1 00:00:01.890 --> 00:00:03.810 Johny Fernandez: You guys, welcome back. We're here at the 2 00:00:03.810 --> 00:00:08.550 annual SEAA conference. Sean, it's been quite a day. Seen a 3 00:00:08.550 --> 00:00:10.680 lot of things. We've talked to a lot of people and we're going to 4 00:00:10.680 --> 00:00:13.800 recap it. I know right now the closing reception is happening. 5 00:00:13.830 --> 00:00:17.880 Yeah. But Sean, big takeaway, at least for me today is that the 6 00:00:17.880 --> 00:00:20.760 industry, this industry, specifically it's coming back, 7 00:00:20.790 --> 00:00:22.920 and people have pretty big plans. 8 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:26.010 Sean Murray: Yeah, they do. I'll just I'll just say, right off 9 00:00:26.010 --> 00:00:27.990 the mark, is that we were talking about the different 10 00:00:27.990 --> 00:00:32.040 colors that you could wear to signify like how comfortable you 11 00:00:32.040 --> 00:00:36.750 were with a green, yellow, purple, red, and I saw a lot I 12 00:00:36.750 --> 00:00:39.360 saw a lot of greens, I saw a lot of purples. 13 00:00:39.450 --> 00:00:40.950 Johny Fernandez: Which means that you're either fully 14 00:00:40.950 --> 00:00:45.150 vaccinated, or that you are okay to go ahead and party on as I 15 00:00:45.150 --> 00:00:47.970 Sean Murray: It seemed like people were all about following 16 00:00:47.970 --> 00:00:48.000 say, yeah. 17 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:50.700 the rules of that in the beginning. Yeah. But I think 18 00:00:50.730 --> 00:00:53.910 basically, everyone turned into a green. Yeah. Like, super 19 00:00:53.910 --> 00:00:56.700 quick. Yeah. To the point where today, I didn't really see 20 00:00:56.700 --> 00:00:59.190 anyone wearing the badge. I didn't I never got around to it 21 00:00:59.190 --> 00:01:01.050 might not I wouldn't have been I would have been wearing the 22 00:01:01.050 --> 00:01:06.240 green again. Yeah. Had I, you know, the, the memory to do 23 00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:08.910 that. But no one else was wearing them either. It looked 24 00:01:08.910 --> 00:01:11.820 like a free for all in terms of everyone was green. Yeah. Let's 25 00:01:11.820 --> 00:01:14.490 do this. I think we all poached it as everyone was cautious. 26 00:01:14.490 --> 00:01:17.430 Yeah. Coming here, you know, we're just going to file follow 27 00:01:17.430 --> 00:01:19.950 these guidelines that we're going to, you know, keep our 28 00:01:19.950 --> 00:01:22.530 distance and you know, we'll do one of these, you know, what I 29 00:01:22.530 --> 00:01:26.190 mean? And, you know, and all that and all that stuff. And 30 00:01:26.190 --> 00:01:29.160 like, really. Yeah. You know, because everyone's nervous. 31 00:01:29.160 --> 00:01:29.970 Everyone was nervous. 32 00:01:29.970 --> 00:01:31.320 Johny Fernandez: Everyone's nervous. Yeah. 33 00:01:31.530 --> 00:01:32.610 Sean Murray: We have people coming from all over the 34 00:01:32.610 --> 00:01:35.820 country. Yeah, I talk to people on camera, at least from 35 00:01:35.850 --> 00:01:39.630 Minnesota, California, I talked to some people who are local 36 00:01:39.630 --> 00:01:42.570 here, I talked to some people from New Jersey and New York 37 00:01:42.570 --> 00:01:45.870 and, you know, basically all over. And so everyone's come 38 00:01:45.870 --> 00:01:49.680 from a different mindset. And within, I'd say, just a few 39 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.560 hours, people were like, oh, this is okay, you know, you 40 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:54.840 know, we can do this, it's okay to be part of the world, 41 00:01:54.870 --> 00:01:58.440 assuming that they were, you know, they're safe and all that 42 00:01:58.440 --> 00:02:01.620 stuff. And, you know, had their, their shots or whatever it is. 43 00:02:02.160 --> 00:02:06.600 But today, it really wasn't without the stickers. I wasn't 44 00:02:06.600 --> 00:02:08.550 even I didn't even think about it. Yeah. It was just the real 45 00:02:08.550 --> 00:02:09.010 Johny Fernandez: It was it was. And I think that was something 46 00:02:09.010 --> 00:02:09.050 world. 47 00:02:10.910 --> 00:02:14.030 that when we talked to the different people on camera, you 48 00:02:14.030 --> 00:02:18.020 and I, something that we've seen is that this is definitely they 49 00:02:18.020 --> 00:02:21.890 want to return to a normal, just like we bought, we all want to 50 00:02:21.890 --> 00:02:25.070 at this point, and something that they're everyone's excited 51 00:02:25.070 --> 00:02:27.680 is that people that are here, they wanted to be here. And the 52 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:30.590 advice that they gave to other people that weren't here is to 53 00:02:30.590 --> 00:02:33.350 come. Next time, there's a conference like this, come on 54 00:02:33.350 --> 00:02:37.400 over, because this is definitely something different than a Zoom. 55 00:02:37.430 --> 00:02:41.480 Yeah. For example. And it's not the same, doing a Zoom meeting 56 00:02:41.510 --> 00:02:45.620 as being here in person networking, and just interacting 57 00:02:45.620 --> 00:02:48.980 with not only you know, your peers or colleagues, but just 58 00:02:48.980 --> 00:02:51.650 someone with a similar lifestyle. Like, you know, 59 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:55.220 everyone here has a very similar story, they got into this space, 60 00:02:55.340 --> 00:02:58.220 you know, for a specific reason, and they're here, and they're 61 00:02:58.220 --> 00:03:00.110 gonna make the best out of 2021. 