Monica Millares: [00:00:00] Hello, John, it is an absolute mega pleasure having you in the show. How are you today after money? 2020 last week.

John Ryan (PayEd): Great. Look, you're in Dublin. The weather's great. Nothing to complain about. Yeah, life is good. How are you?

Monica Millares: Oh, I'm amazing. I'm still like, woo whoop. Like I am so energetic these days. It's really good.

Really good.

John Ryan (PayEd): It was a lot of fun last week, wasn't it?

Monica Millares: Oh, it was so much fun. And that makes this podcast super fun too because we're going to talk all about the sound of payments, like the talk, the Performance of Money 2020. It was, it generally, it was super cool. It was my first time in money 2020. It was just like the energy in the room was so amazing.

Like everyone was high energy, open, collaborative, friendly. It was unique. It was really, really cool.

John Ryan (PayEd): Absolutely. Yes. No, it was great.

Monica Millares: Okay, John, so before we go into full, non into the podcast, [00:01:00] I want to ask you three questions so that people get to know you a little bit better. One, we, you and I, we were hanging out a lot basically during the event, and one of the things that caught my attention is you're kind of being a digital nomad at the moment.

You're being like around two months in Europe. And I, I by now, a lot of people are like, oh, I want to do that. I want to do remote, proper remote like two months or three months and then go back and then go three months somewhere else. Can you guide us, talk us through how did you do it? Like how did you end up in Europe for a few months?

John Ryan (PayEd): Yeah. Well look, I think first of all, thank Covid. You know, we're, we're all, we're able to, to live this life. Now it's possible. So part of, part of the Europe trip. Well, first of all, heading to Europe is not a day trip, so, you know, it's something that you need to give a bit of time to, and the longer, the more time you can give to Europe, the better.

Secondly, you know, it's, it's about [00:02:00] having, you know, a, a business or a, a job that allows you to be online and to, to work remotely. And absolutely that's what Payed is. It's live, uh, online training. Now there is some downside to that. It does mean you have to get up some nights and do some meetings and, and training perhaps, or, you know, certainly at the start of the day in Europe and the end of the day, dealing with business in Asia is, is important.

Um, but it does open up this brand new opportunity, which is, you know, allowing you to. To engage and, and connect and do business in Europe, you know, which is, which has been a big part of this trip too. So you need to give that time, you need to be on the ground and, you know, we're here for that reason, while also still, you know, taking care of business back in the rest of the world.

And the final point is having a team. And we have, you know, we work with a global team, you know, so the people we work with are based in, in [00:03:00] America. In Asia and in Europe, uh, and even to, to some extent now in, in Africa as well. So, you know, having the global connection for getting stuff done with different people, that's super important in endeavor.

Monica Millares: Yeah. How did you work out the logistics, let's say with family? How, how did family react to, Hey, I'm, I'm moving for two or three months.

John Ryan (PayEd): It's, you know, to some extent it is the leaving your family in, in, you know, in the Southern hemisphere. But I think there's two points here. First of all, I'm also connecting back with my family cuz I, you know, I am from Europe.

I am, I am originally from Ireland. So, you know, as a part of my, my, my origin family is here and you know, that connection, as we've aged and as we've gone through, covid has become much more valuable. So I've not only been here connecting with them and learning. And, you know, catching up on last time, you know, during the pandemic as well, the, the times we couldn't visit.[00:04:00]

So, you know, we're making up for that now. So that's, that's really important. The second point is, and it's what I use all the time to connect, you know, around the world. Of course, it's digital communications and that makes this quite possible. You know, just like we're chatting today around the world, you know, that, that, that tool has really made a difference and really makes that connection possible.

It's not perfect, but it's pretty good in terms of, you know, being in touch and having good value communication with those you care about.

Monica Millares: It is, yes, definitely it is. And then before we move on, on to the full episode, what is the worst thing about remote working, like as a digital, no matter working in another country rather than at home?

Cause everything has two sides, right?

John Ryan (PayEd): Yeah, look, I think if anything it's the distraction of having too much opportunities. I think when we, when we, when we're in our, sort of our home place and we're, you know, we've got our routines [00:05:00] set up and, you know, we, we we're sort of focused on our number one and our objectives, you know, that's, that's fine.

