Kevin Shirley and Patrick Smith of MEA Federal Credit Union enjoy dinner at The Nacoochee Grill with Autumn Davis of Delta Employees Credit Union and Sharon Cook of CDC Federal Credit Union.

By Ann Thompson
GMC Website Coordinator

GMC's Fall Meeting was held in Helen, Georgia, on October 24, 2003. In attendance were forty-one credit union Marketing & Business Development Professionals, representing twenty-five credit unions in Georgia and the Georgia Credit Union Affiliates.

The meeting began the night before as many of the council members met for dinner at The Nacoochee Grill, which is known for its “live fire” grill where they use oak, hickory and apple wood to spit cook hand-carved Angus steaks, fresh Gulf seafood, ribs and chops. This was the largest group by far that the Georgia Marketing Council has brought together for dinner in quite some time. Great food, fun and fellowship were had by all.

During Idea Share, Trig Burns and Sheila Cestaro of Five Star Credit Union showcase a campaign that they are currently using to promote their credit union. The star of the campaign is Trig's pet Boxer. Very cute!

On Friday morning, Mickey Garland, President of the Georgia Marketing Council, opened the official meeting with a game of “Getting to Know Your Match.” Council members were put into two groups, assigned a number, and then asked to find the individual from the other group with our same number.

Once we found our match, we then had to introduce ourselves to each other and find out more about their credit union, position at the credit union and favorite ice cream. After getting to know our match, we then had to introduce them to the rest of the group. This was a great way to get our meeting started and to get to know everyone. Following the opener, Mickey then introduced our speakers, Bill Wagner and Tony Rizzo of Liberty Marketing Services

Bill Wagner and Tony Rizzo, are both District Representatives of Liberty Marketing Services. Liberty is a company that provides services to credit unions to include: check printing, ATM and Debit Card services, Marketing, Financial Supplies and Internet Services. The dynamic duo led us through an in-depth discussion of Electronic Marketing – What's New and What's Coming.

Leatrice Dooley of Atlanta City Employees Federal Credit Union shows off promotional material during Idea Share.

They talked about the latest trends, technologies and innovations in electronic marketing as well as CRM, website marketing, e-mail ads and other electronic media. If you would like more information about Liberty, please visit its website at www.libertysite.com.

The Georgia Marketing Council was established to assist credit union marketing and business development professionals in Georgia by offering the latest insight into the industry's business development, marketing and technological advancements.

Kim Wall of Georgia Federal Credit Union draws... well, we're not sure what she's doing but we think it's interesting.

Meetings are held twice a year. If you would like to become a Georgia Marketing Council member or to receive additional information, please contact Dawn White, The Coca-Cola Company Family Federal Credit Union at (404) 676-0846, dawwhite@na.ko.com or Leatrice Dooley, Atlanta City Federal Credit Union at (404) 658-6544, dooley@ci.atlanta.ga.us.

Click here to see more photos from the meeting.

Be on the lookout for details of the next GMC meeting in Charleston, SC!