Attendees at NACUSO's annual conference in Las Vegas this week will have the chance to vote on four or five of the best ideas for credit unions and CUSOs to improve in a number of areas.

In collaboration with the Filene Research Institute, NACUSO started collecting submissions earlier this year for its “Next Big Idea” competition.

The ideas were screened to find out which ones would best help a credit union or CUSO improve earnings, enhance their member service, deliver new products and/or services to their members and/or improve delivery channels to their members.

NACUSO said it looked for innovative ideas that were either at the early stage of development that needed investment, those that were ready to be delivered or implemented and those that would help fuel growth, deal with challenges or help better serve their members or CUSO owners.

The chosen candidates will be given 10 minutes to present their ideas during a 3 p.m. session on Wednesday at NACUSO's annual conference, which takes place Tuesday through Friday at the Encore Las Vegas. They will also have a 10-15 minute question and answer period with a panel of judges.

Attendees will be able to ask the contestants questions using their smart phone or iPad by a special app designed for the NACUSO conference. At the conclusion, attendees can vote for the winner of the competition using their smart phone or the iPad app.

After the winner is announced, attendees can talk more with all of the finalists at a reception immediately following the competition.

In addition to covering the Next Big Idea contest, Credit Union Times will be onsite in Las Vegas reporting at the NACUSO conference.