Compliance Unfiltered is TCT’s tell-it-like-it is podcast, dedicated to making compliance suck less. It’s a fresh, raw, uncut alternative for anyone who needs honest, reliable, compliance expertise with a sprinkling of personality.
Show Notes: PCI North American Community Meeting – Will You Be There?
Quick Take
On this week’s insightful episode of Compliance Unfiltered, the CU guys delve into the 2025 PCI North American Community Meeting, happening from September 16th to 18th in Fort Worth, Texas.
Adam shares why you should join TCT in attending, for the latest updates in compliance management, connect with industry experts, and explore innovative solutions that make compliance life easier. Whether you’re a QSA, a compliance professional, or part of an organization serving compliant customers, this event offers something for everyone.
Tune in to learn how to maximize your experience at this must-attend event on this week’s Compliance Unfiltered!
Read The Transcript
So let’s face it, managing compliance sucks. It’s complicated. It’s so hard to keep organized and it requires a ton of expertise in order to survive the entire process. Welcome to Compliance Unfiltered, a podcast dedicated to making compliance suck less. Now here’s your host, Todd Coshow with Adam Goslin.
Welcome in to another edition of Compliance Unfiltered. I’m Todd Coshow, alongside the koozie to your compliance beverage of choice, Mr. Adam Goslin. How the heck are you, sir?
I am doing good. How about yourself, Todd?
I can’t complain. It’s that time again. So today, we’re going to chat about getting the most out of the 2025 PCI North American Community Meeting. Now, TCT has been going to the community meetings for a year or three, right? So tell the listeners about the upcoming North American Community Meeting, at least at a high level.
Well, um, you know, there’s, uh, it, for those that haven’t been, um, it’s actually a pretty cool experience where, uh, it is a big event in the compliance management arena. Um, it’s going to be, uh, September 16th, 18th in Fort Worth, Texas. And certainly TCT will be there. Um, but it’s, uh, it’s three days of connecting and discovery and updates from the council, from, you know, regional community speakers, from merchant and industry experts, et cetera. So, you know, for anybody that’s involved in the PCI, uh, compliance standard, you know, whether you’re, whether you, whether you’re a QSA, whether you have to be compliant, whether you are an organization that serves compliant customers, uh, there’s a little bit of something there for pretty much everybody. So, uh, you know, it’s, it’s just a really cool event to, uh, to be able to go to.
Yeah, most definitely. It’s honestly been one of the most interesting trade shows that I’ve been into. And I think a lot of it, as I mentioned on this pod before, but it still holds true today, a lot of it has to do with kind of that like fraternal nature of folks in the PCI space. What are some of the things listeners can learn while at the community meeting?
Well, they’ve actually got a fairly broad, you know, a fairly broad range of topics. So, you know, it’s a good opportunity for staying on top of, you know, new developments and innovations specific to the payment card industry. There’s also a lot of topics that just cover just general security and compliance topics at a high level. You know, they’ve got a bunch of different, not a bunch of different, but they have two different tracks on the agenda that cover various topics of interest. So, you know, if you’re interested in, you know, some particular topic, then it’s easy to be able to kind of go through the schedule, figure out what’s of interest to you and your organization, you know, and whatnot. So it’s pretty cool. I mean, the semi-obvious statement, I’ve been talking about the, you know, the folks that have been doing the AI zombie walk for about the last 18 to 24 months now, you know, certainly AI is going to go show its head again, you know, type of thing. But, you know, there’s various topics that they’ll be covering that just impact the card industry. You know, the interesting part about the conference is that when they have major changes happening with the credit card standard, then there’ll be a lot of material on, you know, bringing people up to speed on the, you know, new things, the revisions, changes and things along those lines. But this year, we don’t have some massive change to the standard coming right before the community meeting. So it’s going to probably focus more on generalized, you know, best practices and topics and things like that. You know, the cool part is, is that when you go to this conference, I mean, you talked about, you know, kind of the groups of people that are there, you know, what I find is without fail every year, we just, you know, you make new friends, you see, you know, make new friends, you see old friends, you know, that type of thing. So it’s just a really cool place and you’re right, it is unique that it is, despite how broad the spectrum of, you know, credit cards and payments industry, you know, really covers, it’s funny how small that community ends up being as you get there and you’re kind of seeing the same folks from the prior year, it’s pretty cool.
No doubt. How can the listeners benefit from the tech talk?
