Turnout was fantastic for the MAG’s second annual Mid-Year Conference, which was held February 18, 2010, at the Wyndham Las Colinas in Irving, Texas. In addition to the ever-popular merchant-only roundtable, the event featured presentations by STJ Retail Corporation on EMV deployment in Canada, and by MagTek and Magensa.Net on new technologies for securing POS transactions. Special guest Paul Tomasofsky, executive director of the Secure Remote Payment Council, gave an overview of SRPc’s activities as well. The day wrapped up with a great open discussion with the payment brands on the idea of payments roadmap for the future. Click here to log in, then go to the Member Resources area to access the 2010 Annual Conference presentations. An update on the MAG’s activities since last fall’s Annual Conference included the following items: Invitation-only meeting with the Federal Reserve Bank on mobile payments Private meeting with other merchant associations with the PCI SSC Executive Committee Attendance at a Data Security Summit held by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank It is exciting that the MAG is being included in high level meetings with important industry groups at this relatively early stage of existence. We will continue to strive to make the merchant voice heard on crucial industry issues. To that end, the week after the conference, MAG President Dodd Roberts was invited to speak on two panels at the Smart Card Alliance Payments Summit in Salt Lake City. The event provided a forum to promote the idea of stakeholder collaboration on the deployment of future payments products and technology. Since the meeting we have been quoted in multiple industry articles on this topic. "EMV and Transit Chip Payment Gaining Momentum in U.S." was published in the Boston Globe, on TMC.net, and in Scottrade’s online newsletter, among others. New MAG Members HMSHost, McDonald’s Corporation, OfficeMax, and Kroger —as well as representatives from guest merchants Dell and UPS — were among the 70 people who participated. Attendance was double that of last winter’s meeting, and came close to that of the 2009 Annual Conference in Albuquerque! We also welcomed Fifth Third Merchant Services as a new Sponsor in attendance. The MAG extends a special thanks MagTek, who not only hosted a nice cocktail reception Wednesday night before the conference, but also sponsored the entire event! Merchants who attended received a Secure Card Reader Authenticator, secured by MagneSafe, and a jump drive containing MagTek’s conference presentation and additional documentation. The MAG also expresses continued appreciation to our Elite Acquiring Sponsors, Bank of America Merchant Services, First Data, Chase Paymentech, Elavon and RBS WorldPay, and to the payment brands American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. Please make sure to mark your calendar for October 12-14, watch your MAGmail for information about the 2010 Annual Conference, and plan to join us this fall in Dallas! MAG Elite Acquiring Sponsors MAG Elite Payment Brand Sponsors Gold Sponsor 2010 Mid-Year Conference Sponsor Strategic Partners