Be there or be square: the 11th annual Digital Money Forum

[Dave Birch] The programme for the 11th annual Digital Money Forum to be held in London on 23rd and 24th April 2008 -- sponsored by Visa Europe and Webmoney with support from ACI Worldwide -- is coming together over at www.digitalmoneyforum.com and already features speakers and panellists including Giles Andrews of Zopa, Charles Cohen from Probability, Jim Wadsworth from J.P. Morgan, Mike Jackson of Shaping Tomorrow, Ronnie O'Toole of National Irish Bank, Sandra Alzetta from Visa Europe, economist and author Diane Coyle, Donal Rice from the National Disability Authority in Ireland, Colin Swain from Barclays, Peter Jones from Payment Systems Europe, Jerry Dischler from Google, Anne Caffrey from RBS, Oliver Kelly from Vodafone, David Boyle fron New Economics, Jof Walters from Shopcreator, Julian Wilson from Mobbits, Charles Bryant from the European Banking Association, David Hunter from Click 'n Buy and Europe's most informed commentator on the economics of cash replacement, Leo van Hove from the Free University of Brussels.

They, and the delegates, will be discussing all of the major trends in the sector and what the next trends might be. Contactless payments, NFC in mobile phones, Internet payments, remittances, cash replacement and public policy, the often-forgotten needs of the disabled, the nature of innovation in payments. All of the speakers and all of the panellists have been invited because they have something interesting and worthwhile to contribute: you won't find yourself sitting watching product marketing presentations, you'll find yourself engaging and learning.

There will be a special "Meet the Bloggers" panel where you will be able to question in person some of people you turn to first on the net everyday for perspectives on the retail electronic payments sector; Chris Skinner from FinanSer (UK), Colin Henderson from Bankwatch (Canada), Scott Loftesness from Payments New (USA) and Aneace Haddad (Singapore).

Once again, the Forum will be limited to 100 people to ensure proper time for interaction and networking in the right atmosphere. You'll want to be there, especially when you hear what people told us about the 10th Forum held last year...

"Thank you for the excellent event."

"A sincere thanks to you and the rest of the team for putting on such a fantastic, thought provoking event."

"So many great ideas. Many congratulations on a successful event."

"I thought you organised a fantastic line up of speakers... the whole thing was thought-provoking, insightful and very enjoyable so thanks."

"My heartiest congratulations to you and to Gloria and to all your colleagues for organising such an excellent and mind-stretching conference over the last two days."

The Forum is a not-for-profit event and any surplus generated goes to a number of charities. The Digital Money Forum is a not-for-profit event that supports a variety of charities. This year we are supporting BUFFER (which provides specialist diagnostic equipment for breast cancer), the Fountain Centre for palliative cancer care and Jubilee Action which helps children worldwide.

Come and join in this year's discussion -- complete with St. George's Day scones with jam and the Digital Money Mastermind pub quiz (with distinctly non-digital prizes) -- by visiting the Forum web site to book now. If you book before the end of this month there is an early bird discount of £50 so it will cost you a mere £395 + VAT for two days of debate, interaction, learning, stimulation at the very forefront of retail electronic payment thought.

These opinions are my own (I think) and presented solely in my capacity as an interested member of the general public [posted with ecto]