Why I love Western Massachusetts

My honey, Lesley Lambert, poses the question what are you thankful for about Western Mass? on her blog. My reply became so lengthy it needed its own space:

As a kid growing up in Amherst, I took the Pioneer Valley for granted, and lamented the things it lacked. Namely interesting things to do for teenagers, (aside from going to the movies), and not many good venues for a performing rock band (though we probably were not as good as we thought we were back then.)

I went away from the Valley for my college years, to the University of Utah, to be near my dad and family there, as well as to broaden my horizons. I loved the mountains and the time I spent there, but then I returned to Western Mass right after. As an adult, I discovered an immense beauty and wealth of resources here that I simply was not aware of in my youth. My love affair with Western Mass started with a trip to Tanglewood, but that was only the tip of the iceberg.

As I wrote in the description for the first PodCamp held in Western Mass, we have a joyous blend of urban and rural; business, academics, and the arts; it’s big enough to have interesting places, things, events and people, but small enough to hear yourself think.

Here are the reasons I love Western Mass:

The Connecticut River – The word connecticut is a French corruption of the Algonquin word meaning “long river”. This river is the longest river in New England, and is what brought people and industry to the Pioneer Valley. It’s a beautiful river, and I enjoy looking at it every time I cross it on one of the many bridges that span it in Western Mass. There are boat tours on it out of Brunelle’s Marina in South Hadley, as well as out of Northfield at the energy facility there (now called FirstLight Power).

Wonderful People – Western Mass is the perfect blend of small town, mid-size cities, rural, and educated, intelligent people. Our fantastic, world-class education attracts wonderful, quirky, thoughtful, intelligent, geo-aware folks. Our people are real, interesting, and down-to-earth for the most part. Plus the diversity of people and their interests are rather amazing. And oh, did I mention talented?

The Seasons – Exactly as Lesley states, it’s an ever changing beauty, always something new. Spectacular fall foliage, summers that are warm but not too hot (usually), winter that has enough snow for fun outdoor activities like skiing and sledding, and makes being indoors cozy, and spring which is blooming and growing time.

The cute little hills most locals call mountains. Having grown up both in Western Mass and Utah, I have a tough time calling our hills mountains. But they are elevation, unlike the great plains states which have an elevation variation of plus/minus 15 feet. But our “mountains” are cute, are easily climbable, provide some elevation variety, and do have fantastic views. Mount Tom, Mount Holyoke, Mount Sugarloaf, Noble View, and the edge of the Berkshires, including Goshen, Chesterfield, etc

The Berkshires – I didn’t really know much about the Berkshires as a kid, but as an adult I am thrilled to discover all they have to offer. Especially Tanglewood and….

MassMoCA – A recent addition, it’s now the jewel of the Berkshires as far as I’m concerned; even better than Tanglewood – MassMoCA is a huge, converted mill building complex devoted to modern art. Worth visiting multiple times per year. Always shifting, and also includes performing arts, music, movies, etc.

Hidden Gems EVERYWHERE – So MANY things to discover here…. I think I know Western Mass well, yet I am CONTINUALLY discovering new cool places, hidden gems, such as kayaking and canoeing on the Connecticut from Barton’s Cove in Gill, great trails and a spectacular view from Noble View in Westfield, incredible world class restaurants such as the Blue Heron in Sunderland, Mike’s Maze (corn maze) also in Sunderland, the historic train station in Chester, Drive In movie theater in Northfield, interesting golf courses everywhere, mini golf in East Longmeadow among others, softball leagues in every town in the lower valley, world-class colleges and universities, fabulous cafes, bookstores, restaurants in Northampton, Amherst and so many other towns, the Montague Bookmill (bumper sticker: books you don’t need in a place you can’t find), Magic Wings (butterfly conservatory in South Deerfield), the Basketball Hall of Fame, sports teams such as the Springfield Falcons, the new Springfield Armor, UMass sports, Holyoke minor league baseball, boat tours in South Hadley and Northfield, oh, and I almost forgot the Big E that happens every September…

Outdoors – Aside from the CT River, kayaking, and hill/mountains already mentioned, there are scores of state forests, swimming, camping, hiking, and geocaching opportunities throughout all four counties of Western Mass. Notable hiking includes the Holyoke Range and Mount Tom, as well as the Appalachian Trail that goes through the Berkshires.

