Payments conferences to attend in 2020

Finding a Great Payments Conference

Your customers expect to have a great experience when they transact with you. And a great payments experience is vital to your customers' experience. So, payments needs to be at the heart of your commerce plans. But the market is changing fast -- with new payment methods, regulations, payment strategies, and opportunities to support your business model.

Why attend payments conferences?

A great way to learn about how to build an effective payments strategy is to learn from and share with others in the industry. 

You're likely to find merchants that have solved similar problems, vendors that address the same challenges, or other payments industry experts that have useful insights.

And a great way to engage with these people is through a payments conference. In one place you can meet with and engage experts to solve payments challenges and open your perspective to new ways of doing business.

With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the payments and fintech events that we've attended or are watching this year.
 

Selected Payments Conferences For 2020

MPE 2020 (Berlin - February 2020)

MPE is billed as Europe's largest payment acceptance conference. There will be over 140 speakers; almost 100 presentations and case studies; over 50 sessions covering a wide range of subjects and over 75 exhibitors presenting cutting-edge POS and payments solutions.

Payments Summit (Salt Lake City - February 2020)

Now in its 13th year, the Payments Summit brings together attendees at "the premier industry event covering all things payments, including FinTech, EMV chip technology, mobile wallets, NFC, contactless, open transit systems and more."

Sessions have a heavy focus on Card Present related payments topics.

Merchant Risk Council (Las Vegas - March 2020)

With a stated mission to help attendees understand "how fraud, payments, security, and technology affect customer loyalty, retention, and ultimately the success of your business" the conference combines risk and fraud focuses with a deep focus on payments.

The event's pricing model gives a benefit to MRC members and gives a break to merchants over solution providers, helping to keep the attendee experience top-shelf.

Bonus: we'll be exhibiting at MRC this year. You can find us at Booth #403 in the exhibit hall. Stop by and say hello!

MoneyLive Spring 2020 (Madrid - March 2020)

This conference champions innovation in both banking and payments. It features two main payments events: "2019 MoneyLIVE: Retail Banking Europe" and "MoneyLIVE: Cards & Payments". All aspects of the retail banking and payments industry are covered." So for people looking at European payments, this event gives you 2 for 1.

Payments (Washington, D.C. - April 2020)

Payments describes itself as a place that "unites thousands of payments system stakeholders from business end-user and financial and technology services organizations to debate and explore the more pressing issues and opportunities today."

38% of attendees come from financial institutions, so there is a clear focus away from merchants toward FISERV-related payments.

PAYMENTSfn (Durham - May 2020)

This payments conference was started to provide a place where technical payments professionals can share their experiences and expertise. Rather than higher-level topics, this conference is built on the real-world experience of payments practitioners.

The third edition of the conference builds on the momentum and community generated prior years, as well as a series of meetups. Speakers include payments experts from Salesforce, Spotify, Wix, Loyalzoo, and more.

CNP Summit (San Francisco - May 2020)

CNP Summit features over 50+ hours of education for e-commerce new comers and veterans. Attendees can learn how to leverage CNP payments in an increasingly multi-channel retail sales environment while connecting with hundreds of merchants looking to share best practices and form the partnerships this environment requires.

Card Forum (Miami - May 2020)

As the name suggests, this conference comes at payments from the angle of cards -- merchants, issuers, networks, and others that care about cards will be interested in looking at this event. 

As they say, the event "is built exclusively for card and payment executives at the industry's leading issuers, networks, retailers and innovators. The program includes cutting edge insight from the industry's most admired and innovative institutions." 

The Summit (Montreal - May 2020)

Billed as Canada's largest payments conference, in truth it is one of the largest in the world too. "Join industry leaders, innovators and challengers at Canada's largest payments conference.  

Future of Payments Summit (London - July 2020)

The Future of Payments Summit describes itself as the leading paytech event to address the payments landscape in 2020 and beyond. It features access to decision makers, visionaries, influencers and disruptors from the world of payments. 200 inspirational speakers and 25 of the most innovative next-gen vendors discuss, demo and showcase the latest industry innovations.

Mobile Payments Conference (Chicago - August 2020)

Mobile payments continue to drive significant innovation for merchants, banks, and other payments enablers. This Chicago-based event aims "to be the global intersection of fintech industry experts and analysts - where connections are built to bring clarity to the world of mobile technology and payments." 

PaymentsEd Forum (Orlando - August 2020)

This practical event is chock-full of sessions from merchants and more. Their goal is to deliver high-level, educational opportunities for all levels of payments professionals. Plus, the caliber of attendees means networking opportunities are outstanding!

PCI Latin America Forum (TBA)

Latin America is a hotbed for payments innovation. So, it's no wonder that the PCI standards body has an event in Brazil to offer up "a day of networking opportunities and educational sessions from payment and cyber security experts who will discuss challenges and opportunities for data security in Brazil and provide updates on the latest standards and solutions for protecting payments."

Finovate Fall (NYC - September 2020)

Finovate holds conferences in spring and fall in different world regions and each time with a unique agenda. The aim is to offer attendees insights into the future of FinTech through expert speakers, interactive discussion panels, workshops and innovative short-form demos

Boston Fintech Week (Boston - March 2021)

This event focuses on building a Fintech community in Boston and surrounding areas. Boston Fintech week is presented by Fintech Sandbox - a company that helps aspiring fintech startups get started with tools and mentorship.

Payexpo (London - October 2020)

This is the largest payments event in the UK, and considered the place where innovation in in payments is always on display.

Seamless Payments Africa (Nairobi - October 2020)

The Seamless team puts together a global series of payments conferences. And this event in Africa promises to look into the specifics of East Africa. Expect to hear deep insight around Alternative Payment Methods. Also, due to the deep participation of banks, payments from the Fiserv perspective will be well represented.

Money 20/20 (Las Vegas - October 2020)

With events in the US, Europe, China, and a pan-Asia event, Money 20/20 is one of the biggest names in the business. The event itself covers much more than payments -- all aspects of fintech and financial services are represented here. Definitely one to look at if you want the broad perspective. 

Did we miss any payments events that you think should be included in our list? Let us know! Tweet us @spreedly and we'll be sure to take a look.

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