Prepaid Expo USA 2011

Prepaid Expo USA was first launched in 2006, and is home to the largest convergence of network branded prepaid and stored value decision makers and influencers. With over 5,000 attendees in the past 3 years, Prepaid Expo USA is the industry’s largest and longest running meeting.

IIR’s Prepaid Expo blog ahead of the event has spoken with some of this year’s presenters regarding key issues currently affecting the industry:

Live from Prepaid Expo 2011: General Colin Powell
We’re in Orlando, blogging directly from Prepaid Expo 2011 and Gen. Colin Powell is on stage delivering his keynote address: Leadership: Taking Charge: “One day, you’re secretary of staff and one day, you ain’t.”

NBPCA’s Top Lobbyist Expects Prepaid Bumps Tied to Financial Regulatory Overhaul
The bad news: The U.S. prepaid and stored value industry is definitely a candidate for collateral damage in Washington’s crusade to reform the financial services industry. 

Doesn’t Your Four-Year-Old Have a Prepaid Credit Card Yet?
Odysseas Papadimitriou – CEO and Founder of CardHub.com – believes we need to start teaching our kids about money management at a very early age. And he thinks prepaid cards may be the answer. I think he’s on to something, but I also have a few concerns. Is my four-year-old really ready for a prepaid card?

Gift Cards Are Going Digital
The Digital Age has arrived. Consumers by the tens of millions are now interacting, transacting and experiencing digitally unlike ever before. Facebook now has well over 500 million users; eBooks are more popular than printed ones; 80% of U.S. adults regularly use the Internet for more than four hours a day.

Paybefore 2011 Award Winners Named, Battle for Best-In-Category Begins!
With a record number of submissions from across the globe, judges for the 5th Annual Paybefore Awards^TM announced the first round of winners for 16 categories in what was reportedly the most intense competition in the awards’ history.  FL.

Progress in Prepaid Podcast Series Debuts – Gift Card Promos Grade a ‘B’ for Holidays
According to Rich Killian, founder and president of Orlando-based RK Incentives – a provider of closed-loop gift card sales consulting to several major national retailers – the industry’s overall promotional efforts thus far rate a solid “B” this holiday season.

“Progress in Prepaid” Tours India, Country of Contradictions
Tour these great United States and you’re bound to find a few cultural differences at each state line. Take New York and Texas. Heck, they’re practically different countries. And California might as well be another planet.