Scores of adorable downtowns – Many are in need of help, but there are still some great downtowns in Western Mass – Northampton, Amherst, Indian Orchard, Chicopee, Greenfield, Westfield, West Springfield, Florence, Easthampton, Shelburne Falls, Great Barrington, and I’m sure I’m missing others

Fresh Beer – Berkshire Brewing Co, Paper City, and Opa Opa. And the Northampton Brewery and the Dirty Truth in Northampton for enjoying them, among many other establishments.

Here’s a link to just some of the Western Mass photos I’ve taken over the years.

Proximity – Lesley listed proximity to NYC or Boston. While those two cities have their appeal, there’s a vast wealth of wonder which is not urban. Within a three hour drive, you can get to ALL other New England states, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, as well as New York. Also, within a five hour drive is Canada, including Montreal. Notable charms within a few hour drive: Upstate New York, including the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Albany, Schenectady, the Adirondacks, Lake George, Lake Placid, Plattsburgh. In Vermont, there’s Burlington, Lake Champlain and islands, Brattleboro, Windsor, Ascutney, Manchester, and ski resorts galore. In New Hampshire, there’s skiing, Lake Winnipesaukee, Squam Lake, camping, skiing, Manchester, Portsmouth, Keene, Concord, The Common Man restaurants. In Maine, there’s the beaches, resorts, Rockland, Portland, LL Bean, Kittery, lighthouses, islands, and lots o mooses. In RI, there’s Providence and Newport (including the mansions), and there’s too much in CT to even begin listing all that that state has to offer, including wineries, beaches, camping, Hartford, adorable downtowns, restaurants, steam train rides, etc

And if you expand your horizons a bit further, within a day’s drive is Bar Harbor, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Toronto, Quebec City, and Washington DC.

But bottom line are the people. People who are friendly, genuine, interesting, and most importantly, care about where they live, and the other people who share their love of all that is Western Mass. Of course, my number one reason why I love it here is that this is where my family and friends live. But aside from that, they all love it here for all the reasons listed above.

Aside from the meager reasons listed above, I guess Western Mass doesn’t have too much to offer after all.

What did I miss? Share it here or on Lesley’s blog!

To tweet or not to tweet: Is it even a question?

Is it still even a question?

Like everyone else, I only reluctantly joined the twitterverse initially. Nearly universally, people hearing about Twitter for the first time think it’s a dumb idea, one that has zero business use, and only marginal personal use. I think this reaction happens nearly for nearly everyone because you can’t see or understand Twitter until you get inside it.

Recently, the business case for twitter was poo-poo’ed by a real estate blogger, and it drew a strong reaction from realtors that successfully use twitter in their business. One of the commenters in favor of twitter stated that twitter users are in the top 2 percentile of intelligence. While clearly this is an overstatement, not based on facts, it IS possible to have a twitter experience of only very smart people. What sets social media apart from the broadcast model that preceded it is that EVERYONE gets to control who is or is not in their very own network. If you want to only follow brilliant people, then you are free to do so.

Because I’ve been in the twitterverse for so long (more than two years), it’s hard for me to remember that many people haven’t been exposed to it, nor have the time to develop a quality group of people to tweet with. Twitter advocate and consultant Laura Fitton (@Pistachio) continues to make arguments for twitter for businesses. I applaud that she is bridging the gap. But for many people, they will simply have to experience Twitter, or at least see it in action, to understand its usefulness.