But you know, when you travel, you've gotta be prepared to be hit in the face with new opportunities. And, you know, things that you didn't expect, and it's because you're in a different environment. And that's where new things become possible. And I'm always open to them. So I'm guilty of, uh, of being a big offender in that case.

Monica Millares: Oh, that sounds amazing. But I think you're right. And that, and that's like a beautiful way to lead into money 2020, like being in a different environment, being creating that environment for, for different type of thinking. Makes our brain work in a different way. Our heart opens in a different way and then basically creativity throw.

Then you got into your state of though, and then life is good. You know, it's like it's because we're our environment. It does make a massive difference to our lives. So [00:06:00] now going fully into money 2020. So you are the founder of Payed Payments in Education, and then basically you attended. Money 2020. You invited me to present.

Well, I, I'm part of the board in Payed. So you invited me to present on behalf of Payed. And before we go into the full session, can you explain to us the why? Why did you want to go into Money 2020 and be there?

John Ryan (PayEd): Hmm. Well, first of all, this is my fourth money 2020. And I would have to say it's the best. I, I think it's the best.

That money 2020 there has been. I've never been to the US ones, but I've been to Asia and Europe and this has been the best. And look, it's been great to be part of that in a significant way. So the journey for this particular event started 12 months ago when I attended the last Money 2020. And I looked around [00:07:00] the room and I realized that there was no education on the agenda.

And there was no education vendors providing any training services for payments, for the payments industry. So that got me thinking, you know, what are people bringing away from money 2020? You know, it's really literally what they're in the room, you know, what they're in the room experiencing. But that's hard to caption.

It's hard to bottle it, hard to bring it away. So I, I, I felt that call to be present next year and to be in the room, and hence why we became the. Education partner at Money 2020 this year. And you know, really it was about, uh, making sure that we were present, making sure that we connected with people in the room and, you know, gave that message that education is available, education is relevant.

And also we were promoting at this event too, the fact that you can actually have a career in payments. Because for those in the [00:08:00] industry, we often think, yeah, it's ubiquitous. That's what we do. But in reality, you know, for people outside the industry or even those within the industry, they're not aware of the progression and the opportunities that are available in the industry.

So we're really focused on that. So this event has been great for us to to, to have a platform to present around that.

Monica Millares: Yes. I love that. And then as we're talking about education, can you tell us a little bit about Payed? Like, what did you, what does Payette do?

John Ryan (PayEd): Well, first of all, our vision is about improving lines everywhere through payments education.

And we do that through providing professional, uh, structured education sessions, uh, with the industry for banking and payments, but also then for every company in the world, because every company needs payments, it needs structure, and it needs a knowledge around payments. So that it can help to run a better business and remove the friction of payments within the business.

So really there are two focused areas. Uh, we, we have a flagship course [00:09:00] called the 1 0 1 in Payments, and that's a two day course that really is a good grounding for everyone who wants to start that journey. But we have half day courses, which are focused on different areas. So for instance, swift Cybersecurity Web three.

And a whole host of topics that are, you know, relevant to people who want to lift the hood on, on the topics and, and get into more detail on them. Structured live online. So we typically have, you know, ideally have around 20 or so in the class. Is, is is very good because it gives you out right mix of learning capability, but also that input into any group, group collaboration or discussions that, that actually happen during the session.

So it, it is personalized enough. But you know, we, we, we have a good mix in the room and that's, you know, that's also part of the learning experience that we're involved in.

Monica Millares: Yeah. Awesome. Yes, and I, at some point in time, I took one of your programs, I was one of the first guine pigs, I guess [00:10:00] one of the first clients a few years ago.

So coming back to money 2020 as such. So you come to Money 2020 as Payette, you have the big boost, but not only you have the big boost, but you also. Have the sound of payments everyone was talking about the sound of payments. I didn't realize until later that it was like, oh, it was amazing. It was great.

It was so innovative. It was bossing, it was amazing. In other words, I've been watching the, the short videos and I'm like, oh yeah, it was amazing. So can you tell us about what is the sound of payments? And I'll, and I'll add on top of your, of your answer.