Well, what they’ve got is they’ve got at the conference, they’ve got these tech talks that are a good opportunity to discover new solutions that help make compliance life easier. So it’s nice because they’re consumable. It’s not, everybody’s like, you know, shies away from the, you know, whatever, two hour, you know, beating you over the head with a, you know, with a sales presentation, you know, type of a thing. But, you know, it’s nice. They pack it into, you know, it’s like 20 minute slots. You get, you know, you get an overview. This time for QA. You’re seeing kind of live technology demonstrations and, you know, thought leadership as it relates to, relates to PCI. So, you know, TCT will be presenting a tech talk on, you know, better ways to manage complicated compliance engagements. So, you know, one of the, one of the big challenges that organizations go through is maintaining your sanity when, you know, you not only have to get through PCI, but I’ve got to get through PCI with, you know, an organization that has a multitude of locations or has a parent company and subsidiary companies, or I’ve got, you know, yeah, I’ve got PCI, but I also need to meet, I saw 27001, SOC 2, HIPAA, whatever. So, you know, there’s a lot of reasons why the, the, the organization’s trip through becoming an adhering to PCI, the PCI DSS is made more complicated. So, you know, that’s really where, you know, where the TCT portal shines. It can be, you know, it can build tremendous efficiencies into even the most complex engagements. And, you know, our hope is come on by, you know, sit in on the talk, find out, you know, how TCT, how TCT can, you know, help with making those really complicated engagements will suck a lot less, as you always say.
No doubt. Now, we always love connecting with the folks each year. Tell us more.
Yep. So, you know, it’s fun when you, when you get there, you know, connecting and reconnecting with people is a, you know, it is a big deal, um, sessions and the tech talks are great, you know, but, you know, spend, I’d encourage folks to spend time in conversations and making, you know, making the most out of those interactions. You know, you can listen to a, you know, to a session recording later, but, you know, some of the most invaluable learning just comes from, not just from the talks, which are filled with, you know, great information, but, you know, from, from one-on-one discussions, hallway in the hallway and, you know, sitting around a coffee, whatever it may be, you know, it’s a, it’s a great opportunity to see old friends, make new friends, learn what’s going on in the industry. I mean, there’s some folks that, God, I started, I started working with, uh, in the security and compliance arena, you know, north of 15 years ago that, you know, I still, it’s, it’s, I’ll see them once a year, you know, type of deal.So, uh, it’s just really, really cool to, to get in there, be able to see people. Um, also, you know, one of the, one of the things I love the most is that because you’re at the PCI conference, well, guess what? You get the opportunity to talk to people that are on the council. Um, you’ve got the opportunity to sit down with direct representatives of each of the, each of the major car brands, uh, you know, and whatnot. And, and we always, uh, love talking with folks that are at our booth in the vendor showcase. Um, you know, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s a lot of fun. You know, the one thing, the one thing about the, the, about the, uh, the vendor, vendor showcase is, uh, and I’ll come, I’ll come back to it, but there’s just, there’s a, there’s a ton of opportunities and I’ll get to that here in a second. But, you know, the PCI conference is, it’s really different from, you know, a lot of the other kind of compliance events, because every single person that’s there is some way, shape, or form is involved directly or, or, you know, direct, directly or ancillary, uh, to, uh, folks that are dealing with credit cards.And so it makes it a pretty tight group. And, you know, we, we’ve made friendships with folks that, you know, that have lasted for, you know, years slash decades as a result. So, um, you know, it’s about a thousand pretty cool people that are, you know, all eager to, you know, support each other, help each other out, you know, et cetera. So if it’s your first time going to the, to the community meeting, go out of your way to, you know, make for a, bring, bring a box of cards, make friends, talk to folks, you know, learn.It’s, it’s just, it’s a great opportunity. There’s, there’s going to be, uh, you know, several members of the TCT team, uh, will be at, at our booth in in the vendor showcase. And we’re happy to talk with folks about whatever they’ve got on their mind.
You know, whether it’s talking through, uh, compliance challenges, platform features you’re looking for, uh, stories from the front lines, you know, it’s just, it’s a lot of fun, uh, getting the, the opportunity to, to, to talk to folks, uh, during that, you know, during that period of time.
Indeed, it is. Now, you teased it a few minutes ago. Tell the listeners more about the vendor showcase.