62 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:03.750 Sean Murray: Yeah, I think so. There were some people that 63 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:06.930 ended up not getting the opportunity to embrace the 64 00:03:06.930 --> 00:03:10.740 experience they may have, chickened out, I think, when we 65 00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:13.200 first went live, we were talking about there being 900 people, 66 00:03:13.200 --> 00:03:15.000 and then we were we were corrected to like, no, it's, 67 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:18.660 it's 1000 plus, because they were adding in the people that 68 00:03:18.660 --> 00:03:20.550 you know, the walk ins and all that stuff, which we which we 69 00:03:20.550 --> 00:03:23.580 didn't think of, but there were also people that paid to 70 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:27.360 register paid to attend, but didn't come. Okay. That may have 71 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:29.910 been like 100, or 200, at least from what I heard from someone 72 00:03:29.910 --> 00:03:34.290 before. I don't know if that's 100% accurate. Yeah. And, you 73 00:03:34.290 --> 00:03:37.440 know, I don't know what the reason was. And that happens at 74 00:03:37.440 --> 00:03:41.040 shows. Yeah. By the way, you will have people actually pay to 75 00:03:41.040 --> 00:03:44.640 come and not actually go and I'm wondering if you know if any of 76 00:03:44.640 --> 00:03:48.780 that was really related to COVID or not, but I think they would 77 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:52.200 have been pleasantly surprised to see how normal and regular it 78 00:03:52.200 --> 00:03:56.460 was and I hope that if they were safe, and you know, and that 79 00:03:56.460 --> 00:03:59.100 they were able to partake in the opportunity that they didn't let 80 00:03:59.100 --> 00:04:03.210 the fear, you know, kind of override it. Because the people 81 00:04:03.210 --> 00:04:06.930 who were here they they fully embraced the return. Yeah. We 82 00:04:06.930 --> 00:04:09.570 had, we've had some embraces on camera. Yeah. You know, I've 83 00:04:09.570 --> 00:04:09.870 had. 84 00:04:10.770 --> 00:04:12.630 Johny Fernandez: Like, they're like, hey, like, let's talk, 85 00:04:12.630 --> 00:04:16.680 let's shake hands. Because I think mentally you know, you 86 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:19.890 know, despite us being covered up for a year or so, people take 87 00:04:19.890 --> 00:04:22.980 it off, and they're ready to go, they're like fully embraced. And 88 00:04:22.980 --> 00:04:25.440 I think something that we've talked about was even a simple 89 00:04:25.440 --> 00:04:28.500 handshake, they will embrace your hand a little longer than 90 00:04:28.500 --> 00:04:31.560 before, when it was, you know, back in the day like, hey. 91 00:04:31.650 --> 00:04:31.950 Sean Murray: Yeah. 92 00:04:31.950 --> 00:04:33.810 Johny Fernandez: It's something normal. You did it, but that 93 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:38.190 being taken away from us, it definitely, you know, makes you 94 00:04:38.190 --> 00:04:41.430 really think about it a little bit more. You know, enjoy it. 95 00:04:41.430 --> 00:04:43.760 Sean Murray: Yeah. I honestly, I honestly thought that there was 96 00:04:43.790 --> 00:04:46.250 this is a weird thing to say. But there was a lot of touching 97 00:04:46.460 --> 00:04:49.250 there going on in the show. Appropriately. And appropriate 98 00:04:49.250 --> 00:04:53.630 touching, but I think what I expected was, people might not 99 00:04:53.630 --> 00:04:56.810 shake hands. Yeah. Right. But everything else would be sort of 100 00:04:56.810 --> 00:05:01.070 normal. Yeah. But it was it was more intimate, you know what I 101 00:05:01.070 --> 00:05:04.310 mean than it normally would have been. Yeah. As we've been 102 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:06.290 saying. And I think that just says a lot. 103 00:05:06.300 --> 00:05:09.060 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. And another thing to kind of recap 104 00:05:09.060 --> 00:05:13.770 on the breakout sessions, how it was structured, it seemed like 105 00:05:13.770 --> 00:05:17.580 it was a normal breakout session, like what you would 106 00:05:17.580 --> 00:05:20.880 see, you know, during regular times. Yeah. Something that I 107 00:05:20.880 --> 00:05:24.180 did notice. And we saw it in the video that we shot was that the 108 00:05:24.180 --> 00:05:27.150 breakout sessions, they were distant, you know, and people 109 00:05:27.150 --> 00:05:30.210 could sit there, but it was a pretty packed room. People were 110 00:05:30.210 --> 00:05:33.480 attending, people had no mask on and they were sitting. And you 111 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:36.210 know, we had a panel that we were able to really, you know, 112 00:05:36.210 --> 00:05:39.330 people were able to see and interact with. So it was it was 113 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:42.540 normal. And that's something that to me, I found a little 114 00:05:42.540 --> 00:05:46.560 surprising, because, you know, in a panel in a conference area, 115 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.690 it's a little bit more organized. But I wondered how 116 00:05:48.690 --> 00:05:50.700 many people are actually going to show up? Yeah. How many 117 00:05:50.700 --> 00:05:53.820 people are just here to grab something and go, but it was 118 00:05:53.850 --> 00:05:56.970 packed out. I mean, people were literally standing in the back 119 00:05:56.970 --> 00:06:00.690 room, you know, and they were lined up waiting to hear the 120 00:06:00.690 --> 00:06:03.510 speaker that was there. So that's something that I also 121 00:06:03.510 --> 00:06:07.530 found very interesting. And they were in that room for quite some 122 00:06:07.530 --> 00:06:10.710 time. It wasn't, you know, a 10 minute thing. Like this was 123 00:06:10.710 --> 00:06:13.020 about like more than 40 minutes. They were in there. 124 00:06:13.020 --> 00:06:15.130 Sean Murray: Yeah, the ballroom was the same way when they did 125 00:06:15.130 --> 00:06:18.400 the the opening remarks this morning. In the first panel. 