Charles Potts: Convening With the Spirit of More

Innovator Thomas Edison once said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” The message resonates, but the standout word for me is “more.” It signals the desire to not just explore a version of what has already been attempted, but also to take it to the next level.

At ICBA Innovation, that’s precisely our philosophy. We believe that innovation means never stopping learning or growing. So, we create a cycle of continuous improvement—evolving, expanding and responding to the needs and interests of community bankers. That requires developing more opportunities, identifying more potential partners and introducing more solutions. 

Fortunately, ICBA LIVE serves as a great inflection point in our innovation life cycle. This year, we’re expanding our offerings, bringing bankers together with potential partners and providing more engagement opportunities, including:

• ThinkTECH Accelerator Showcase: Community bankers will see how our selected cohort have taken the invaluable feedback received during our 10-week program to refine their offerings for community bank consumption.

• Expo: The current ThinkTECH Accelerator cohort, alumni companies, corporate member solution providers and preferred service providers all attend to meet one-on-one with community bankers about how they can better support their needs.

• ThinkTECH in an Instant: This well-attended event last year will now offer two stages for fast-pitch sessions. That’s double the opportunity for demos with more meaningful conversations to quickly follow.

• Digital Transformation & Innovation Track: Many of these sessions (see sidebar) speak to the need-to-know technology topics for community bankers and offer first-hand accounts of how these solutions are being deployed and brought to market to the betterment of the community bank.

ICBA LIVE also allows our innovation team to hear directly from community bankers. We ask questions about your needs and where our areas of focus should be, making sure we find solutions that are mission-driven and purpose-built for community banks. In essence, we are continuously improving and iterating to be the “more” our bankers need, with LIVE as the backdrop to spur on our collective success.