December is “By Request” month at DennisKennedy.Blog. I’m invite you to ask your questions about legal technology and other issues I cover in this blog, or even stuff I don’t usually cover. I’ll my best to answer them during the month.
Here’s the question:
Will You Be Speaking at LegalTech NY or ABA TECHSHOW in 2010?
Let me first say that the mere fact that you ask is a compliment.
A little background:
There’s probably a consensus that the three biggest general legal technology conferences each year are LegalTech NY (usually late January, early February), ABA TECHSHOW (usually March or April) and the ILTA Conference (usually August). Each has its own personality, audience and subject matter. People interested in legal technology simply owe it to themselves to attend at least one of these every couple of years. Or more, if possible. All have great sessions, great content, great speakers – you get the idea. Ilike them all.
The LegalTech NY conference (or “LTNY” as many refer to it) has announced speakers and sessions already, including Malcolm Gladwell as a keynote speaker. I saw last night that ABA TECHSHOW will be announcing sessions (and, I assume, speakers) tomorrow. ILTA, of course, will be finalizing its show later this year.
So, the actual answer to your question is: “Not that I know of.” Sharp readers wiill realize that the short answer, of course, must be “No.”
I’m actually doing only a limited amount of speaking these days (other than The Kennedy-Mighell Report podcast), mainly on legal technology trends, collaboration technology, and Web 2.0/social media/ethics. The majority of that lately has been private, rather than at conferences. I’ve actually grown to like speaking to a focused, private group rather than in the more diffused conference setting. Conferences are more fun to attend and visit with people and learn things.Speaking can cut into time for that.
But back to the question. Let’s take each in turn, because I highly encourage people to attend these shows whether or not I happen to be speaking.
Truth be told, I’ve spoken only a very few times at LegalTech NY. One of those presentations – on the future of e-discovery – a few years ago was actually one of my best-received and influential presentations (maybe I can dig up the slides and put them up on the Internet), in no small part due to Tom Mighell’s clever solution of the projector problem I had.
I find LegalTech NY a hard event to get into as a speaker – my sense (without checking the facts) is the speakers tend to be from NY, which makes sense, given the name of the conference. Because I had some issues in the past by not seeing eye-to-eye with ALM’s lawyer on what rights authors should give up when being published (check how often my articles show up on Law.com), I jokingly attribute the lack of speaking invitations to that, but I can’t imagine that’s the case. The fact is that conferences pick the best speakers and topics for the conference they want to produce and the audience they have. I’m always flattered to be asked, but I like to speak at events where I fit the show.
I have a long history with TECHSHOW. It was the first national event I spoke at, I was on the board for a couple of years, and I have tons of great memories from TECHSHOWs I’ve attended and spoken on a regular basis over the last 10+ years. It’s the show I always encourage practicing lawyers to attend, especially if they can attend only one.
Because I was a member of the TECHSHOW Board, I really do know that if I haven’t heard already that I’ll be speaking at TECHSHOW at this point, I won’t be. One of the great things that TECHSHOW does is to make an effort to bring in 1/3 new speakers every year. Regular speakers often get a year or so off to free up room for new speakers. Again, event planners want to produce the best show they can for their audiences. It’s great when I can fit into those plans, but I’ve been there as a planner and it’s not always a match. In any event, check out the show line-up when it’s announced and consider attending, especially if you are a practicing lawyer. TECHSHOW is also an excellent show for law students – check for special student pricing.
As an aside, if Reid Trautz ever approaches you as a TECHSHOW track leader and asks you to be part of an informal advisory group to help him select sessions and speakers, and he tells you that being part of the group does not mean that you can expect to be a speaker on that track, TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD. I’m sure I’ll start speaking to him again in a few years. Seriously, though, Reid and I have been talking quite a bit lately, especially about ways to do a joint promotion for our books. Watch for a possible announcement in the near future.
I believe that more than answers the initial question – for those of you still reading.
Will I be attending LegalTech NY or TECHSHOW in 2010? Vacation time looks like it will be a premium this year as we’ll probably need time to do some college visits, so I’m guessing that you won’t see me physically at either show, but I’ll probably figure out a way to have a virtual presence at both. Virtual conferences and virtual attendance at conferences form a big new trend and one that I especially like.
If you do want to hear me speak, then listening to The Kennedy-Mighell Report is definitely the way to go. I know that some of my best recent commentary and ideas are in those episodes.
Hope that helps. I welcome your comments and questions.
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REMEMBER: It’s “By Request December” at DennisKennedy.Blog. I’ll be answering reader questions all month about legal technology, blogging, social media or whatever topics interest you. Send me your questions.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (https://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
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