I was recently witness to a new use of Twitter that leaves me chuckling and shaking my head…. and that is as extension of one’s own brain. Shari Storm, VP of Marketing at Verity CU in Seattle, and author of Motherhood is the New MBA, recently tweeted that she had written a note to herself, “Evaluate MOH”, and couldn’t remember what it meant. Lo and behold, several of her twitter followers chimed in with possible meanings of MOH. Many replies were funny, and the correct answer, Messages On Hold, was mentioned by several people.

Think about that for a second… Shari wrote a note to herself, designed for her eyes only, forgot what it meant, and then asked friends and strangers for help deciphering it. And they did! What better case for Twitter could be made than as extension of one’s own brain?

By the way, what got me hooked on Twitter, back in 2007, after the typical false start phase that everyone goes through, was a tweet sent by Brent Dixon relaying something that Shari said in a presentation that was occurring 1000 miles away from me at the time. Brent tweeted that Shari said “of new members joining Verity CU, three times more cite their blog as the reason than direct mail.” It was an important bit of information that I would have never known had it not been for Brent, Shari, and twitter. And I was hooked.

If you are interested in hearing Shari talk about her book, Motherhood is the New MBA, you can hear her interviewed, 30 minutes into this 60 minute TQ Radio show, recorded Monday Nov 16, 2009.

Fred Brown visits EverythingCU.com HQ

Based in Western Massachusetts, EverythingCU.com doesn’t often get a CU executive stopping by our offices to say hi.

So it was such a great pleasure that EverythingCU.com member Fred Brown, from Northeast Family FCU in Manchester, CT stopped by for the nickel tour. Fred is originally from Holyoke, and knows the area well.

Fred was kind enough to give us some Credit Union Man™ schwag, including the hat I’m wearing in the above photo! (That’s Fred on the left, and me on the right.) Thanks so much for visiting us Fred!

New CU Chat internet radio show

I was delighted to be a guest yesterday on Carla Day’s new weekly internet radio show on Credit Unions. Carla is a fantastic host, and is wonderful credit union advocate. I first met Carla in person at EverythingCU’s Little-B Pokagon, held in Indiana earlier this year. Carla later came to TQ NYC to continue her social media immersion.

A huge thank you to Carla for having me as a guest on her show! I thoroughly enjoyed talking about BarCampBanks and PodCamps, as well as EverythingCU.com’s new social media product for credit unions, PlumWall. Here’s a recording of the show in case you missed it:

Tune in weekly, Wednesdays at 3:00 eastern/2:00 Central to listen to future CU Chat shows!

Credit Union acronyms still harsh my mellow

I was saddened to learn that Randolph Brooks FCU, a very large credit union in San Antonio, now calls itself RBFCU. Yet another excellent and distinctive credit union name falls by the wayside into a vast sea of sameness. This is the opposite of the differentiation and distinction goals that good business practice calls for.

Based on a previous blog post:

Thank you on International Credit Union Day

Some days it’s tough being a credit union professional, so I just wanted to say thank you for all that you do on behalf of your members and future members. Especially since most of them probably don’t appreciate how hard you work to make their experience the best it can be.

Interviewed by Christophe Langlois

HUGE thank you to Christophe Langlois of Visible Banking for interviewing me about EverythingCU and social media for credit unions while we were at Finovate NYC 09! Mentioned in this video include: William Azaroff, Tim McAlpine, Ginny Brady, my girlfriend (Lesley Lambert), and Cammie Morrow. Tim, Cammie, William and Christophe commented on the Facebook version of this video.

Everything CU – Finovate09: Morriss Partee. Founder
Uploaded by ChristopheLanglois. – Explore international webcam videos.

Colorado Credit Unions are on the ball

It’s been a great pleasure getting to know so many of our Colorado Credit Union friends. They are so lucky to live in such a beautiful environment! I know they’ll be using social media to further the CU movement with their membership in the coming days, weeks, and months!

A few photos from the event can be found on the facebook event page, and the slides I used for some background in the first part of the session are on slideshare.net.