John Ryan (PayEd): So how did we come up with the sound of payments?

Well, We were given the opportunity to have a presentation or to submit an idea for, for a session. And what we came up with, well, what we thought about was it's gotta be linked to education and it's gotta be aligned to, you know, something we're about. [00:11:00] We were given the opportunity to present some topics, and actually we came up quite a few.

And one of them, for example, was payments 2084, where we actually had Elon Musk on the stage and we were. The audience would've been tweeting comments to him, but we decided not to go ahead with that one. Logistically, it proved to be a bit harder than we thought, but the one we did stick with, and the one we, we, we thought was a really good one was, was the sound of payments.

And what, what that's about is a few things. So first of all, it's about experiential learning, which, you know, learning is not one thing. It's many things to many people. And you know, this is about connecting with people who have really interest in music. It's also connecting with people who want to know more about payments in general.

And what we, what we know and what the experts know is that when you combine methods of payments, you actually get the best outcome. And in particularly in this case, because we have left brain and right brain acti learning techniques, so you know where the audience might be drifting on one subject when it converts over to the music, perhaps, you know, and vice [00:12:00] versa.

That's where they, they, they kick in and, and, uh, you know, that they can enjoy and, and pay, you know, learn from that experience. The second part is about enjoyment. We want this to be fun. You know, we wanted it to be an experience. And look, that's absolutely what it proved to be. And I think you'll, you'll be at testament to that and certainly interested to hear your thoughts.

But, you know, when you get a mix of people together and there's an education event, you know, it's, that's part of the memory. That's, that's the memories created there. So, yeah. So look, we, we, uh, we, we knew this was important to, to come with some, some new idea. And as you say, it was a bit of a world first.

You know, I haven't heard of it being done before myself. And look, having done it, I haven't been part of it. Now is the first time I think, you know, we'll probably see this coming back in different forms, so, yeah. How about you, Monica? How did you go? You, you were obviously there on the stage as well doing it.

Monica Millares: Yes. So, well, it was an amazing event. Well show [00:13:00] performance first and then like you say, it was experiential, it was experimental. But then you have, before we. We go deeper. It's like just to explain to anyone who's listening. So basically what we did, what John was referring to as the sound of payments is basically you had me on stage as, let's say the speaker, but then we also had a DJ Angus, and then we also had two Poets Ya and Good.

And then what could happen. It's like I would talk about the trends in the industry and I could go on stage, but it was not like a traditional panel where you sit down or just like you speak, you know, like in a very serious manner. It was more like all the mannerisms. The mannerisms came out and it was like, hell, hello everyone.

Almost that type of energy, because then after I delivered, let's say the explanation of the first trend, then what I did would happen. I was at the front of the stage and then I would walk back. And then basically I could be like, dj, so how does that sound? And that's where the [00:14:00] creative energy comes in.

And then basically, Angus, the dj, he could start playing the music and then the poets, ya and Guti, they could perform the spoken word, you know, with the, the, the poetry as such. But what they were doing is, this was not a rehearse, this was not rehearsed. This was. They heard whatever I said, and then they turned that into poetry, and then they learned what I said and turned it into music, and then they performed it.

I called them rappers, but they say they are not rappers in my eyes. They were like rappers. It was super cool. So it was a unique experience. It was absolutely awesome. At the end of the performance, I felt my heart was like, boom, boom, boom. It was scary. It was super scary at the end. I don't know why. It was just getting out of my comfort zone, but it was definitely a unique experience.

I don't know, like from your side, how, [00:15:00] because I was on stage, right? So that's my, my experience was like on stage. But from your side, you were in the on, in, the audience. So from the recipient side, how did it Yeah.

John Ryan (PayEd): Look.

Monica Millares: How was

John Ryan (PayEd): a couple of things. So first of all, it was, and it was one of the last sessions of the day.

And it was at the Outer limit stand, so that was quite close to the, to the beach, money Beach. So there was a lot of people, you know, on the way to the Money Beach and I, I think they sort of heard this music thing, what, what is this happening at the payments conference? So I think it, it was definitely stood out as being one of the unique performances.

