Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

NAFCU just wrapped up a very successful Congressional Caucus on Wednesday. NAFCU's members did a FANTASTIC job lobbying on the Hill and telling the story of our industry. 

Any my colleagues did a great job of organizing the conference, speaking, and assisting our members.

Just after the conference ended, one of our members thanked me. And she said the following...

"Thanks for a great conference. You guys always do it right. You must know the secret to running a good conference..."

If there is a secret, I'm not sure we know what it is. 

I'm being serious.

Judging by my inbox and social media channels, many people are pitching the secret to "this" and "that." I've seen a ton of successful credit unions. And from what I can tell, there's no secret to their success. There's a ton of analysis. Followed by a ton of hard work and execution. 

As for conferences, the process of running a conference is complicated. There are many moving parts, and something unexpected always happens. But there are things you can control. 

What I love about my colleagues is that they seem to have a desire to make things better.

• Doors opening and closing can be a distraction. Someone on our team came up with the idea to have signs asking attendees to open and close doors as quietly as possible.
• Name-tags used to get turned around. Someone on our team found a name-tag design that stays put - so the attendees name always always is showing.
• Weather can be tricky at a conference, and attendees don't often pack an umbrella. Someone on our team now checks the weather to see if we should put our free umbrellas for attendees when rain is likely.

These are small details, but I think they make a difference. But these changes are only possible when a few things take place.

1. A group of people is not satisfied with the status quo and truly believes that things can be tweaked for the better.
2. That same group is willing to take some risks. 
3. And they are open to constructive criticism.

Maybe that's the secret, but I don't see it that way. It's a mind-set, coupled with hard work and consistency. And it isn't just for conferences. It works just about anywhere, I would think.

Luckily, I have a group of colleagues who see things that way. 

Many thanks, guys.