126 00:06:18.940 --> 00:06:23.560 There were literally hundreds of people in the room together. It 127 00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:26.980 seemed very, you know, very, very normal. People just 128 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:30.550 completely embraced it. We were just having a show. Yeah. It was 129 00:06:30.550 --> 00:06:33.970 just a show. Yeah. We keep making a big deal out of it. I 130 00:06:33.970 --> 00:06:36.700 think because we were expecting it to be like this big deal. But 131 00:06:36.700 --> 00:06:39.850 even even the agenda said a lot. It wasn't like this COVID, 132 00:06:39.850 --> 00:06:40.990 COVID, COVID, COVID. 133 00:06:41.320 --> 00:06:43.480 Johny Fernandez: I think there was one breakout session that 134 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:46.210 happened at around 130. That was totally related. But then 135 00:06:46.210 --> 00:06:47.020 everything else. 136 00:06:47.050 --> 00:06:50.470 Sean Murray: Yeah, it was like chargebacks, crypto, you know 137 00:06:50.470 --> 00:06:53.080 what I mean, like, risk all the things that you would normally 138 00:06:53.080 --> 00:06:55.930 expect them to show. And it's great. And we've heard so many 139 00:06:56.500 --> 00:07:01.960 positive trends from businesses who work in this field, we 140 00:07:01.960 --> 00:07:05.890 talked to actually a pretty wide variety. Yeah. Not just payments 141 00:07:05.890 --> 00:07:10.120 companies we spoke to at least I spoke to some folks in the 142 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:15.640 collections world, legal, and even even from funding, right. 143 00:07:15.640 --> 00:07:19.210 So we had a nice, like, broad group of people who came to this 144 00:07:19.210 --> 00:07:22.810 show. And they even honored some people here who have been coming 145 00:07:22.810 --> 00:07:26.140 to this show every year. Since the first one in 2001. They 146 00:07:26.140 --> 00:07:29.710 actually said that the first show, if I'm not mistaken, the 147 00:07:29.710 --> 00:07:32.380 first show they ever did for Southeast Acquirers it was right 148 00:07:32.380 --> 00:07:36.070 after 911. Okay. Like, like the, like, the month after. The month 149 00:07:36.070 --> 00:07:36.640 after? Yeah. 150 00:07:36.670 --> 00:07:39.310 Johny Fernandez: So it's a very similar type of environment that 151 00:07:39.310 --> 00:07:43.210 we're in now in regards to the uncertainty but as we've been 152 00:07:43.210 --> 00:07:46.240 able to see. Yeah. You know, the show is still gonna go on, 153 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:48.580 regardless of what's going on in the world. Yeah. 154 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:50.940 Sean Murray: And they also said that, that wasn't even the only 155 00:07:50.940 --> 00:07:54.660 like, you know, event that they had to go through, they also had 156 00:07:54.660 --> 00:07:57.060 to go through Katrina, because they were going to do their 157 00:07:57.060 --> 00:08:01.440 event in New Orleans, when Hurricane Katrina had happened, 158 00:08:01.620 --> 00:08:03.990 I mean, it was gonna be right after, you know, when the 159 00:08:03.990 --> 00:08:06.900 hurricane hit. And so they actually said that their event 160 00:08:07.080 --> 00:08:10.770 went from being a fall event to the spring because of that. So 161 00:08:10.890 --> 00:08:13.170 we'd like to think of, I don't know, if we liked you, but we 162 00:08:13.170 --> 00:08:16.380 probably think of the pandemic as this once in a lifetime thing 163 00:08:16.380 --> 00:08:19.290 that altered everything, you know, you know, it'll never 164 00:08:19.290 --> 00:08:21.840 happen again, and all this big change. But here, the show 165 00:08:21.840 --> 00:08:24.060 that's been around for 20 years, you know, they're like, they 166 00:08:24.060 --> 00:08:26.970 started off with 911. You know, they went right into Hurricane 167 00:08:26.970 --> 00:08:32.490 Katrina, right? They wanted to these big times of, you know, 168 00:08:32.490 --> 00:08:36.540 like, uncertainty and emotion and crisis and, and they pulled 169 00:08:36.540 --> 00:08:38.520 through it, and they're still here. And that's just part part 170 00:08:38.520 --> 00:08:40.830 of like the world. I don't know that we've ever really gone 171 00:08:40.830 --> 00:08:43.650 through one where like, we close the country for more than a 172 00:08:43.650 --> 00:08:47.370 year. Yeah. But the fact that it's bounced back, as it has. 173 00:08:47.370 --> 00:08:50.940 And other times, I think it says a lot about just humanity in 174 00:08:50.940 --> 00:08:53.490 general, we all want to make it look like think like, this was 175 00:08:53.490 --> 00:08:58.500 this one epic thing that changed everything forever. But here we 176 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:01.200 are talking about like chargebacks, crypto risk 177 00:09:01.230 --> 00:09:04.470 lending, you know, businesses did well, and things of that 178 00:09:04.470 --> 00:09:05.970 nature. So, I don't know. 179 00:09:06.200 --> 00:09:08.180 Johny Fernandez: And it's something also I found very 180 00:09:08.180 --> 00:09:11.930 interesting, that, you know, in regards to like a comeback, the 181 00:09:11.930 --> 00:09:15.230 people I spoke with today, you know, we had a female president, 182 00:09:15.230 --> 00:09:18.140 and then we had people that are in the millennial age range that 183 00:09:18.140 --> 00:09:22.760 are in the industry. And their plan is to make sure that they 184 00:09:22.760 --> 00:09:26.990 use 2021 as a comeback here. You know, a lot of them had a bar 185 00:09:26.990 --> 00:09:30.260 set and they surpassed that bar. Yeah. And something you know, we 186 00:09:30.260 --> 00:09:32.660 were able to speak with the president of one of the 187 00:09:32.660 --> 00:09:35.930 companies here with Bill Biller Genie, Biller Genie and she told 188 00:09:35.930 --> 00:09:38.870 me, you know, her goal is to make sure that this is an 189 00:09:38.870 --> 00:09:42.440 explosive