WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – One look at the Credit Union Times' 2005 Association Calendar on pages 28-34 and it's obvious that the number of credit union association conferences and events is on the rise. Credit union associations rely on meetings for a couple of things – to bring in income and to get in front of credit union leaders who ultimately decide the direction of associations. Topics that will surely come up in 2005 are banker attacks, capital issues, serving businesses, finding new CEOs, CEO compensation, CUs converting to mutual savings banks and other issues that are on the minds of credit union leaders. The three major conferences of the year are CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference, CUNA's Future Forum and NAFCU's Annual Conference and Exhibition. While the credit union association calendar is jam packed, credit union leaders are also flocking to credit union vendor meetings. More and more vendors are moving beyond just users' conferences and trying to attract more than just their own clients to meetings by having more diverse agendas and including an exhibitor program. Credit Union Times will run its vendor meetings list in its Jan. 5, 2005 issue. (See box below for more details).