MWAA attracts nearly 1,000 attendees

In person meetings are back! That was one clear message from the Midwest Acquirers Association annual conference. The event attracted 949 attendees, with the exhibit hall at times so packed the din of conversations was almost deafening.

"We made it," Rod Katzfey of Katzfey International and MWAA president, proclaimed as he kicked off the event. Katzfey also mentioned that next year's event (the 20th annual) will be held at the same venue, July 27 and 28, 2022. In fact, registration for that event is underway already.

The excitement was palpable and on display as old friends and colleagues—many of whom hadn't seen each other in over a year—embraced and networked in the exhibit hall, the conference sessions and the hotel lobby.

Plus, prizes were awarded to those who collected the most "stamps" on their conference "passports" by attending sessions and visiting with vendors. These included substantial gift card packages, Air pods and iPads.

Pearls of wisdom

For those who were unable to attend, here are some highlights from conference sessions:

• "Everything good is on the other side of hard," said Juan Ortiz, partner at Field Guide Enterprises, in accepting the Industry Achievement Award.
• "I see more people coming into our industry over the next five to 10 years than we saw pre-COVID. We need to turn that into a positive," Austin Mac Nab, executive sales director at VizyPay, counseled during a panel discussion on HR and recruitment.
• "We need the right people to compete in this business," Marc Baldalucco, managing partner at Impact Payments Recruiting, said during the same panel. As for work ethic and professional success, he added: "You may not be CEO of the company, but you have to act like it."
• "Our customer base is diverse, so why wouldn't you want your staff to reflect that diversity," Samantha Ettus, founder and CEO of Park Place Payments, said to kick off a panel on diversity and inclusion.
• "At the end of the day, we all want to belong. The question then becomes how do you create a home" where employees feel like they belong, added Sal Rehmetullah, founder and president of Stax.
• "Merchants more than ever are educated about the cost of card acceptance," said Jonathan Razi, founder and CEO of CardX, during a panel on selling in a virtual world.
• "Things that save money for merchants, like surcharging, and technology tools that hadn't taken off before [like online apps] have really taken off since the pandemic," said John Barrett, senior vice president for agent and ISO sales at Payroc, who was also on the selling in a virtual world panel. "You can't afford to be old school anymore."
• "How do you pull value from innovation? Patience," Sebastian Builes, co-founder and CEO at Acrum Partners, said during a panel on embracing innovation to carve a path beyond recovery.
• "We're integrating everything we're doing now with our surcharging solution," Barrett said in describing current business opportunities. "If you're not offering surcharging, or cash discounting, you're missing out."
• "Business intelligence makes sales reps much more informed and successful," said Eric Jenks, national sales manager at PayTrace.
• "The value prop of technology has really changed," said Jeremy Epstein, managing director and market lead at CIBC, who served as moderator of the selling in virtual world panel.

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