You know, I, there wasn't music at any of the others as far as I'm aware. So, you know, I think that was the first thing. The second thing was, you rightly said it was high energy. This, you know, when it started, there was a boom, you know, we're in here and, you know, you jumped on stage and you, you started talking and, and narrating around payments and, and the top big some trends.

And then, and then we had this jump into music and it was brilliant. [00:16:00] You know, the way you just, you know, flip from the listening to something to words and interpreting the words. So all of a sudden you start, you, you start moving to the, to the beat, you know? And that, that's. That, that's get gets us going, that gets us moving and, and then we wanna know more.

So I think, you know, from, from a audience perspective, we were all there. We were there and we were, you know, when, when Woodsy said, you know what, but you know, we got us to, to say Yeah, it's the sound of payments. Yeah, we were, we were certainly getting into that. So yeah, a lot of fun and well done to you and, and the guys as well.

That was, uh, really, really great performance.

Monica Millares: Thank you. No, and thank you. Thank you to you for putting us up there. But just to add to that, I met someone throughout the event that it's like, oh, Monica, I loved it. Even the dancing. And I was like, was I dancing? I wasn't such a, you were. That I don't even, you know, like I did not logically realize that I was on stage dancing, but then once I see the videos I was like, we're not [00:17:00] moving a,

John Ryan (PayEd): maybe that's the next show.

Maybe it's the dancer payments next. I dunno, were you getting ready for that or something, Monica?

Monica Millares: I don't know. I dunno. I'll say yes. I'll say yes to everything but scary. Yeah, it was an amazing experience. So, What do you want people to take away from this? Other than it was fun. It was amazing. It was high energy.

Is there any takeaway that you're, like, you, we planned the event, we planned the performance, then we delivered, and now after seeing what it was, is there anything that you're like, oh yeah, it's the big takeaway. I want people,

John Ryan (PayEd): yeah, we just want payments, education to resonate outside of. The this important event.

So this event was great and there was a lot of learning in this event, but we want that to resonate outside the event. And we think, you know what? We per performed will resonate. And that's just one example. But we want people to know that they can bring away the education [00:18:00] with them. The knowledge transfer can happen and that's what we wanna help facilitate.

And, you know, we wanna help point people in the right direction where they can get good education. We wanna be, you know, help those organizations who are interested to expand on that discussion. You know, we're, we're more than happy to help with that. And, you know, we've got a great team of international trainers working with us that can absolutely deliver on this too.

So, you know, we've already had some great conversations. So we feel that this event has, you know, has aligned exactly to what we wanted to, to, to achieve here. And, you know, that's gonna be good for everyone. So yeah, we're, we're delighted that we got to do a unique performance or, or education session and, you know, we we're happy, happy to do more of them, you know, uh, in the coming months and years.

Monica Millares: Cool. Amazing. Yeah, and I think I'll, if, if you ask me, Hey, what good I'd like people to take away out of this? Even like my biggest takeaway out of [00:19:00] money 2020, that is not technical, you know, industry knowledge. It was the energy. It was the energy in the performance, the energy in the room that made it very, very special.

So yes, I guess like what I would love to take out of that, it's like bring that energy to the workplace for everyone across the world. It doesn't matter where we live. And the cultural differences between Latin America and Europe and Asia. It doesn't really matter. It's like that energy. Yeah. Like you could see people were really engaged.

The other day I was watching a video that my friend Monica, she sent me a few videos of, of, of the show, and then at some point I heard people were cheering. They were like, oh. I was like, oh my God, I did not hear that during, you know, the show. But that means that people were engaged, they were having fun.

And even though we were talking about payments and serious work stuff, because it was, the team was like work related. [00:20:00] It was fun. And probably that's what we need to do. Bring that energy back to the workplace though. Well scale. That could be awesome. Everybody could make a better job. Genuinely. Yeah. Cool.

So we've been 20, 20, 20, 20. What's next?

