GREENSBORO, N.C. – In a joint venture with an eye on drawing attendance from the entire East Coast, the North Carolina and Virginia Credit Union Leagues will be holding a first-time Eastern Marketing Council Conference this September in Asheville. “With the big marketing meetings this year of CUES and CUNA on the West Coast, we felt we needed something on this side of the country that marketing people could attend at reasonable cost,” explained Rachel Nynas, director of marketing and branding at Carolina Postal Credit Union in Charlotte Nynas, a member of the executive committee of the North Carolina League's Marketing Council which began planning the conference with the Virginia Credit Union League last fall, said the seminar will be held Sept. 28-29 at the Grove Park Inn with a theme, “The Theory of Marketing Therapy.” Speakers are being lined up this month, she said, but invitations are going out to Leagues on the eastern seaboard following high attendance at last fall's conference from marketers as well as CEOs from Tennessee, Georgia, Texas and elsewhere. The North Carolina League Marketing Council also helped the Virginia League set up its first Marketing Council which is helping in the arrangements for the Asheville conference. “Our fall conference did attract national speakers including Denise Wymore and Patrick Adams as our headliners,” said Nynas noting top speakers are planned for Asheville. A strong selling point for the Asheville conference, she said, are the registration and hotel costs. The basic registration fee is $189 with a $159 room rate. She said marketing executives in the Southeast, under the gun on cutting travel expenses, should find the Asheville conference convenient and economical. It was noted that CUNA's 12th annual Marketing and Business Development Council meeting March 16-19 in Palm Springs has a registration fee of $825 for council members and $1,095 for nonmembers. CUES' Nexus Conference in San Diego April 14-17 has a $899 tab. A CUNA spokesman said it is offering a broad agenda for its Palm Springs meeting “with top notch speakers and is value priced” for maximum return to participants. -

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