How ILTACON Differs From A Traditional Trade Show
Each year, my business partner conversations have created short- and long-term benefits.
I’ve been attending ILTACON for more than 20 years (as an ILTA member, as a Conference Committee member, as ILTA’s VP of Conferences, and as a business partner).
From all those perspectives and from conversations with countless ILTACON participants, it’s clear that the value of the conference is split pretty evenly between the education takeaways, the networking, and the business partner connections.
ILTACON is an educational conference with an exhibit hall on steroids, as opposed to a traditional trade show.
As the IT Director in a law firm and as a legal operations leader in a corporate legal department, I sought out business partners and industry experts for meetings and presentations on various topics at ILTACON.
Managing time at ILTACON is a challenge, with great opportunities for education and networking — and many business partners vying for a slice of that time.
I did what many ILTA members do: review the exhibitor list, triage the communications from business partners, and match them to challenges in my firm and proposed budget items.
The event app is full of useful information as well. I made time in my ILTACON schedule to meet with my priority business partners, allowing a cushion for the surprises I would find on my walk throughs of the Exhibit Hall, my conversations with people in and following education sessions, and in the networking events.
One year I had no time to prepare before arrival, so I used the app to sort through the exhibitors on the fly. Every year, business partner conversations bore immediate fruit and others percolated and came to fruition later that year or the next, or helped in conversations with management about who was doing what.
ILTA encourages everyone at the conference to mingle and participate in as many education and networking events as possible. It’s such a differentiator for ILTACON that everyone is treated equally and business partners are not relegated to the back rooms, away from the action.
In many cases, business partners ARE the action, the experts, the people who can help ILTA members solve business problems. It’s worth the effort to see who’s there!
ILTA Tech Survey
500+ law firms from all over the globe and in all sizes and shapes complete the ILTA Technology Survey each year. The goals of the survey:
- Provide a single source for substantive data against which to benchmark a legal organization’s technology implementations and future plans
- Provide a resource for IT budgeting and strategic planning
- Track historical trends
- Provide insights for future outlook
I am a member of the ILTA Technology Survey committee. We have technologists from every corner of legal on the team. We look at the problems faced across the legal industry, how law firms use technology now, and how different products or services can help achieve specific needs. We:
- Dissect the prior year’s survey and update survey questions, particularly looking at current issues and emerging technologies
- Review the survey data after the survey closes and has been consolidated by the survey vendor
- Finalize the charts for the formal ILTA Technology Survey publication
- Write an executive summary and additional commentary as required
- Present an education session on the Tech Survey at ILTACON
We are in the “Finalize” phase right now, with Tech Survey committee members each reviewing sections of the survey results, finalizing what will be published and working on the executive summary.
We are also preparing for this year’s education session at ILTACON, titled “2023 Emerging Tech and Industry Trends: The ILTA Tech Survey Results Trailer.”
In the session we will reveal highlights and initial analysis to help answer strategic planning and budgeting questions even before the formal survey results are published in September.
New topics for 2023 include emerging desktop applications, generative AI tools and Hybrid strategies. Trends around infrastructure, desktop/laptop hardware and OS, office apps, DMS/ECM, practice management and business applications, collaboration and communication and security will also be shared.
We will allow time for ILTA members and business partners to talk with us, ask questions and provide feedback on new topics for possible survey inclusion next year. ILTA continues to solicit member and partner feedback for this survey in new and innovative ways and we strongly believe that this open dialogue will continue to increase the usability of this survey.
Hope to see you at ILTACON!
TJ Johnson is a Legal Quality Strategist for Qualitest. At Qualitest (previously Olenick), she provides strategic advisory services, helping law firms and legal departments transform project and quality methodologies and mature their overall quality. Her prior experience includes: 15 years on the executive team at International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), eight years as IT Director for a Canadian law firm, and eight years as Manager of the Legal Department of Great-West Life (now Canada Life).
