ETA expo draws Washington, tech innovation

The Electronic Transactions Association is expecting more than 3,000 attendees at the 2013 ETA Annual Meeting & Expo to be held in New Orleans April 30 to May 2, 2013. With an exhibit space of 150,000 square feet, the largest in event history, the ETA had signed up about 200 exhibitors by mid-April in the nearly sold out complex. Additional requests were still coming in, the ETA said.

"For ETA and our 525 member companies, this is the biggest opportunity of the year to gather together," stated ETA Chief Executive Officer Jason Oxman. "Our job as the show producer is to provide the platform for companies to introduce new products and for our attendees to network with one another."

Enticing blend of old and new

New developments are drawing additional attention to the event this year. "One of the things that is most exciting for us about the ETA show is for the first time we are bringing together the payments community and the technology community to explore business opportunity," Oxman said.

The ETA exhibit floor will house a brand new Mobile Payments Zone and Payments Next Zone to highlight emerging technologies. "We have a partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where we have several new payments startups that are going to get their debut on the show floor," Oxman said. "These are true startups, companies that have not yet come to market with their products."

In addition, during the expo, a panel of judges will select the exhibitor that best demonstrates the use of technology in payments. The winner will receive the e-Pay Innovation Award grand prize of $10,000, the ETA said.

As done in prior years, the organization will offer several paid, pre-event educational sessions covering basic and advanced topics through ETA University, as well as day-long sessions on such areas as compliance, mobile payments, Europay/MasterCard/Visa and investment. Additional sessions will cover aggregation, brand equity, recruitment and training, new payments paradigms and emerging payment methods.

Government presence

ETA members will also have an opportunity to interact directly with federal policymakers during this year's event. In addition to participating in panel discussions, government officials will circulate on the exposition floor and conduct meetings with the ETA Government Affairs and Mobile Payments committees to discuss current developments in the industry.

"This is the first time we've had so many high-level government officials in attendance and speaking at the show," Oxman noted. "The Federal Reserve Bank is sending a representative. We also have the U.S. Small Business Administration speaking at the show."

On Thursday, Oxman will moderate a government panel with representatives from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission in a discussion on current issues that could potentially impact the payments industry in the near future.

Editorial Note:

Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.

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