year, a better year than they've ever had, but also 190 00:09:42.530 --> 00:09:44.750 make sure they hire the right people. They hire people, 191 00:09:44.750 --> 00:09:47.330 whether it's, you know, just someone that's trying to get 192 00:09:47.330 --> 00:09:51.020 into the industry, someone that you know, is a minority. Yeah. 193 00:09:51.020 --> 00:09:53.090 Someone that's a female like she's very focused on making 194 00:09:53.090 --> 00:09:55.970 sure she brings the right people in her team because she has that 195 00:09:55.970 --> 00:09:59.330 capability and they've grown to the point that she wants to make 196 00:09:59.330 --> 00:10:02.540 sure that's something that they do. And then speaking with other 197 00:10:02.540 --> 00:10:05.690 people that are also in the industry, they've also stressed 198 00:10:05.690 --> 00:10:08.450 that this is going to be the biggest year that they've had, 199 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:11.270 you know, they have they've been able to hire, you know, more 200 00:10:11.270 --> 00:10:14.420 people than ever before. Yeah. And pretty much the problem is 201 00:10:14.420 --> 00:10:16.760 that they don't have enough people. So I think that's 202 00:10:16.760 --> 00:10:20.600 something we're say that at the end of the day, you know, this 203 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:24.590 is something that didn't 2020 did not stop any of the guys 204 00:10:24.590 --> 00:10:28.580 here, you know, it actually pretty fast forward them into 205 00:10:28.580 --> 00:10:31.820 the accelerator road. Yeah. And now, you know, they're, they 206 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:34.880 have full momentum going into this year and the future. 207 00:10:34.900 --> 00:10:36.790 Sean Murray: Yeah, there were some that mentioned, though, 208 00:10:37.180 --> 00:10:41.530 although they did well, that their business changed, they 209 00:10:41.530 --> 00:10:43.600 were in pay, you know, a lot of these people are in are in 210 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:47.890 payments, and their customers, at least a good portion of them 211 00:10:47.890 --> 00:10:52.630 were doing in person face to face transactions. In order for 212 00:10:52.630 --> 00:10:55.510 these businesses to survive, they had to transition to 213 00:10:55.660 --> 00:10:59.920 e-commerce. And so I think that accelerated the e-commerce 214 00:10:59.950 --> 00:11:03.190 business a lot. And if you were the type of company that was 215 00:11:03.190 --> 00:11:05.380 prepared to deal with e-commerce in any way, whether it's 216 00:11:05.380 --> 00:11:09.910 payments, or whether whether it's lending, that this was your 217 00:11:09.910 --> 00:11:13.060 time to shine, if you were familiar with that particular 218 00:11:13.060 --> 00:11:16.570 market, because I think even though these type of in person 219 00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:20.050 shows clearly are not going away, the in person networking 220 00:11:20.050 --> 00:11:22.780 is never I don't, it's never going to change, in my opinon. 221 00:11:22.780 --> 00:11:25.240 Right? I think this is proof positive, that it's here to 222 00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:28.420 stay. And all that stuff is not going to become this this Zoom 223 00:11:28.420 --> 00:11:32.710 world. But as far as a business that can be conducted online 224 00:11:32.740 --> 00:11:36.280 that people were hesitant to shift over to, it turns out it 225 00:11:36.280 --> 00:11:40.030 can't can be businesses that didn't do takeout or carry out 226 00:11:40.030 --> 00:11:43.120 or whatever, you know what I mean, they found restaurants 227 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.300 that were maybe high end that wouldn't do delivery, because 228 00:11:46.300 --> 00:11:48.370 you know, the high end steak and you don't want to cheapen 229 00:11:48.370 --> 00:11:50.980 yourself by doing delivery, or takeout or whatever. They did it 230 00:11:50.980 --> 00:11:53.740 because they had to to survive. Yeah. And I think a lot of those 231 00:11:53.740 --> 00:11:57.340 will probably continue to do that in some form or fashion. My 232 00:11:57.340 --> 00:12:00.490 guess is probably because it was profitable to do so. And I don't 233 00:12:00.490 --> 00:12:03.580 think that people will view them negatively. Cause you know It's 234 00:12:03.580 --> 00:12:06.040 kind of like a reputational thing. Yeah. If you're like a 235 00:12:06.040 --> 00:12:09.670 premier steak Steakhouse, right? Or it doesn't have to be steak, 236 00:12:09.700 --> 00:12:12.580 but, you know, just for someone to place an online order, it 237 00:12:12.580 --> 00:12:15.880 kind of cheapens the brand. Yeah. Right. And so, you know, 238 00:12:15.970 --> 00:12:19.840 that didn't really matter. And so they had to add e-commerce, 239 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:23.050 they had to add delivery and all that stuff. And so I think that 240 00:12:23.050 --> 00:12:26.320 part of it is is going to is going to remain in some form or 241 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:29.080 fashion. We have heard that from people here that e-commerce 242 00:12:29.260 --> 00:12:33.520 really got to boost. But as far as far as in person, like 243 00:12:33.520 --> 00:12:38.080 networking and stuff, this isn't going anywhere. Yeah. I think I 244 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:38.860 think it's here to stay. 245 00:12:38.870 --> 00:12:40.610 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, and I definitely do agree with that. 246 00:12:40.610 --> 00:12:43.010 And something else that we've been hearing a lot is that 247 00:12:43.820 --> 00:12:48.530 networking and just building that relationship in person will 248 00:12:48.530 --> 00:12:52.040 always out beat something like cold calling. Yeah. And 249 00:12:52.040 --> 00:12:54.890 something like doing a Zoom meeting. And that's something we 250 00:12:54.890 --> 00:12:58.280 were able to see here firsthand. And this area right behind us, 251 00:12:58.400 --> 00:13:01.460 this turned into would turn into like, you know, the breakfast 252 00:13:01.460 --> 00:13:04.400 area, the lunch area. And it was always jam packed. Like right 253 00:13:04.400 --> 00:13:07.400 now it's not as packed. But it was always packed with people 254 00:13:07.430 --> 00:13:10.400 talking to people and you know, people introducing themselves. 