05/22/2009

Seth Green delivers the funny and the money!

By Tim McAlpine

Un-Broke: The Seth Green Cribs Edition

Kevin just forwarded me this link. On Friday May 29 at 9/8c, ABC will air a one-hour special called UN-BROKE: What You Need to Know About Money. This special takes an unconventional look at the fundamentals of everyday finance featuring Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, the Jonas Brothers, Christian Slater, Cedric the Entertainer, Seth Green, Sesame Workshops Oscar the Grouch, Rosario Dawson, the E*Trade Babies and more!

Now that's financial literacy done right! Could you imagine if credit unions all banded together and sponsored this? Now that would be awesome.

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05/19/2009

Vote for six young guys and one slightly older guy to speak at YOUR Symposium!

By Tim McAlpine

About two years ago, I answered an open call for speakers at the 2007 FORUM Solutions/Trabian Symposium in Fishers Indiana. I submitted my first-ever YouTube video, won the wildcard spot and had an absolute blast. In 2008, I was invited back to be the keynote speaker. This has become my favorite conference of the year. It has a very progressive vibe, the presentations are relevant and well done and the attendees are a forward-thinking group of credit union advocates.

Well, this year the format is completely different. It has been retitled YOUR Symposium and all of the speakers will be selected by the crowd. I've decided to enter the race again, but this time with the help of six friends!

Here's our application video!

The Generation Y Extravaganza

I am suggesting that the entire morning of day two be dedicated to addressing the need to attract the next generation of credit union members and employees. As silly as this video is, I really believe we can deliver some valuable advice and get some good discussion going. As I've stated before, the lack of new Gen Y members at credit unions throughout North America is not a problem that is going to just fix itself.

Truth be told, we could definitely stretch this out by an extra hour or two or it could even go for the entire day two if there is an appetite for it. I'm sure the crowd will decide!

• Tim McAlpine from Currency Marketing (9:00–9:30)
  An overview of the Gen Y issues facing credit unions and a recap of how Young & Free is going
   
  
• Brent Dixon from the Haberdashery (9:30–10:00)
  Designing for Gen Y
   
  
• Myles Peterman from Servus Credit Union, Josh Sutherland from South Carolina Federal Credit Union and DeAndre' Upshaw from TDECU (10:00–10:45)
  The Young & Free Spokesperson panel will discuss what young people really want from their financial institutions
   
  
• Andy LaFlamme from Maine State Credit Union (11:00–11:30)
  A Gen Y credit union employee's perspective
   
  
• Ben Rogers from the Filene Research Institute (11:30–12:00)
  The Chrome Credit Union idea and a selection of 30 under 30 concepts

Please vote for our entry here and do yourself a favor—attend the YOUR Symposium. It's only $225 per attendee and the cost includes two packed days of speakers, networking and six meals! I guarantee you will learn a lot, meet great people and you won't regret it. Add yourself to the network and pledge your support.

See you in Fishers, Indiana on October 7 and 8, 2009.

A note on the production of this video: This was a fun. Once everyone in the group agreed to participate, I put a loose script together and asked each member to record their lines using Apple Photobooth and the iSight camera on their Macs. This generates "Skype-looking" Quicktime files. Everyone then uploaded their files to Drop.io, I downloaded them and then put the finished video together in Final Cut Express. Easy peasy. You can see all of the clips in their full, hilarious, uncut glory here and here. There is some pure comedy gold in these clips. I'm sure some of the jokes were intended just for me, but that would be selfish! Enjoy.

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05/14/2009

Random quote on Twitter confirms it: there are some stinky credit union websites out there!

By Tim McAlpine

I saw this tweet yesterday. It pretty much sums it up. It's ironic that credit unions continue to pour money into new physical branches and sadly neglect their online presence. Attractive and inviting branches are important, but so is having an easy-to-use and feature-rich website.

For every brilliant Vancity or America First, there are a thousand stinkers.

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05/13/2009

Podcast 19: Credit Union Innovator Larissa Walkiw

By Tim McAlpine

Welcome to episode 19 of Credit Union Innovators. My guest is Larissa Walkiw. Larissa was the 2008 Young & Free Alberta Spokesperson for Alberta's Common Wealth Credit Union (now Servus Credit Union). In this role, Larissa put the Young & Free program on the map with her groundbreaking videos and great blog posts. Her The Difference Between Banks and Credit Unions - Part 1 has been viewed more than 57,000 times on YouTube and thousands more times at credit union conference and in credit union staff training sessions around the world.

