraderie. Maybe it was the manageable size of the conference – at about 175 attendees, it was neither too large nor too small. Maybe it was the mix of speakers from FIs large and small, all sharing their stories. Whatever it was, the mix of presentations, attendees and subjects was excellent.
One of the companies I was most excited to hear from was ShoreBank. ShoreBank is a community development bank based in Chicago. They do amazing things to alleviate poverty and economic distress in their community. They truly show the power a financial institution can have when it follows a triple-bottom line business model, and focuses on the economic, social and environmental impact of its business.
I was excited to find out that ShoreBank has launched a blog called ShoreBank Voices Blog. It’s one worth following to see what they do with it. They have experimented with several social media efforts. This is definitely an FI with something to say.
In our first meeting of the advisory board at Net.Finance East, I said that the two FIs I would love to hear from are ShoreBank and Umpqua Bank. I learn as much from the big players like Wells Fargo and Bank of America as I do from outliers like Umpqua and ShoreBank. I was gratified that people responded so positively to these presentations after hearing what these small FIs with different ways of doing business have to say.
I have long admired Umpqua and really enjoyed reading Leading For Growth, the book written by their CEO Ray Davis. They spoke about their Word of Mouth marketing efforts, including The Lemonaire.
There many, many good sessions, including a joint presentation on Mobile Banking by Royal Bank of Canada and Wachovia (I was impressed by their simply showing up). It was a great discussion, perhaps one of the best on the subject I have been at at a conference.
I can’t mention all the presentations here, but almost every one was a solid presentation followed by a dynamic discussion, which made for a very satisfying, productive and informative event.
And now I look forward to staying home for a few months and taking a break from all the conferences.
Age of Conversation 2 – now with more Azaroff.
Several months back, I signed up to write a chapter in the sequel to Age of Conversation, a book where 100 authors each submitted a one page chapter about how social media and community engagement is changing the way we work, communicate and live. It was a good and varied read.
Now there are 237 contributors to Age of Conversation 2, with the theme of Why Don’t They Get It.
The book was released this week and it’s now on sale at lulu.com. All proceeds from the book will again be donated to Variety, the international children’s charity, so it’s all for a good cause.
And here are my fellow contributors:
Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G. Kofi Annan, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw and James G. Lindberg, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem