It was a packed schedule. Lots of speakers. Plenty of big ideas.A bustling exhibit hall. Constant chatter in the halls and duringbreaks. A generally upbeat mood. What did you miss out on learningbecause you were not at the annual conference of the California/Nevada Credit Union Leagues in theLas Vegas Mirage hotel?

* MBL's Time Is Now. CUNA's CEO Bill Cheney did not exactly promise the member business lending capwould be lifted soon – but he did say Senate Majority Leader HarryReid (D-Nev.) had promised a vote on the issue. And, perCheney, that vote will come in the lame duck session of Congress,meaning before year end.

The sides are stark of course. Community banks want to keep thecap in place for credit unions, who want it obliterated.

Cheney now has called for a “hike the Hill” show of strength inthe last week of November when he wants credit unions and businessmembers to pound on doors in Washington, to get the message acrossthat MBL matters, not just to credit unions but also to thenation's economic recovery. *Demographics Are Destiny. Conservative punditTucker Carlson, in aclosing luncheon talk to a full house at the California/NevadaLeagues confab, said that looked at objectively there really wasjust about no way Mitt Romney could have been elected presidentbecause “demographics are destiny.”

An electorate that is less white, with more immigrants, and withmany fewer church-goers spells a run of bad times for theRepublican Party, per Carlson. He indicated he expected the GOP tochange, dramatically, to adjust to new demographic realities. Buthe offered no timetable.

Carlson, incidentally, was not optimistic that there would beeasy or quick solutions to the so-called “fiscal cliff” issue now consuming Washington, D.C. He did seemto think Republicans would give on more taxes for the wealthy buthe did not appear to see a path to controlling entitlementsspending that would leave both parties happy. *Hispanics Are the Credit Union Future – at leastin California and Nevada, both of which have large Hispanicpopulations that today are heavily unbanked or underbanked but whowill embrace credit union services when institutions reach out,said Miriam DeDios, CEO of Des Moines, Iowa-based Coopera, a consultingorganization owned by the Iowa Credit Union League and committed todeveloping more Hispanic involvement in the nation's credit unionmovement.

De Dios gave her talk a day before Carlson – but in many waysshe set the stage for his remarks. Hispanics, she noted, had made ahuge difference in the 2012 presidential election – and theycan do the same with many credit unions, she indicated.

The key, according to De Dios: credit unions need to decide theywant to pursue that market, then pursue it properly (with bilingualstaff, Spanish language materials, etc.) *EMV Coming At You Via CO-OP

Stan Hollen, CO-OP Financial Services' CEO, in brief remarks put concreteparameters around his company's rollout of EMV, the PIN-and-chipsecurity upgrade planned for credit cards over the next few years,according to timetables from Visa and MasterCard. “We are taking aphased approach.” CO-OP, Hollen said, has an EMV rollout on its road map, but “the magnetic stripe willremain on cards for eight to 10 years.”

He said that CO-OP will go live with an EMV pilot “by yearend.”

He also warned that EMV cards – which come with a computer chipand software – “are much more expensive, approaching $5 per card.” * Consumers Don't Get the Credit UnionMessage. In a blistering talk where speaker-researcherNeil Goldman accentuated the positive at every turn – “consumers areangry at banks, this opens a lane for credit unions,” he said –Goldman also acknowledged that in lots of ways focus group researchunderlines that most consumers do not think they can join creditunions, they are clueless about the shared ATM network, and many ofthem think credit unions lag way behind in embracing thetechnologies younger consumers want (mobile banking, mobile remotedeposit capture in particular).

The takeaway from Goldman's talks: banks have dropped the ballbut it is up to credit unions to pick it up and run with it and, sofar, they haven't. A lot of consumer outreach and education has tooccur for credit unions to truly seize the initiative of BankTransfer Day, suggested Goldman.