A Great Inaugural Conference
I really enjoyed the unique opportunity to share best practices and strategies with my peers from BOTH credit unions AND banks. I also loved the agenda with lots of various topics as it gave us a ton of information in just a few days.
I do hope that this was a learning opportunity from the presenting sponsor's side as well, and hope that some things are taken into consideration when planning the second year. Some of these things include:
1. Adding professional speakers to the agenda. Looking for folks who can not only tell us about their journey, but who can also help us plan and get started on ours as we determine "who we want to be" next.
2. Spreading the conference out over perhaps another full day so that attendees are not as exhausted by the end of the afternoon. In doing so, opportunities could be presented to engage attendees, and maybe even spouses, for area attractions such as harbor tours, sightseeing bus, etc. This way, everyone could have a chance to really chat, get to know one another, and develop a true network of contacts.
3. Another option for ending the day a bit earlier could be to reduce the length of break times outside of lunch. 45 minutes is much longer than any break I've seen at other conferences.
4. Food was somewhat