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Making ETA Transact on a booth, I would want to meet and greet as many people
as possible. Don't the Transact vendors want to show their
worth it for MLSs wares to as many people as possible?

Maybe the vendors don't realize the demand for their
products comes from the guys and gals on the street. It is
wonderful to see so many beautiful products on display,
but outside of the super IOSs that attend this meeting,
who else gets this exposure?
Take a page from regionals

As an ISO business owner and a salesperson, I would like
my team to get the exposure attendance at Transact offers.
Yes, agents can get a taste at regional meetings, but seeing
the full scope of the industry and the Big Picture of why
they should make credit card processing a career can best
be accomplished by experiencing Transact.

Future ETA event organizers might want to look at the
agendas of the regional meetings, which are geared to
train and educate while also offering fun. Some of the
meetings I attended at Transact put me to sleep. Shorter
By Steven Feldshuh breakout sessions work much better than long, drawn-out
Merchants' Choice Payment Solutions East trainings. Speaking time should be limited to half an hour.
Pump up the energy
n May, I attended the Electronic Transaction
Association's Transact 17 conference. I hadn't been I would also consider adding excitement to the event. I
to the show in several years and expected to find understand this is a tradeshow, but a "greeting party"
I much of relevance to growing my sales organization at the entrance sets an upbeat mood. Servers with
during the show. I came away with mixed feelings. refreshments on trays or tables could be arranged. A few
cool giveaways could be handed out to start things off in
It was obvious that companies such as Visa, Mastercard, a positive manner. Decorations are too much to ask for,
Discover, Verifone, Vantiv, First Data, and a few others but when you walk in and see something fun, that sets
spent enormous amounts of money on their booths. The the stage in a positive way. Maybe decorate the entrance
cost of transportation, housing, meals and staff hours with a theme of some sort. A strong beginning would go a
must have been tremendous. I gained new information long way toward creating the energy level one needs to go
and found a new resource, and I met a few people who through this event.
could potentially help me grow my business. However, it
appeared to me that most people walking by wore vendor Also, consider having a DJ play music throughout the
tags. I'm concerned about who the target audience for this event. It doesn't have to be blasting, but music is a positive
event really is. element. One section could have a jazz trio next to a larger
bar, so the wait would be shorter. The committee should
Reassess the cost consider hiring a magician to walk around and engage
The cost of entry is four figures, not including hotel, meals people. Other ideas could be impersonators, such as
and transportation, which is far above what a new or Michael Jackson or Elvis; we are in Vegas, you know.
established sales agent can afford. The event isn't set up Offer more demos
to encourage merchant level salespeople (MLSs) to learn,
explore and get the big picture of what the industry offers. Throughout the event, there should be constant demos.
Maybe the organizers could offer individual sales reps Maybe each equipment or software vendor should be
the ability to attend for a more manageable amount. What given the opportunity, on a rotating hourly basis, to show
creates excitement is people, which, during some key us their stuff on stage. This way, if you miss the demo in
sessions, seemed missing. the morning, you can catch it a few hours later. Seeing
rotating vendor presentations would certainly be much
I understand that the WSAA, SEAA, MWAA and NEAA better than looking over someone's shoulder at a product.
conferences are geared to MLSs, since admission is Technology shown on the big screen presents a fuller
generally free or a minimal cost. But doesn't Transact wish picture of a product.
to attract these folks? If I were a vendor spending a fortune

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