255 00:13:10.400 --> 00:13:12.680 And that's all I would hear. It's like, hey, my name is fill 256 00:13:12.680 --> 00:13:15.410 in the blank. I'm from, you know, New York, Minnesota, 257 00:13:15.410 --> 00:13:18.530 Chicago. So all these places. And I think like you said, that 258 00:13:18.530 --> 00:13:22.640 is proof that this is not going anywhere. And I think it's going 259 00:13:22.640 --> 00:13:25.790 to be the total opposite as things continue to open back up 260 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.630 to 100% capacity. Yeah. People will be doing these events, 261 00:13:29.870 --> 00:13:32.870 because people are tired of Zoom. And that's something that 262 00:13:32.870 --> 00:13:35.900 we've been able to hear through, you know, throughout most of the 263 00:13:35.900 --> 00:13:37.520 day, today. And yesterday. 264 00:13:37.570 --> 00:13:39.370 Sean Murray: Yeah, you know, the success of a lot of people's 265 00:13:39.370 --> 00:13:44.440 social media is there is there being places that other people 266 00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:47.890 wish they could go to, like a you know, a luxurious vacation 267 00:13:47.890 --> 00:13:51.940 or international travel or you know, that type of thing, you 268 00:13:51.940 --> 00:13:54.610 know, going on a safari, whatever it is, and when you 269 00:13:54.610 --> 00:13:58.630 can't do that type of thing. You can't you know, you can't create 270 00:13:58.630 --> 00:14:01.960 that type of image for yourself on social media. And I think I 271 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:04.300 don't know how much time people were spending on social media. I 272 00:14:04.300 --> 00:14:06.580 imagined a lot, people are on their computers a lot, but I 273 00:14:06.580 --> 00:14:10.690 think it it hurt the social media industry in a way because 274 00:14:10.780 --> 00:14:13.480 people weren't able to show other people. Yeah. All the cool 275 00:14:13.480 --> 00:14:15.580 things that they were doing cause no one was doing anything 276 00:14:15.580 --> 00:14:18.910 cool. Yeah. Everyone was at home. Yeah. There was nothing 277 00:14:18.910 --> 00:14:19.930 cool. Yeah. 278 00:14:19.990 --> 00:14:22.750 Johny Fernandez: And now, something that we can also kind 279 00:14:22.750 --> 00:14:25.780 of jump into talking about is the exhibit booth. Yeah. 280 00:14:25.780 --> 00:14:28.180 Something we've been able to see. And I saw some pictures 281 00:14:28.180 --> 00:14:31.030 being taken. And, you know, a lot of the younger millennial 282 00:14:31.030 --> 00:14:35.050 guys and girls, they were, you know, kind of exposing, not 283 00:14:35.050 --> 00:14:37.810 exposing, they were showing that, you know, they were here 284 00:14:37.900 --> 00:14:40.210 because of the new gadgets that they had here. So that is 285 00:14:40.210 --> 00:14:42.670 something that we were able to see throughout the day were the 286 00:14:42.670 --> 00:14:48.010 cool gadgets and technology that are being put forward. As 2021 287 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:50.440 continues, you know, these companies are ready to move 288 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:54.010 forward with these cool technology and cool gadgets, 289 00:14:54.010 --> 00:14:56.620 and. Yeah. That's something that I also found very interesting 290 00:14:56.620 --> 00:14:59.500 because I don't really think about it. Certain things when 291 00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:02.530 you go out to eat but something as simple as tapping your card. 292 00:15:02.560 --> 00:15:06.490 Yeah. How that impacts this entire atmosphere that we're in 293 00:15:06.490 --> 00:15:07.960 right now. Yeah. And the space. 294 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:10.870 Sean Murray: Somebody here could have provided that technology to 295 00:15:10.870 --> 00:15:11.230 do it. 296 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:12.890 Johny Fernandez: So it's definitely interesting. It's 297 00:15:12.890 --> 00:15:16.880 exciting. And I think it's also what the big takeaway for me is, 298 00:15:16.910 --> 00:15:21.410 like, we've been saying, no one's really leaving these type 299 00:15:21.410 --> 00:15:24.710 of events, sad or scared. I think it's a total opposite. 300 00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:28.760 Yeah. You know, people are more motivated to move forward. And 301 00:15:28.760 --> 00:15:31.850 to really, you know, continue to do these type of networking 302 00:15:31.850 --> 00:15:33.890 events, whether it means something this big, or 303 00:15:33.890 --> 00:15:36.200 something, maybe a little smaller, you know, maybe 304 00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:39.530 something more a little bit more local to where they're at. But 305 00:15:39.530 --> 00:15:42.470 people are definitely motivated. And everyone's happy here, I 306 00:15:42.470 --> 00:15:46.220 mean besides the sunshine that's here, and the 80 degrees, 90 307 00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:49.040 degrees that we're in right now, but people are excited to, you 308 00:15:49.040 --> 00:15:51.800 know, continue to network, I saw a lot of things like business 309 00:15:51.800 --> 00:15:54.170 cards being exchanged. Yeah. In my mind I was like business 310 00:15:54.170 --> 00:15:57.290 cards, you know, are they even a thing right now, but they still 311 00:15:57.290 --> 00:16:00.590 are like, they are changing as far as exchanging information. 