During this time of crisis where "shelter at home" and "social distancing" orders have taken hold, most of us have involuntarily become quite the experts using Zoom and other video conferencing platforms. It's actually kind of exciting to use these tools to remain in contact with our peers, families, and friends.

The folks at Local Government Federal Credit Union have taken face-to-face video conferencing to another level by live streaming their Annual Meeting on Vimeo Live (something we here at CUbroadcast use, as well). We invited Local Government's President Mark Caverly on the show to share why they went this route, how they did it, member feedback, advice for other credit unions, and much more.

Mark added that the Annual Meeting turned into an event to remember, as the credit union really wanted to do this production right. They had pre-recorded videos, National Anthem, Q&A, polls, a greeter, etc. He says they will most likely keep this format for future meetings and events, making them a hybrid of in-person and online viewing and participation.

Another really cool and creative story from credit unions continuing to step up in challenging times. Check it out and let us know your thoughts. And, if you want to get a peek at what it looked like, here is a recording of the live stream meeting.

In part 2 of our COVID branch redesign discussion with Momentum President & Director of Client Strategy Mark Alguard, Mark talks about what credit unions need to do now in redesigning their branches to adjust to security and health concerns.

He also discusses the fun part of his job and that's researching the globe to discover new ideas for designing new structures in today's post-COVID environment. Additionally, Mark addresses the research-to-design-to-build timeline credit unions need to be aware of in their new building projects.

Good stuff here again with Mark. So check it out and let us know your thoughts. And stay tuned for Part 3 or 3 next week.
Just in case you missed it, here's the link to Part 1 of 3.

Now that a majority of us have worked in a remote setting for the last few months, many are kind of getting used to the "in-house" commute, Zoom happy hours, wearing PJs 24/7, lots and lots of beards, longer hair, "precious" family time, walking the dog for the 300th time, etc. That said, it will be fascinating to see how office life will evolve once we're truly on the other side of this pandemic and mostly re-opened.

Based on many recent articles and research reports, it appears the remote environment is here to stay -- which leads us to a new webinar (June 10, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. PST) from CU Members Mortgage and presented by Humanidei President/CEO Jill Nowacki entitled: "How to Build Your Team in Today's Remote Environment: Recruit, Develop, and Retain Talent."

Jill cut to chase right away discussing how do credit unions build a team in today’s remote environment with new approaches to recruiting, developing, and retaining talent. She also talked about some of the challenges building a team in a remote environment, as well as other associated challenges and opportunities in the remote workplace.

Lastly, Jill expanded on one of her timely inquiries: "How do you put the remote (workforce) Genie back in the bottle? Or do you even want to?”

Tons of takeaways in this discussion with Jill, as this is just the tip of the iceberg for her June 10 webinar. Enjoy our discussion and  don't forget to register!

How's this for irony: Just a few months ago if a member wanted to wear a mask into a credit union branch, they wouldn't been allowed to enter for obvious security reasons. Today, due to pandemic, members at most credit unions are now required to wear masks in the branch -- or they're not allowed in.

Community First Credit Union in Santa Rosa, CA, has been dealing with this issue for a while and came up with a splendid idea that addressed the security concerns -- all based on the unique capabilities of its core processor Corelation. Using the California driver license's QR code on the back, the credit union was able to scan it and recognize the member entering the branch. This scan would be sent to teller queue, allowing the teller to recognize the member without the member having to pull out their license again.

Obviously, there's a bit more to it than that. So we invited Community First's CEO Todd Sheffield on the show to share the details of this solution -- which they cost-effectively solved in-house by purchasing a wireless scanner, a Microsoft Surface, and incorporated a few programming tweaks to the KeyStone core.

I love stories like this showing how innovative we can be in the midst of a global crisis. It proves, once again, credit unions will be stronger than ever on the other side of this thing. Check it out and let us know your thoughts. 

Unitus Community Credit Union Information Management Solutions Manager Gary Coates and Our Community Credit Union CIO Andrew Bertrand participated in last week's CU Digital Town Hall, hosted by Best Innovation Group's John Best every Wednesday afternoon (12 p.m. PST), and discussed a type of fraud that is popping up at various credit unions nationwide.

According to Bertrand, fraudsters set up fake accounts and apply for COVID benefits in members' names and wire the funds elsewhere to where they can get access to them. It's essentially hiring a "mule" to open and account and they go from there.

I will let Andrew and Gary tell the story; they're the experts here. But I wanted to let you all know to be on the look out for this type of fraud now that the COVID benefits are being distributed to members.

Check it out and let us know your thoughts.