Well, I mean, the vendor showcase is, the vendor showcase is pretty cool. It is, uh, in the case of the North America, I don’t know, I’m just going to whip a jar at it, but it’s, it’s about 60 different vendors, maybe, maybe between 60 and 70. Um, but there’s a bunch of different vendors, all of which are, are related to the, you know, to the payment space. Um, certainly TCT will have a booth there, uh, you know, and whatnot. But, um, you know, what I do when I get there is I spend time. And literally I’ll go walk to the floor while, you know, while we’re doing it. And by the way, I mentioned a minute ago, there’ll be several of us there. So, uh, I’ll be there, you’ll be there. And, uh, John, uh, John Dotson, our head of product will also be there. So, um, you know, it’ll be, uh, I love walking the floor because it gives me a good opportunity to, you know, make those connections, reconnect with people, uh, talk to folks at, you know, at, you know, that are new, uh, you know, new to the floor or new to the industry, et cetera. It’s always fun kind of, you know, meeting people, talking to people, finding out what they’re doing, et cetera, identifying synergies, things like that. So, you know, there’s just, there’s a lot of different vendors in that, in that vendor showcase and, you know, the teams, uh, that, that show up there, they’re typically motivated to, you know, to give knowledgeable tips and, you know, eager to tell you about what they can do, how they can help things along those lines. And, you know, it’s kind of funny because, you know, you see two different groups of people generally that are walking through the vendor showcase. You’ve got the folks that are basically trying to walk down like the middle of the aisles, uh, so they don’t get mobbed by one of the people in the booth. I think, I think primarily they’re used to going to some of the other shows, um, you know, where, where they just get assaulted, you know, type of deal. And, uh, and, and, and to, to that end, I can’t speak for everybody else, but I can tell you this much. Come on by the TCT booth where we’re not going to bite. We’re not going to try to drag you into some multi hour sales presentation. We’re just there to have a good time. We’re there to talk to people, help them, um, you know, uh, you know, talk to our existing customers, talk to new friends, you know, all that fun stuff. So, uh, yeah, it harkens me back to, you know, we were, uh, I, I, uh, I had somebody that was walking, walking bar, but I think it was, this was over in Europe, uh, either the last year or the year before, and, um, and they were walking by, they were just going to bypass us. And I went, I’m like, Hey, how are you doing today? And you know, and whatnot, we sit, sure enough, we strike up a conversation. Turns out they got a serious problem that we can go ahead and give them a hand with. And so we had a great conversation. You know, uh, one of the things that I, that I really push at TCT is I don’t want to be trying to be that organization. This was like jamming solutions down people’s throats and things like that.
So, um, you know, we’re here to help. And if it, if it’s a good fit, great. And if it, and if it’s something that they can keep in mind, maybe they come back to us down the road because, you know, we weren’t being a-holes about it. Then fantastic, you know, but that’s, that’s kind of the way, the way that we roll, you know, uh, it’s easy to find TCT because we’re probably the only company on the floor with some type of a, of a, of a cheeky backdrop. Um, the back of our booth, always people will come by and, uh, and make comments and take pictures in front of it and whatnot. So we’ve got, as you, as you know, we’re a little edgier than most, but, uh, you know, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s all good and in good fun, but, uh, you know, we, uh, we, uh, we can, we can answer questions. Um, we can show you a demo of the portal, talk about your compliance problems. Uh, a lot of times we end up talking to existing customers who, you know, we get into conversations around new features, new function they’d like to see. So, you know, the, our goal at TCT from the very beginning, we’ve, we’ve been here to try to help people, you know, navigate their way through, uh, through compliance and make it suck less. Uh, and, uh, I, that’s not going to change anytime soon. Um, you know, so, uh, so if you’re, you know, if you’re an organization that wants to be more efficient or reduce your, your stress, reduce your overtime, eliminate duplicate manual efforts, then, and you haven’t, you know, I haven’t swung by our booth before by all means. Well, we’d welcome you with open arms to have a, have a chit chat about it, but, uh, it’s a real good time.
No doubts, parting shots and thoughts for the folks this week, Adam.
Well, long story short is that, you know, if you haven’t been to the PCI conference before, I would strongly recommend it again. It’s in Fort Worth, Texas, uh, 16th to 18th of September. Um, and if you’re there, uh, existing customer listener to the pod, whatever, uh, please do us a favor. Come on by. Uh, it’s always awesome. Uh, when we, we had one, we had one person, um, several years ago that, that came by. I just want to hear you guys talk because I hear you on the pod, but now you’re like, you’re actually like right here. So, uh, so anyway, it’s just, it’s a great time. There’s a lot of really nice people and whatnot. We’ll be doing some fun things while we’re there. So if you do happen to be there, swing by the booth, we can tell you about things we’ve got going on, uh, and all that fun stuff, but we’d love to see you there.
And that right there, that’s the good stuff. Well, that’s all the time we have for this episode of Compliance Unfiltered. I’m Todd Coshow and I’m Adam Goslin, hope we helped to get you fired up to make your compliance suck less.
