2. Some contactless cards are actually contact cards.

Contactless payments require cards with small wireless antennas to transmit data. Dual-interface cards, she explained, have that wireless antenna and an EMV chip – which makes it technically a contact card. Truly contactless cards only have the antenna, she explained.

3. Visa chips expire.

Typically, they're part of a three-year letter of authorization (which might also have a three-year renewal), Myer said. The card manufacturer's letter of authorization sets the chip expiration date, and before that date, the chip manufacturer will send the issuer a “last buy” warning before the approval expires. After the expiration date, manufacturing of the chip must cease, she said.

“You should know about it, because you as the issuer are technically responsible for this,” she warned. What's more, chip expiration dates are totally unrelated to the card expiration dates.

Read more: EMV ties into credit unions' mobile strategies …

4. Your mobile strategy is part of this.

“If you're thinking about mobile, it's a good time to think about it as it relates to EMV strategy,” Myer said. It's increasingly important to have a payment mechanism for your members, regardless of the mobile platform they use, because EMV will affect P2P, bill pay, contactless ATM use, mobile wallets and a host of other activities.

“When you have an EMV structure, you're ready for things like tokenization,” she said. “It's all related.”

5. Things will break.

Myer told the St. Petersburg, Fla., crowd that about 185 million EMV cards have been issued in the United States and about 570 million more will be issued this year. In addition, about four million terminals are ready for EMV cards, and up to another eight million are ready but are not activated, she said.

There have been no field failures when it comes to EMV chip integrity, Myer reported, but there are plenty of operator errors. For example, people often try to pull the chips out (“they want to see what it looks like in the back,” she said). In turn, credit unions have to be willing to take on the work of educating members about what to do (and not to do with EMV cards), Myer said.

6. This is a good thing for your credit union.

Myer told the St. Petersburg, Fla., crowd that about 185 million EMV cards have been issued in the United States and about 570 million more will be issued this year. In addition, about four million terminals are ready for EMV cards, and up to another eight million are ready but are not activated, she said.

EMV conversion can increase security, fight fraud activity that is migrating from overseas and boost card and payment innovation, Myer said.

“We're seeing a lot of the fraudsters targeting the U.S. because of our non-EMV ecosystem,” she said, adding that credit union members are having trouble using their magnetic-stripe cards when they travel overseas. That's especially frustrating for members who live in border towns or who travel a lot, and EMV keeps you top of mind with them, she added.

“Don't underestimate the influence your members have,” she said.