John Ryan (PayEd): Well, before I start with what's next, maybe I'll just take a step back and talk about the, the bit of the journey about getting there as well. Because I did start earlier saying it was 12 months earlier, but, but just prior to the event, there was another important piece and, you know, to the point about experiential learning and also collaborative learning, we, we organized, uh, another unique event, which was, Learning on the train or what we call the payments express, the Payed payments Express, which left London to head to Amsterdam on the train, the, the fast train.

And we organized to two speakers to come along and [00:21:00] present on cbdc and particularly around the paper that's, that's open for submission with the, with the Bank of England. And we looked at some of those use cases that, that are, you know, that are being discussed in that. And we had Alistair Mill, professor Alistair Mill from Loughborough University, and we had the counterbalance of that, which was David Birch.

So we had some friendly banter, some good education. And what started as, you know, as a, as an informative session turned into the, the started the discussion for the rest of the train journey. So one of the things which was interesting about this was we had a, a, some complaints because the train was actually two hours late.

But the complaints weren't that the train was two hours late. It was that the delay wasn't long enough. The, the conversation and excitement and interest and connection, you know, that happened there. People wanted more of that. So, look, that was a great experience, you know, and actually got us into the room.

So perhaps [00:22:00] just to start with that one, and look, we'd certainly love to do more, you know, more with that too. But then to answer the question where, where to after this, well, look, we still got some more things to do in, in Europe. We've attended some of the payments association events over here. That's been great.

We attended the Blockchain Ireland event, you know, great again for connecting and to, you know, to focus on payments in Ireland, a a fantastic ecosystem. Very much of interest to companies operating in Europe within Ireland, and also global companies as some of the largest payment companies are in Ireland too, so, so there's a lot going on in that ecosystem too, and there's been a great connection there.

And the final point then is what we're doing next week, which is we're the knowledge partner at the E B A day, the European Bank Association Day Annual Conference in Madrid on the 2020 first. So we are the knowledge partner at that [00:23:00] event. We'll be speaking about payments 2084, so we're going to deliver that to the fintechs.

And yeah, we're actually going to be connecting with the payments association as well over there and having a a, a ga a get together with some of the members just to warmer ourselves for that event as well. So yeah, looking forward to that and that'll be a great sort of end towards this journey when we're actually heading back.

Back into the Southern Hemisphere in July. So again, looking forward to, you know, to getting back down under, and you know, continuing the good work there as well.

Monica Millares: Awesome. How do you think you'll transition between, hey, being remote in Europe and now it's like, oh, I'm going back home. Back to normality?

John Ryan (PayEd): Yeah.

Well you can probably tell from this, from my Irish hat that I picked up the other day. I'm really settling in here so, I'm sure it'll be fine. I like when I came here in the first place, it, you know, I'm used to being on the road. I'm used to [00:24:00] being, you know, out there. So, you know, I, I really don't see much of an issue.

I like to think that I get involved where I am and, you know, that's certainly what I've done on this trip. So, going back to, you know, going back to Asia is, you know, it's not, not a big deal, but one, one of the things I have decided to do is to make sure that, you know, I continue now. You know, using those learnings from this trip to actually build this, this sort of this travel itinerary into my, you know, into more, more permanent mode, you know?

And because it's possible, you know, let's, and you know, I feel that's more optimal as well to, to, to do it that way. So that's, you know, that that's what I plan to do. And, and, and it's partly because of, you know, the opportunities that have come out. It's hard, you know, it's hard not to. Sort of bind these new opportunities and then, you know, actually be supporting and being involved in them as well.

So that's, you know, that's a commitment. And it's [00:25:00] also, you know, something that's really important to, to the bigger purpose what, what we're here for. So, yeah, I, I'll be doing, I do more of this.

Monica Millares: Oh, amazing. Sounds really good. Anything else that you would like to share with us today?

John Ryan (PayEd): Well, that's a good question.

I guess the one thing that I've been seeing here, you know, is the difference between the, the north and south of the world and the similarities as well. And you know, as I travel the world more and, you know, deal with that education subject, I see, you know, where different parts of the world, you know, yes, we're dealing with the same sort of payment systems, but they're all differently named.