Larissa's spokesperson term began on Jaunary 1, 2008 and ended at the end of August 2008. During this time, she created 183 blog posts, 46 original videos and attended about a dozen events. Her work lead to Young & Free Alberta becoming one of the most celebrated marketing programs in the credit union industry. Highlights included winning the Forrester Research's Groundswell Award and Credit Union Central of Canada's National Credit Union Innovation Award.

Bravo Larissa!

You can listen by streaming audio here or you can subscribe to it in iTunes and listen on your iPod.

Some links to get to know Larissa even better

+ Larissa's year on Y&F Alberta
+ Larissa on YouTube

Fast facts about Larissa

• Where are the stickmen? In a box
• Favorite super hero? Spider-Man
• YouTube, Facebook or Twitter? YouTube
• How tall are you? 5' 5''
• Toronto or Edmonton? Both
• On your iPod? Laura Marling

Looking for innovators

If you know a credit union innovator who I should interview, please e-mail me at tmcalpine at currencymarketing dot ca.

Production notes

+ Interview recorded with Call Recorder and Skype
+ My side recorded with a Blue Snowflake microphone
+ Edited in Audacity
+ Hosted on Evoca
+ Podcast RSS Feed through Feedburner
+ Music is A Song for Jake by Oregon Chad licensed through Creative Commons

Leave an audio comment

Leave an audio comment on my Skype voicemail.
+ 1-206-792-9470

NOTE: If you are listening on this page and want to post a comment, there is a good chance the CAPTCHA will time out. Make sure to hit the 'Post Comment' button twice. Copy your comment to your clipboard just to be safe. Thanks!

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05/05/2009

Young & Free Alberta wins the 2009 National Credit Union Innovation Award from Credit Union Central of Canada

By Tim McAlpine

Here's another great honour for Servus Credit Union's Young & Free Alberta! It was announced today in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Credit Union Central of Canada's 2009 Canadian Conferene for Credit Union Executives that Servus is the 2009 recipient of the National Credit Union Innovation Award. Here's the official press release.

Here's what Canada's highest credit union award is all about:

Innovation. Creative thinking at individual credit unions is responsible for landmark innovations in service, technology and management. The National Credit Union Innovation Award highlights the role of an individual credit union in creating breakthrough solutions that can serve as a model for others.

Making change work. Sharing innovative ideas benefits both the individual credit union and the credit union system. The credit union that receives The National Credit Union Innovation Award is recognized for its effort in making change. Through the sharing of innovative ideas, the credit union system will maintain its leadership role in the financial service industry.

Servus joins a fantastic group of previous winners:

2008 – Coast Capital Savings (British Columbia)
2007 – Vancity (British Columbia)
2006 – Newfoundland & Labrador Credit Union
2005 – Alterna Credit Union (Ontario)
2004 – Nelson & District Credit Union (British Columbia)
2003 – Mennonite Savings & Credit Union (Ontario)

Congratulations must go to the great leadership team at Servus and the fantastic Young & Free Alberta team within the credit union including Kim, Jere, Myles and Larissa.

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05/01/2009

Should the 100-year-old credit union movement start acting like a boot-strapped start-up?

By Tim McAlpine

About 18 months ago I wrote a blog post entitled, "The dinosaurs didn't have broadband, what's your credit union's excuse?" I wrote it after witnessing an incredible array of innovative new financial web applications coming onto the scene. At the time, I wondered what was stopping credit unions from really innovating.

I was once again reminded of this question when my Twitter feed was filled with the hashtag #finovate on Tuesday. You see, FinovateStartup09 was held this past week in San Francisco and 57 of the latest-and-greatest financial web apps where demoed. Only one of them—Jwaala's Money Tracker—has any roots in the credit union industry. From what I understand, Jwaala was spun out of Amplify in Austin, Texas.

For all of the talk of innovation in the financial services industry, the really good stuff is not coming from credit unions (or banks for that matter), it's coming from tech start-ups with good ideas and the knowledge, skill and determination to get the job done.

As they say, ideas are a dime a dozen, the real trick is implementation. What do you think?

I'm also interested to hear if you feel that innovation is a careless waste of time and money. Should credit unions just put their energy into serving their members well? Or is innovation necessary to continue to serve members well? Please add your thoughts in the comments.

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