312 00:16:00.710 --> 00:16:03.440 So it's definitely something that, you know, it's exciting to 313 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:03.770 see. 314 00:16:03.800 --> 00:16:07.550 Sean Murray: I took a selfie with a guy who I he was down to 315 00:16:07.550 --> 00:16:10.790 his last business card. And he was on his way out, I guess, 316 00:16:10.820 --> 00:16:13.610 when you hit the last card. For him, that means he's done his 317 00:16:13.610 --> 00:16:17.180 networking for the day. Yeah. And we're the table right over 318 00:16:17.180 --> 00:16:20.630 here. So when he came over with his business card, he told me 319 00:16:20.630 --> 00:16:23.660 he's like, you're the last one. This is my my last big exchange. 320 00:16:23.660 --> 00:16:26.600 And we actually took a selfie to commemorate the moment. 321 00:16:27.050 --> 00:16:27.620 Johny Fernandez: That's awesome. 322 00:16:27.620 --> 00:16:29.600 Sean Murray: He was like this. This was special he's like, hey, 323 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:31.310 you're, you're lucky. He's like, you know how lucky you are? I 324 00:16:31.310 --> 00:16:33.710 didn't know what he was talking about. Right? Like, what what's 325 00:16:33.740 --> 00:16:36.170 what's, what's this gonna be about? Right? He's like, this is 326 00:16:36.170 --> 00:16:38.690 my last business card of the day. He's like, I would like 327 00:16:38.690 --> 00:16:41.150 your card. So we did a little exchange, we took a selfie. 328 00:16:41.150 --> 00:16:41.750 Johny Fernandez: And that's one thing even I think just everyone 329 00:16:41.750 --> 00:16:41.900 Johny Fernandez: That's awesome. 330 00:16:41.900 --> 00:16:44.463 Sean Murray: But you know, and that type of thing. That type of 331 00:16:44.463 --> 00:16:44.720 does it. When they hear about an event. The first thing I would 332 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:44.840 do is I would go, or I go to Google.com. 333 00:16:44.840 --> 00:16:47.719 moment. Can't be created over over Zoom. Right? Yeah. I talked 334 00:16:47.771 --> 00:16:50.820 about social media before. I really feel like showing other 335 00:16:50.871 --> 00:16:53.972 people where you are and what you're doing. It's a lot about 336 00:16:54.024 --> 00:16:56.866 what social media is. Yeah. Like, I know, it is for us. 337 00:16:56.918 --> 00:17:00.174 Yeah. Showing people that were on the scene. You know, we're on 338 00:17:00.225 --> 00:17:03.223 the scene live. Yeah, I think it probably creates a better 339 00:17:03.274 --> 00:17:06.427 impression than just writing an article. Just talk about what 340 00:17:06.478 --> 00:17:09.682 the show was. You know what I mean, I think you can learn more 341 00:17:09.734 --> 00:17:12.835 from people having been there. Yeah. And you might decide if 342 00:17:12.886 --> 00:17:16.142 that's something you want to be a part of, too. Yeah. Like, you 343 00:17:16.194 --> 00:17:19.398 know, it's not just about like, jealousy of like, I wish I was 344 00:17:19.449 --> 00:17:22.705 them you can kind of use that to formulate your own ideas about 345 00:17:22.757 --> 00:17:26.064 what you want to do, especially if you're in business. Yeah. And 346 00:17:26.116 --> 00:17:28.855 you're looking at what conference do I want to go to? 347 00:17:28.907 --> 00:17:32.266 Or do I want to go to any? Yeah. Right. And you start looking at, 348 00:17:32.317 --> 00:17:35.418 well, what are the ones out there? Do they look like they're 349 00:17:35.470 --> 00:17:36.830 a good experience? Do they look like they're a good time? Do 350 00:17:36.830 --> 00:17:37.820 Sean Murray: Google.com? 351 00:17:37.820 --> 00:17:41.671 people look like they were having fun? Yeah. Where did they 352 00:17:41.723 --> 00:17:42.240 go? Right. 353 00:17:50.510 --> 00:17:51.500 Johny Fernandez: To Google. 354 00:17:55.220 --> 00:17:57.560 Sean Murray: Good thing you said to get the .com, I think other 355 00:17:57.560 --> 00:18:00.260 people will be confused. Don't go to Google.org That's a 356 00:18:00.260 --> 00:18:01.670 totally, that's a different company. 357 00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:02.840 Johny Fernandez: So you got to Google.com. 358 00:18:03.050 --> 00:18:05.180 Sean Murray: He uses Google.com. Yeah. 359 00:18:06.560 --> 00:18:08.000 Johny Fernandez: I do. You should use it too. 360 00:18:08.060 --> 00:18:10.040 Sean Murray: Or did, do you do this on like the worldwide web? 361 00:18:12.320 --> 00:18:13.640 Johny Fernandez: Something called the internet. 362 00:18:14.410 --> 00:18:16.360 Sean Murray: Okay, now we know how you find out about commas. 363 00:18:16.630 --> 00:18:17.830 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, but you look at pictures. 364 00:18:17.830 --> 00:18:19.030 Sean Murray: Find us on Google.com. 365 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:25.540 Johny Fernandez: I love you guys, you're great, but you go 366 00:18:25.540 --> 00:18:29.560 to Google.com 367 00:18:29.560 --> 00:18:30.860 Sean Murray: I'm not even giving you time to come up with a 368 00:18:30.860 --> 00:18:33.920 comeback, I'm trying to think of one but I'm too nice. I'm just 369 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:34.670 gonna leave you with that. 370 00:18:35.330 --> 00:18:38.030 Johny Fernandez: So I look up pictures on Google.com. Yeah. 371 00:18:38.420 --> 00:18:41.450 Of, of event and see if like it was packed at a good spot or 372 00:18:41.450 --> 00:18:42.110 not. Yeah. Googlepictures.com. 373 00:18:42.140 --> 00:18:43.070 Sean Murray: Google pictures? 