You’ve just been punched in the face

There was one presentation at Finovate that I, in my role as Credit Union Marketing advocate, rated a 1 (lowest possible score). And that was the presentation given by BankVue/First ROI announcing their new, rebranded Kasasa program. I think I can summarize the thinking behind their new announcement:

We have created an amazing rewards checking product that is going gangbusters in sales. Community banks and credit unions everywhere are signing up for this, offering it to their members, and we’re raking in large profits from it. But the public doesn’t know it’s really our product. Banks and credit unions are all offering our reward checking, but they are each calling it something different. So rather than have our product fractured in the marketplace, let’s rebrand it with OUR name, because it’s really our product that people want, not the financial institution that is re-selling it. And they blow chunks at marketing anyway, we could really pump sales up if we unify the market for this and do a national marketing campaign with slick TV and web commercials. That’s what our clients want – instead of being limited by their own regional marketing budget, they’d become part of a national campaign. We’re helping the little guys of the F.I. world, and big banks need not apply.

I think that’s basically the reasoning. I may be overreacting to their presentation, but that’s the feeling I got as I listened. I think they are dead wrong. At least I hope they are. This is the largest slap in the face to the credit union marketing world I have ever witnessed. They are saying several things with this announcement to F.I.s everywhere. 1.) You suck at marketing. We can do it better than you. 2.) It’s not your crappy financial institution that your members/customers want to do business with, it’s our reward checking product that they really want. 3.) National marketing trumps regional marketing.

Starting with point number 3 – Everything the past 10-20 years has taught us is that the OPPOSITE is true – more personalized, customized, regionalized marketing trumps impersonal generic national advertising. It’s about connecting with people, not about spending money on slick creative and TV commercials ad buys. This is the opposite direction that the trends have been going for at least the past decade. And as for points 1 and 2, the gauntlet has been thrown down. Are you credit union marketers (and community bank marketers for that matter) going to take this lying down? Isn’t it the relationship with your institution that your member/customers want, and not just your reward checking?

So here’s what I really can’t fathom about this Kasasa concept: Why would they think that credit unions and community banks would want to appear to be drinking from the same pool, even if they are? How does it help to further *my* F.I.’s brand if I’m offering the same product as every other credit union or community bank in my area? As a credit union marketer, I want the OPPOSITE. I want MORE differentiation for my brand, not this staggering morass of sameness.

The hubris from BankVue/First ROI with this move/announcement is mind-boggling. I’ve already been contacted with a nice email by the CEO of BankVue. He has basically asked me to please not paint them in a negative light, and that while we may disagree in strategy, they have the best interest of smaller community banks and credit unions at heart. BankVue/FirstROI is certainly welcome to chime in on this discussion here.

I’m more interested in hearing from credit union professionals (and even any community banking professionals too). I posted this same message last Friday on EverythingCU.com, and if you are a credit union professional, you can check out the animated discussion which ensued here.

Recent Watershed Developments: Finovate NYC

I had the pleasure of attending this year’s Finovate NYC last week.

I met long-time EverythingCU member Sonya MacDonald in person for the first time. She was in attendance because her CU, Randolph Brooks FCU in San Antonio, is piloting a program from mobile banking provider mShift, which will allow mobile banking from any cell phone, not just an iPhone. But really caught my attention were two other items that she shared with me. Sonya told me that her credit union has done $35 million in remote deposit capture since January, which is when they launched the program with mShift and EasCorp providing the back end. Wow. $35 million is some serious transaction volume.

Sonya also asked me if I knew where Charlie Kroll, president of Andera was sitting. I told her he was right across from her, and Sonya told me that her CU is currently doing 700 new accounts per month via Andera’s online account opening out of a total of about 4500 to 5000 new accounts per month total. That is a healthy 14-15% of total new accounts being opened online.

There was one thing that caught my eye on the negative side. And that will be the subject for tomorrow’s blog post.

The other recent watershed developments: Augmented Reality • Twitter banking