Live from Austin! It’s YES!

The time is here.

We are furiously making last minute preparations. Registration opens in ten minutes. Stay tuned to this spot for session-by-session coverage of the The 2007 Your Essential Strategies (YES) Summit. The summit focuses on serving members of the diverse 18-to-30 year-old demographic. By transmitting the proceedings real-time, CUNA staff is using one of the target market’s preferred techniques to explore its financial needs.

“You should be here,” said Josh Jones, YES organizer and CUNA’s manager of young adult programs, “but if you can’t be with us, this is the next best thing. The 2007 YES Summit is the first credit union conference with full-blown, live blog commentary. We have two reporters working the agenda, so that if you’re following along at home, you’ll be able to read what people are saying within minutes.”

Christopher Morris (me), web manager for CUNA Councils, and Philip Heckman, CUNA’s director of youth and young adult programs, are responsible for the almost instantaneous YES coverage.

Heckman explained, “Christopher and I are approaching all the sessions as a tag team. Besides posting the main points that speakers make, we’re recording attendees’ insights and reactions. Our goal is to bring this gathering to the credit union world as it happens.”

Look for the typos that indicate freshness.

In preparation for this week’s event, summit organizers and speakers have posted to the blog earlier. Among the subjects they previewed for attendees:

• Board members under 30, Justin Ho, board member (age 20), USC Credit Union
• Peer-to-peer direct lending using Facebook, John Donovan, COO, Lending Club
• Gen Y staff recruiting, Bill Humbert, CEO, The Humbert Group

CUNA staff emphasized that the live conference blog is not merely online note-taking. Throughout the day, we’re constantly encouraging attendees to join in the discussion, adding their immediate impressions, questions, and disagreements. Their live comments to our posts reflect the essence of serving 18-to-30s—creating a fully engaged and immediate dialogue.