MADISON, Wis. – CUNA is expecting a record number of vendors for its annual Future Forum slated June 11-14 in Orlando, Fla., but pre-registrations are down about 15% from a year ago, officials reported last week.

“We knew from the start that changing the date from September to June would be a drawback for attendees in their advance planning, but remember we do have a powerful program with any number of creative sessions,” said Todd Spiczenski, chief Future Forum coordinator and vice president of CUNA's Center for Professional Development.

So far 160 exhibitors-nearly 8% more than 2005-are signed up to show at the Forum, to be held at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes Hotel in Orlando, said Spiczenski. Overall attendance is running about 1,000, down from the 1,200-1,300 turnout for Future Forum last September in San Francisco.

In light of the fall hurricane season, CUNA convention planners decided in 2005 to alter the timing for the event to a June date, but retain a Southeast site. “Our attendees told us June was preferable to September and besides we had the problem of the hurricanes with people not wanting to travel there during that time period,” said Spiczenski.

While attendance may be slightly off in Orlando, the June date looks good for 2007 when the annual CUNA gathering will be held at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas “and we'll have no problem there,” said Spiczenski.