he Institute for Payment Professionals (IPP) reported a successful second seminar with about 70 payment professionals in attendance.

"We were pleased to have such an outstanding group of MLS and ISO representatives," said Paul Martaus, co-founder of IPP.

Paul Martaus and Brett Mansdorf, two payments industry veterans, are the organizers behind IPP; they have a combined experience of 50 years in the payment processing industry.

The recent IPP meeting was held at JR's POS Depot in Sunrise, Fla., near Ft. Lauderdale, on Jan. 14, 2004; it was the second in a series of IPP seminars taking place in major cities across the country.

Everything from the history of the payment processing industry to the life of a transaction and topics such as interchange, risk management, how to determine good merchant prospects, nurturing merchant relationships, specific products and more were discussed.

The IPP seminars last all day (about 8 hours) and include a jam-packed schedule, with both educational and vendor/sponsor presentations. For instance, Ingenico expounded on selling value-added solutions.

Other vendors including CrossCheck, Inc., Hypercom Corp, VeriFone, Inc., AdvanceMe, Inc. and JR's POS Depot were also present.

"Two of our people that attended are brand new in the industry; this gave them a great understanding of the technicalities and complexities inherent in this business, and will make them more knowledgeable and professional MLSs," said Joe Creegan, National Sales Manager of Charge Card Systems. "Plus, the networking with other successful MLSs and ISOs was very valuable."

As a pleasant surprise to many of those in attendance, IPP gave away prizes throughout the day such as a laptop, printers and Ethernet cards by drawing names from the business cards they had collected.

The next IPP seminar will take place at the Embassy Suites Hotel, Los Angeles International Airport South on Feb. 25, 2004 from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

All IPP seminars are free to attend. For more information, visit www.i4pp.org