By Frank J. Diekmann
As the new chairman of the World Council of Credit Unions was recently stepping to the podium before an audience from around the world, he admitted he was uncomfortable with public speaking.
Within five minutes of taking to the microphone, he had managed to make at least a few (and I would have preferred that it were many) people uncomfortable themselves. And good for him, because he was right–it isn’t supposed to be about the “five star hotels” and the “finery.”
Meeting in one of the world’s most picturesque and historic (and expensive) cities, Vienna, the World Credit Union Conference attracted approximately 1,600 people from around the planet to the event, the biggest contingent hailing from the United States.
Brian McCrory, who hails from Northern Ireland himself, told attendees whose phones were full of new photos of Holzburg Castle or the Belvedere Palace that had just been Facebooked or texted to friends and family, that they needed to remember who was paying for the trip and should especially keep in mind that at least half of world’s credit union members could only dream of such a luxurious holiday as the one they were experiencing on the Danube.
A Confession
“I must confess that sometimes I come to these credit union conferences and it creates a little sense of personal discomfort,” McCrory told his audience in the Austria Conference Centre. “I know that there are many developed systems in the world and many of us exist in economies that are vastly richer than other parts of the world. Even in Ireland, a first-world country, the average deposit and loan tends to be in the low and modest thousands. Many of our people are still suffering because of the global financial crisis. Approximately 65% of (Ireland’s) population are credit union members, and many of those people are simply saving or repaying loans at 20 or 30 euros a week.”
And then he tightened the belt a bit on all those who, as we like to say in this country, are getting bit too big for their cooperative britches.
“Sometimes, when I come to these conferences and I look around and see us resplendent in our suits and finery and five star hotels, in many instances it’s beyond the widest experiences of many of our members, and that leaves me uncomfortable,” continued McCrory. “It may be common in developed countries, but for half of our worldwide membership, that is not attainable for them.”
Just one year earlier McCrory helped to host the same WOCCU meeting when it was held in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He and others of his generation in Ireland’s CU movement shared still-fresh recollections of the “troubles” in Northern Ireland, and they weren’t referring to regulatory compliance. Indeed, one of the hotels in which conference-goers were housed in Belfast was called the “most bombed” such establishment in the world, and it’s exterior and others still bore witness with its bullet hole scars.
Location, Location, Location
Credit unions could use some metaphorical bullet holes from those willing to take shots at the movement’s almighty alters. And one of those is how much of the members’ money is being spent on “five stars” and “finery,” where the ROI to the credit union is secondary to the ROI, I, I, to board members and senior execs with corporate credit cards.
Why bring this up now? Because many CU execs and volunteers are already planning their meetings for 2018 and any conference planner worth his or her attendance projections knows location, location, location isn’t just for home-sellers. Moreover, every year since I’ve been in this business, about this time of year I start hearing from credit union execs lamenting that our calendar of the next year’s events isn’t searchable by the city/resort where it’s being held (what the conference is actually about doesn’t seem relevant).
It wasn’t that long ago that the cardinal rule of hosting a conference was hotel rooms couldn’t exceed $200 a night. Now, that can be a room service tab. At the WOCCU meeting, if each of the 1,600 people on hand spent $3,000 apiece on registration and travel, that’s $4.8 million in members’ money they were spending from all round the world.
It’s a world, reminded Grzegorz Bierecki, the pioneer of Poland’s credit union movement, in which three-grand is a king’s ransom to many people. Bierecki pointed to the humanitarian crisis that was taking place not far from Vienna, as refugees pour out of a war-ravaged Middle East in search of something better.
Get Uncomfortable
“We have this migration challenge in Europe,” said Bierecki, who is now in Poland’s senate. “People travel across the sea, and it’s not a privilege to leave your house and travel to unknown place in a little boat. If these people had access to credit unions, to fair credit, to help them to build their lives, they would certainly stay home with their friends and families and nations.”
Credit union meetings can be invaluable exchanges, and I’m not asking—and I’m pretty sure Mr. McCrory isn’t either—that you stay home with your friends and families.
Instead, just asking that if you’re enjoying the comforts of “five stars” and “finery” on the members’ dime or shilling or loonie, that you should be a little or maybe even a lot uncomfortable, at the same time.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief of CUToday.info. He can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info or @FrankCUToday.