They all have different regulatory structures around them. And they all actually are at different points of, of inflection. You know, there's certain themes that we're looking at in Asia that are really important to Asia that haven't really come on the boil here in in Europe at this moment. And also then I think the other aspect then is [00:26:00] also when you travel around, you do get a perspective and you do start to compare and contrast markets, and I think that's very valuable.

To be able to be in a position to do that. But it's also valuable to be able to communicate that back to, you know, to to people. Because one of the things we see is people who focus on payments, focus on payments in their domestic market. But yeah, it's, it is actually about, you know, lifting up the head and looking at what else is going on so that we can deploy some of those thinking in our own markets.

Yeah. But also, maybe that's a chance for us to get involved in things that are happening in other markets. So, Certainly that's what I would be encouraging people to think about. You know, that, and, and that's why we did release the Unleash Your Career in Payments ebook is to get people to think, uh, further than you know, what they're doing today, and understand that there's plenty of jobs in, in payments, there's lots of opportunities there.

It's [00:27:00] really just a matter of look, thinking a bit more about those opportunities and lining yourself up, skilling yourself. Educating, you know, yourself and there's lots of different ways of education. That's what that book that you can download from our website is talking about. It's, it's explaining, you know, those roles, how, how that all works and how you can do more.

And one of the last things I'll say is we do, we do also do a monthly newsletter on LinkedIn and it's called Career in Payments. And that's focusing on the trends. In and opportunities available across the world. And also looking at the global numbers. And actually one thing I would share with you, um, that we, since we did last, did the, the newsletter, which actually was about six weeks ago now that we've looked at the numbers again.

And really interestingly, the open rolls in payments have actually risen. Close on 30%. Wow. And you know, wow. In a world where we're seeing now, you know, AI coming [00:28:00] on and it's gonna remove all jobs, and we've seen some of those companies saying there's less jobs, actually payments is budding the trend, certainly in the short term.

And that's a sign of, you know, we're in a very, very, uh, open industry, a very busy industry, an industry that you need to stay on top on. You need to have your education. You need to have your connections, who you're gonna work with, and you need to be aware of the opportunities. And that's, you know, and that's gonna help all the employers though, because they're looking for these people and they wanna get working.

You know, they want them working and, you know, helping to, to, you know, to grow in these opportunities and also deal with this, some of the challenges that are out there. So that's, you know, these are some of the big things we're thinking about now.

Monica Millares: Oh, I love it. I totally love it. Cool. John, it's been an amazing pleasure having you in the show.

One very last question. If you were to change one thing in the industry that can help customers, employees, and shareholders, and make FinTech better, what could it be?

John Ryan (PayEd): Well, [00:29:00] I don't, I, I think there's many things we can talk about, and as I say, across the world in different markets, that means many things.

But the one thing I want people to think about, and there's one thing we're starting to think about is sustainability in payments. I think it's something that we need to lead with now. We, we are wanting to move into more digital payment world, but we've gotta understand that there is an energy impact on that.

We've got to also understand that there's an inc. An importance for business to know that they can't just deploy multiple payment gateways and multiple digital payment solutions. I think that's okay. They need to rationalize, they need to run, you know, an efficient e-commerce business. They need to run an efficient digital business.

Their gateways need to be running, you know, optimally on, on great technology. And, you know, that's also important when we look to blockchain and these know, these, these new digital currencies that are coming on stream as well and, and the, and the wallets. So, you know, this is incumbent on us all. We're all part [00:30:00] of this.

But let's, let's make this transition to digital that we're, that we're well down the path to, let's make it a good one for the environment. Let's think about the sharing economy. How can we do, how can we make our payment systems work better to help reutilize a repurpose redundant assets, you know, that, that are better used than not used?

So, Let's, let's start thinking this way. I don't think there's enough of it yet, but certainly we're focused on it now and you know, we think this is an important one that the industry should start to grasp.

Monica Millares: Amazing. I love it. Yes, because we do need to focus on sustainability and we have the power as an industry, have the power to make a difference.

So let's do it. Awesome. Thank you John. It's been an amazing pleasure. Thank you for being on the show everyone. See you next week, CCIA.

John Ryan (PayEd): Bye. Bye.