374 00:18:43.790 --> 00:18:44.300 Johny Fernandez: Or Googleimages.com. 375 00:18:44.300 --> 00:18:48.380 Sean Murray: I don't think that's what it is. I think I 376 00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:51.710 think it's Google and you click the image. After when this is 377 00:18:51.710 --> 00:18:54.410 done, I'm going to teach you how to use the internet. Yeah, we'll 378 00:18:54.410 --> 00:18:56.000 do a training. Alright, yeah that's awesome. I'll show you 379 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:58.430 how to look up pictures and stuff. There's a thing called 380 00:18:58.430 --> 00:18:59.180 Instagram too. 381 00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:00.260 Johny Fernandez: Oh, I've never heard of it. 382 00:19:00.470 --> 00:19:02.240 Sean Murray: Well, I'm gonna help you out. Don't, don't 383 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:04.850 worry. Yeah, it is conferences and things and people are doing 384 00:19:04.850 --> 00:19:05.300 cool stuff. 385 00:19:05.300 --> 00:19:05.660 Johny Fernandez: That's great. 386 00:19:05.660 --> 00:19:08.000 Sean Murray: It's a whole thing. Yeah. And there's a, there's 387 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:09.290 live streams that people do. 388 00:19:09.950 --> 00:19:13.430 Johny Fernandez: Oh, my cheeks hurt from laughing. Oh, man. 389 00:19:14.360 --> 00:19:16.490 Sean Murray: But you know, people people take that stuff. 390 00:19:16.520 --> 00:19:20.300 You know? Yeah. As you said, you go to Google.com. I do. But 391 00:19:20.300 --> 00:19:22.910 you're because you're looking at the information. Yeah. And a lot 392 00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:25.220 of people a lot of people do that. Yeah. And they're gonna 393 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:27.530 look for pictures. Yeah. Pictures are going to tell them 394 00:19:27.530 --> 00:19:30.590 a lot more. They're gonna tell them a lot more about what to 395 00:19:30.590 --> 00:19:35.270 expect from the experience than just a tweet, a text or just an 396 00:19:35.270 --> 00:19:37.940 article. Yeah. Right. And so that was all that was all 397 00:19:37.940 --> 00:19:40.400 missing. Yeah. During the pandemic, because all you 398 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:42.650 couldn't tweet where you couldn't show where you were and 399 00:19:42.650 --> 00:19:45.050 what you were doing. Yeah. No one was doing anything. 400 00:19:45.050 --> 00:19:47.820 Johny Fernandez: And I think we were able to capture some video 401 00:19:47.850 --> 00:19:51.930 of, you know, going inside and kind of checking that area out. 402 00:19:52.170 --> 00:19:55.020 And the technology and the hand sanitizer that they were giving 403 00:19:55.020 --> 00:19:57.990 out and the glasses. Yeah. And it was it was a full on 404 00:19:57.990 --> 00:20:01.230 experience, and which is why we did this to show you guys at 405 00:20:01.230 --> 00:20:04.500 home that we're not here. What this is like, you know, this is 406 00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:06.420 one of the first big events that we've been to. 407 00:20:06.450 --> 00:20:08.670 Sean Murray: This is the first event that we've been to. Yeah. 408 00:20:08.700 --> 00:20:10.500 Well, we've been to some, you know, we've done some 409 00:20:10.500 --> 00:20:13.290 interviews, we've done some, like, you know, small things, 410 00:20:13.290 --> 00:20:22.090 Sean Murray: I said, anecdotally, this morning, I was 411 00:20:13.290 --> 00:20:13.560 but. 412 00:20:13.560 --> 00:20:16.124 Johny Fernandez: But this is the first real live in person event 413 00:20:16.179 --> 00:20:19.248 that we've done. Yeah. It's definitely, it's been fun. I 414 00:20:19.303 --> 00:20:22.372 mean, I can't really say anything else. It's been great. 415 00:20:22.427 --> 00:20:25.715 talking to different people. And I think seeing, for me, the 416 00:20:25.715 --> 00:20:25.990 talking about if you're, if you work in the working capital 417 00:20:25.990 --> 00:20:29.113 highlight has been seeing the types of people that we've been 418 00:20:29.168 --> 00:20:32.347 able to interact. Yeah. You know, people that are actually 419 00:20:32.402 --> 00:20:35.690 here, internationally, like I spoke with one woman that she, 420 00:20:35.745 --> 00:20:39.198 you know, works for a European based company, that they have an 421 00:20:39.252 --> 00:20:42.541 office in Atlanta, but they're looking to, you know, kind of 422 00:20:42.595 --> 00:20:45.829 grow, you know, not only in the States, but also in Europe. 423 00:20:45.884 --> 00:20:49.337 Yeah. So that was interesting, because it just goes to show you 424 00:20:49.391 --> 00:20:52.570 that, you know, you may think it's just like the Southeast 425 00:20:52.625 --> 00:20:55.804 area, but it's actually like internationally, so you never 426 00:20:55.858 --> 00:20:59.147 know, who you're gonna be able to meet. Yeah. Here, in these 427 00:20:59.202 --> 00:21:00.079 types of events. 428 00:21:05.020 --> 00:21:11.830 space, that the opportunity to meet a merchant acquirer is, is 429 00:21:11.830 --> 00:21:14.740 enormous. Because you could end up with a referral partner, that 430 00:21:14.740 --> 00:21:17.470 gives you access to 10s of 1000s, or hundreds of 1000s of 431 00:21:17.470 --> 00:21:19.870 businesses. And I think it's great people hear that they're 432 00:21:19.870 --> 00:21:22.720 like, oh, cool, but does it actually happen? I'm not gonna 433 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:25.270 name names. I talked to a few of the working capital providers 434 00:21:25.270 --> 00:21:27.100 here. I'm like, you know, are you getting anything out of this 435 00:21:27.130 --> 00:21:30.730 does this work for you? And they're like, it works. You know 436 00:21:30.730 --> 00:21:32.650 what I mean, like, it's kind of like the best kept secret in a 437 00:21:32.650 --> 00:21:35.680 way like they go out there. And they, they say that they're 438 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:38.020 coming to the show, but maybe maybe they don't overhype it too 439 00:21:38.020 --> 00:21:39.610 much, because they don't want to give away that, hey, this is 440 00:21:39.610 --> 00:21:41.830 where we're getting our business from. And so if yeah, if you 441 00:21:41.830 --> 00:21:43.720 work in the working capital space, the opportunity to 442 00:21:43.750 --> 00:21:46.090 partner with the payments company, get access to 10s of 443 00:21:46.090 --> 00:21:48.910 1000s, hundreds of 1000s of merchants, it's a real thing and 444 00:21:48.910 --> 00:21:51.070 people we've spoken to here. That's why they're coming to 445 00:21:51.070 --> 00:21:54.190 this show. Like they're not just coming here because it's Bonita 446 00:21:54.190 --> 00:21:56.590 Springs, Florida, and it's the end of the pandemic. These are 447 00:21:56.590 --> 00:21:59.080 companies that have been going to this show for years, some of 448 00:21:59.080 --> 00:22:02.110 them for more than 10 years. And they're going here because they 449 00:22:02.110 --> 00:22:05.110 get value of working with the payments industry. It was born 450 00:22:05.110 --> 00:22:07.960 out of the whole thing. And so I think that's that's another 451 00:22:07.960 --> 00:22:10.510 takeaway. I think we even heard from Andrew earlier, Andrew 452 00:22:10.690 --> 00:22:13.750 Altschuler, he said that he thinks that that will continue 453 00:22:13.750 --> 00:22:16.180 to increase so we'll get more working capital funding 454 00:22:16.180 --> 00:22:18.850 companies here intermingling with the payments firms, because 455 00:22:18.850 --> 00:22:19.750 the opportunity is so good. 456 00:22:19.750 --> 00:22:22.840 Johny Fernandez: Yeah no, and it will be definitely interesting 457 00:22:22.840 --> 00:22:27.550 to see how this space changes throughout 2021. So I think that 458 00:22:27.550 --> 00:22:31.210 is I'm extremely happy just meeting everyone here. And 459 00:22:31.450 --> 00:22:35.350 really just seeing what this can turn into and what this has 460 00:22:35.350 --> 00:22:38.290 turned into. Yeah. And also the positive news that you know, 461 00:22:38.290 --> 00:22:43.120 it's grown, this pandemic has not stopped a lot of these 462 00:22:43.120 --> 00:22:46.330 companies, and that they're really going into full momentum. 463 00:22:46.360 --> 00:22:49.270 Yeah. And I'm excited to go back home and really hit the ground 464 00:22:49.270 --> 00:22:52.330 running with my type of work just for meetings. Yeah, yeah. 465 00:22:52.330 --> 00:22:55.720 What about you, Sean, are you? Alright, what's the biggest 466 00:22:55.750 --> 00:22:57.580 takeaway out of being here for you? 467 00:22:58.170 --> 00:23:00.510 Sean Murray: That we will be doing more of these. You know, 468 00:23:00.510 --> 00:23:02.820 this isn't a one time thing like oh, deBanked is doing a live 469 00:23:02.820 --> 00:23:06.060 stream from the Southeast Acquirers show. This is not a 470 00:23:06.060 --> 00:23:09.240 one time deal. Yeah. We'll be doing this more often. You know, 471 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:12.750 this is the first first time we've done an off site. At an 472 00:23:12.750 --> 00:23:15.570 actual event, we did an off site where we spoke to some funders 473 00:23:15.570 --> 00:23:17.400 and brokers in the in the industry. Remember, we did some 474 00:23:17.430 --> 00:23:20.520 we did some interviews and stuff. We're going to continue 475 00:23:20.520 --> 00:23:23.460 to do more of that. Yeah, we're gonna do, we're going to 476 00:23:23.460 --> 00:23:28.650 continue to do more of that, at events. This is the first major 477 00:23:28.650 --> 00:23:32.220 one. And I think it was a great experience. Honestly. It was. It 478 00:23:32.220 --> 00:23:36.240 was a good energy here. A lot of positive things here. People 479 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:38.820 were are into it. You know what I mean? We had a lot of people 480 00:23:38.850 --> 00:23:42.390 want to be on camera. Yeah. And stuff like that. So and overall, 481 00:23:42.390 --> 00:23:44.640 I think the takeaway is that we're going to be bringing 482 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:47.370 people, for those of you who can't come. Yeah. Because we 483 00:23:47.370 --> 00:23:50.100 were just talking about social media, we were we are going to 484 00:23:50.100 --> 00:23:53.550 try to bring that experience to you. And you know, you can 485 00:23:53.550 --> 00:23:55.650 decide if this is something that you want to want to be a part 486 00:23:55.650 --> 00:23:58.410 of, right. So yeah you can go on the Instagram, you can go on, 487 00:23:58.440 --> 00:24:01.440 you can do all the articles and all that stuff. But we're also 488 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:04.320 gonna bring the video component to you and try to you know, make 489 00:24:04.410 --> 00:24:07.890 make that experience come to life. Yeah. In the best way that 490 00:24:07.890 --> 00:24:11.040 we can, and we hope that it adds value to to what everyone out 491 00:24:11.040 --> 00:24:11.370 there does. 492 00:24:11.370 --> 00:24:13.170 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, so you can check us out online on 493 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:15.630 debanked.com. Obviously, if you're watching this, you're 494 00:24:15.630 --> 00:24:18.720 already there. And also our social media platforms on 495 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:23.280 Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. I think that's all of them, it 496 00:24:23.280 --> 00:24:24.960 should be right? Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. 497 00:24:25.470 --> 00:24:26.880 Sean Murray: And google.com. 498 00:24:27.270 --> 00:24:30.660 Johny Fernandez: And Google.com. Don't forget Google.com So 499 00:24:30.660 --> 00:24:33.480 that's it for us here. Again I'm Johny Fernandez, it's been a 500 00:24:33.480 --> 00:24:36.600 pleasure, guiding you guys through this conference. And who 501 00:24:36.600 --> 00:24:36.990 are you? 502 00:24:37.230 --> 00:24:38.280 Sean Murray: Sean Murray. 503 00:24:38.460 --> 00:24:40.410 Johny Fernandez: Alright and we'll see you guys next time 504 00:24:40.560 --> 00:24:42.390 here on deBanked TV.