ntrepreneurship has never been more demanding. Finding good people, knowing the right ones, protecting your assets, staying abreast of new technologies, being inspired and inspiring others are all part of growing a business. The Midwest Acquirers' Association recently brought all these opportunities together under one roof, at its fourth annual meeting at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago.

'The best career you never heard of'

This year, MWAA held its first ever bankcard job fair, advertising both in trade publications and local news outlets. ("The best career you never heard of" was the headline in one local ad.) Twenty companies sponsored the event, which had 12 exhibitors.

Job seekers, dressed to the nines, formed a line outside the doors before the fair opened on July 18 at 4:30 p.m. Candidates continued to stream in, moving from table to table, until closing at 8:30 p.m. Mark Dunn, MWAA's President, estimated that about 350 job seekers attended. Some had worked in the bankcard industry before, others hadn't. "We're looking for strong salespeople," said Russ Goebel of Pay By Touch, an exhibiting company. "Bankcard industry experience is not required if they have a strong work ethic and a desire to learn." Goebel was pleased with the attendee turnout.

BluePay, also an exhibitor, had already talked with about 30 job seekers only one hour into the event. "We've gone to other job fairs to recruit for operations positions, so we thought we'd try this one for sales positions," said Patrice Puglessi, BluePay's Human Resources Manager. She said about half the resumes they had received so far were for sales positions.

MWAA offered many extras at the job fair such as mini educational workshops on different payment processing careers, from operations to sales to information technology; door prize drawings; and for those interested in learning even more about the industry, a discount on the conference and adjoining events.

On July 19, Dunn, also of Field Guide Enterprises LLC, held a two-track Field Guide for ISOs seminar. The first, "How to Grow Your ISO and Sell It for Millions" included eight presentations from industry moguls on everything from laying the right foundation and using industry resources to your advantage, to financing, capitalizing and selling your ISO. The second track, "Sell More and Sell More Easily" by sales trainer and motivational speaker Steve Montague of Effective Sales Development Inc., covered sales systems and a number of exercises for thinking a little differently about your sales approach.

'The great secret in America'

The MWAA conference kicked off the evening of July 19, with an agenda that included a Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament for charity, sponsored by United Bank Card, over seven hours of networking time with vendors, and presentations providing updates on the latest in contactless and wireless technologies.

For example, wireless equipment providers believe Sprint will shut down the Mobitex network in the second quarter of 2007. This raises the question: What will merchants using this network for their wireless POS transactions do? Also, deadlines for MasterCard Worldwide's POS Terminal and Security program are rapidly approaching: By Sept. 1, 2006, all newly deployed wireless and Internet-protocol-enabled terminals must support encryption. By Jan. 3, 2007, all units in the field must support it.

Merchant level salespeople learned what they should do at their offices to protect sensitive merchant and cardholder data. David Mertz of GreenSoft Solutions Inc. offered a sobering thought: "The great secret in America is that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating security breaches," he said. "The FTC will become your 'business partner' for the next 20 years if you have a security breach."

A lifetime of achievement

Richard P. Draper, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peripheron Technologies Inc., was the recipient of MWAA's 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award. From 1983 to 1993, Draper set records for selling VeriFone equipment as the company's largest independent distributor. "Dick established a brand new channel in our industry: the distributor channel," Dunn said. "We think he epitomizes an entrepreneur."

Accepting the award, Draper said, "A friend once said, 'I try to conduct my business like I'm going to read about it on the front page the next morning,' and I've tried to live by that."

MWAA, a not-for-profit, independent, non-membership-based organization, held its fifth annual meeting in Cleveland, July 24 - 27, 2007. Visit www.midwestacquirers.com for more information.