FISHERS, Ind. — The CU Water Cooler Symposium held Oct. 27-28 at FORUM Credit Union was not your average industry conference.
"I go to a lot of conferences, and I don't get to wear a T-shirt and jeans to any of them," said attendee Jeff Russell, president/CEO of TMG Financial Services.
But the laid-back dress code was far from the only thing that set the symposium apart. Perhaps its most distinctive feature was the degree of control attendees had over the schedule. Upon checking in Thursday morning and during lunch that afternoon, they were able to vote on their favorite topic for the expert panels to discuss later in the day. The topics were then presented in order based on a tally of the votes.
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A popular vote-in this case conducted online months in advance-also determined the winner of the wildcard spot in the roster of speakers. The "be a speaker" video contest was open to anyone involved with credit unions in the U.S. or Canada, and six people submitted entries. A total of 680 votes secured the victory for Jason Lindstrom, chief marketing officer of Belvoir Federal Credit Union, who gave the final presentation of the conference, "Let's Talk Advocacy," on Friday afternoon.
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