I attended my second BarCampBank Saturday in Vancouver BC. I was part of the first North American camp in Seattle last July (coverage here).

For me, this one was more interesting. There were more people (50-60 compared to 30-40 in Seattle) and more financial institutions represented, including both credit unions and banks. HSBC Direct even helped sponsor the event.

First a note of thanks to organizers William Azaroff of Vancity; Tim McAlpine, creator of Common Wealth CU’s Young and Free program and  founder of Currency Marketing; and Gene Blishen, CEO of Mt. Lehman Credit Union who has the coolest graphics in the whole world (see inset). 

If you want to see session notes, check out the weekend entries at William’s blog. He did an amazing job facilitating the sessions and live blogging. You can also watch archived video streams of five of the sessions, courtesy of Brent Dixon, posted at his Open Source CU blog (turn on the embedded player and click the “on demand” button in the lower bar). 

Here’s what I highlighted in my notebook: 

• Mobile could be more game-changing than we give it credit for. The ability to communicate in real-time as consumers engage in shopping, bill payment, and so on is so powerful, it’s difficult to grasp the long-term implications. 
• Social media tools like Twitter could be used to harness customers’ reactions in real time, a virtual sentiment meter as one of the campers said (was that you Brent?) Why not have a “what are you thinking” box displayed after customers login. The responses could be aggregated and trended to see how the bank is performing over time.
  They could also be broadcast to all customers to build community.
• Even in this progressive group, only two of the financial institutions are blogging: Vancity’s ChangeEverything which is really more of a platform for social change than a true broadcast-type blog and Verity Credit Union (note 1). Reasons for not blogging seemed to be some variation of “lack of resources.” It’s hard to argue with that. But basic blogs such as UW Credit Union or Piedmont Credit Union, both of which I think are very effective, can be put together in just a few hours per week.
• Financial literacy, or lack thereof, was a common theme and there seemed to be a consensus that the industry should help schools and parents do a better job preparing youth to handle money and debt. This is what iThyrv, which debuted at TechCrunch50 last week, is using as their primary market-entry strategy (previous post here). Andrew Taylor, Jwaala CEO, participating remotely via the live webcast, threw out the the idea of a financial literacy score similar to FICO. Again, that’s part of the iThryv model. It’s a good idea if it were to catch on, although that seems like a long shot.  

Note:
1. Many (most?) of the credit union representatives had personal blogs.

Looking for a low-cost way to generate new ideas and meet like-minded financial geeks? You have three opportunities during the next four weeks:

• March 29: BarCampBankSF — Berkeley, CA (9AM to 5PM)
• April 5: BarCampBankNE — Manchester, NH
• April 12: BarCampMoneyNYC — Manhattan (9AM to 5PM)

As of today, there are 34 people signed up for San Francisco, a dozen for New England, and 24 for NYC. Cost is minimal, max of $25. Register in advance on the respective websites.

I attended the first U.S. BarCampBank held in Seattle this past July (previous coverage here). It was an interesting day that brought together a fascinating cross section of financial providers (mostly credit unions, no banks showed up) and technologists. However, other than Jason Knight of Wesabe, it didn't have that entrepreneurial energy that I expect at the BarCampBank San Francisco (BCBSF). And for those not wanting to trek across the country, there's BarCampBank New England (BCBNE) the next weekend (more info here).

BarCampBank San Francisco

  Date: 9 AM, March 29-30, 2008

  Location: UC Berkeley's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology

  Time: 9 AM to whenever on Saturday followed by a half-day session Sunday

  Cost: $25 (register here)

  Agenda: None (see below)

  Scheduled speakers: None (see below)

  More info:

The aim of BarCampBank is to foster innovation and the creation of new business models in the world of banking and finance. Previous BarCampBanks have been held in Seattle, as well as London and Paris.

To ensure that the event is highly relevant for all those attending, the agenda will be discussed online beforehand (http://barcamp.org/BarCampBankSF) and then set by the participants the morning of the event.

Due to the large number of financial services startups in the San Francisco Bay Area, BCBSF will have a particular focus on bringing startups and industry together. So far, participating organizations include Wesabe, Boulevard R, NetBanker, Wikinvest, EverythingCU and Cake Financial.

The event, which is organized by volunteers, welcomes participation from anyone who would like to help with event logistics or spreading the word.

Many thanks to Matt Iverson at BoulevardR for his work in organizing BCBSF. See you in March.