ILTA Conference Blog

by Maureen Babcock

Ah, post con.  That’s conference committee speak for “We made it through another year.  Where the heck is the spa in this place?”  ILTA ‘09 may be over but only in the sense that we are leaving the Gaylord.  Here’s my list of ways to bring the VALUE of conference back home for you, for your peers and for your firm or company:

• Promote ILTA membership to others when you get “home.” The value of webinars, product demos, regional and city meetings, online and archived materials, listservs and networking with ILTA peers doesn’t stop this week.  It continues all year.  Let the rest of your IT, Records, Finance, KM, Risk Management, senior management, project management, lit support, and marketing personnel in on the ILTA benefits.  If your firm or company is a member, so is everyone that works there!
• Review what you learned and make plans to apply it or promote it sooner rather than later.
• Don’t let the contacts you made grow cold. Follow up with a hello in person or virtually.
• Get on the ILTA website and sign up for the E-Groups that interest you.  Stumped by a problem?  Share it on the appropriate E-Group and get feedback from members who may have resolved it before.  Share information from the E-Groups with others in your firm that could benefit from it.
• And finally, a shameless plug for conference committee and speakers for ILTA’10. Interested in serving on conference committee?  Have a suggestion for an educational session for next year?  Willing to share what you know with others as a speaker at next year’s conference?  Contact any ILTA officer or ILTA staff member.  We’ll get you connected to the right person.

SYINFI’10.  That’s ILTA-speak for “See You In Nashville For ILTA ‘10!”

by Maureen Babcock

We are coming to the part of conference that separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls.  Thursday at conference is the equivalent of hitting the wall during a marathon run.  The sheer volume of information that you have been exposed to can overload your brain with lactic acid no matter how good a note taker you are or how reliable a photographic memory you have.  Feeling the pain?

• Give yourself a head start. Load up on power breakfast food so you can take in the fab sessions that fill all of Thursday.
• Give yourself an out. Remember that thumb drive you got at registration?  It has all the session presentations, handouts and pre-session learning materials on it that were submitted by speakers.
• Give yourself the gift of knowing you are not alone. Meet up with your peers and hold each other up to take full advantage of everything still going on today.
• Give yourself a pat on the back. Tonight you can sit back, enjoy the final networking event of conference, reconnect with everyone you have met and congratulate yourself on making it through.

by Maureen Babcock

Shall we play a game? Let’s start with this:  ”I just met the Project Management PGVP who asked me to go to lunch with her and my RVP so we could discuss opportunities for CRs in my home state.”  Know what I just said?

The ILTA machine runs on the power of its volunteers, fine folks who labor all year to provide the educational and networking options that we have come to expect.  This network of Vice Presidents headed by the Board of Directors and is organized into:

• Peer Group Vice Presidents (PGVPs)
• Regional Vice Presidents (RVPs)
• and Conference Vice Presidents (Sometimes called M&M for Michele and Maureen, but that’s a one-time thing for ILTA ‘09)

PGVPs work closely with their steering committees to develop and deliver educational content and opportunities on specific topics for the ILTA membership as a whole.  RVPs work with City Reps (CRs) to schedule and deliver networking and educational content all year within defined ILTA regions (which now extend globally!).  The two Conference Vice Presidents (or co-chairs) work with the conference committee general track chairs, track coordinators and PGVPs to produce the educational content presented at conference each year.  All of these volunteers are supported professionally and dependably by the ILTA staff headed by Randi Mayes, the Executive Director.

So!  Interested in specific areas of legal technology?  Check out the ILTA website and get on the E-Group for that peer group.  Seek out the PGVP at conference; they can be found in the sessions for their track.

Making contact and talking shop with others in your general geographic area more to your liking?  Ask who the RVP is for your region.  Conference committee or the chance to speak at conference sound like your thing?  Flag down someone wearing a ribbon on their conference badge, check the ILTA or the conference websites or even stop by the “Ask ILTA” booth.

The value that your participation gives to other ILTA members is exceeded exponentially by the value you and your firm or company receive.

Kevin Hunt has been posting some great interviews on Legal Current. Check out the blog here.

Cheap prices for audio books and e-books: booksonboard.com

Have a happy Tuesday!

by Maureen Babcock

Let’s talk about the other half of the ILTA ‘09 Conference theme “Leading Technology | Optimizing Value.”  LEADERS. There are more legal technology CIOs, Technology Directors,  and Technology Partners from firms and law departments of every size and every geographic dispersal per capita at conference than you can possibly take the advantage of meeting. Not to mention seasoned managers in the ranks of everything from infrastructure organization to business strategy to application support to marketing to remote connectivity, to, ….well, you get the picture.

And did I mention the vendors?  All there, representing the leading technologies that are the tools of our trade.  At your fingertips in the vendor hall.

All friendly. Approachable.  And jam-packed with knowledge.  One stop shopping.  See where I am going with this?  Enough said.

Well, enough said except for one last thing.  “Tangled Web” Trivia Answer:
Cheap prices for audio books and e-books …
booksonboard.com

Keynote speaker Tom Koulopoulos took a very intense look at innovation, and was a huge hit. More food for thought here. And more here.

by Maureen Babcock

The big word for today is KEYNOTE.  Tom Koulopolous is diving into the deep waters many of us have been in for the last year with a message for all:  Innovation is not equivalent to Invention.  In times when we are being asked to do more for less, he contends that survival of the fittest is in favor of  those who spend what time, money and resources they have on innovation and not invention.  Asking “Why?” is and will be the modus operandi instead of just “How much?” and “When?”  Watch for Tom and conference attendee interviews broadcast LIVE on ILTA TV today from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Ok, I lied.  A few more words.  Getting the most value from conference is a task for ILTA to provide the opportunity and for YOU to take advantage.  Make the effort to meet new people and expand your professional social network.  Of all things that make ILTA what it is, making those connections and having access to them throughout the year is one of the best values in our industry.  Leave any social hesitancy you may have brought with you in your room’s safe.  Seize the day!  Be shy later.

A lot of people are registering, attending some of their “Communities of Interest,” and now meeting for an orientation. It’s a fun-packed madhouse of energy!

Here’s a quick scan of some other blogs that are talking about ILTA ‘09:

You’re not alone if you’re curious about e-discovery.

There’s some excitement with Sunday’s meetings and afternoon events.

We’ll post more tomorrow.