The countdown to Legaltech NY is on! Now part of LegalWeek, The Experience, the conference starts on January 31 and takes place at the New York Hilton Midtown. That means you have just a few days (12 days, 10 hours, 52 minutes, and 14, no 13, errr 12 seconds as of this writing) to prepare. If you registered to attend but have not done much to plan for the meeting, you can relax. You still have time, and we’ve outlined five quick and easy steps you can take to make the most of the event.
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Post on LinkedIn and ’tweet’ about your attendance.
It’s not too late to post on LinkedIn or ‘tweet’ the fact that you are attending this event. Whether you are a technologist, attorney, or vendor (or all three), you should let your contacts know about your attendance. You are building ‘street cred’ by letting your connections know you are attending the “Largest and Most Important Legal Technology Event of the Year.”
Tweet from the event.
Continue to build your ‘street cred’ by tweeting during the conference. Expand your leadership and name recognition — not to mention your number of followers — by using industry and event hashtags (e.g. #legaltech, # LTNY, #LTNY17 #ediscovery, etc.). Whether you are an expert at tweeting or a novice, people following you and the industry want to hear what you have to say.
SUPER TIP: When you hear or see a ‘tweetable’ moment, you don’t have to tweet immediately. Thinking about what you want to say, crafting a well-thought-out, 140-character message, and sending it hours later can sometimes have more impact than an immediate post.
BADGES
Scan and be scanned.
At registration, the friendly Legaltech team will issue a badge that you must wear to gain access to certain areas of the venue. Organizers will scan the barcode on your badge as you enter sessions while vendors will ask to scan your badge to save your contact information when you visit their booths. Legaltech usually offers an optional mobile app (for a fee) that enables attendees to scan badges too. It’s an easy way to gather contact information for the new connections you make at the meeting. While there is a cost to download the app, if you are attending the event to generate leads, it might be worth the purchase.
Badge scanning is prolific in the exhibitor areas, and you will most likely encounter it there. Be ready: a slight pause, eye contact, or polite nod will lead to the inevitable question, “Can I scan your badge?” Let them. After reluctantly allowing exhibitors to scan badges last year, one attendee told us that she found resources that she would never have known existed. Yes, you may not be interested in the solicitations for some products. However, you will learn about services that are relevant to you and your clients. With over 10K attendees, 100+ exhibitors, and ten education tracks, you simply will not have sufficient time to learn about all the products and services the vendors offer.
EVENT PROGRAM GUIDE and TRACKS
Read the guide.
Even though this is a technology conference that offers a useful mobile website, organizers will offer you a hard-copy “Official Event Program Guide.” Take it and read it. It provides valuable information about times and locations for events throughout the venue. Moreover, if you haven’t had a chance to prepare before arriving, the guide is an excellent reference tool for learning about vendor offerings. At LTNY16, the Exhibitors Product Listing (at the back of the booklet) was even more useful than the links on the Legaltech website. Organized by hardware, services, and software, it provided succinct descriptions of the vendor offerings that helped attendees quickly plan and prioritize which vendors they wanted to visit.
Attend some sessions.
Time is short, and you have a lot to do. At a minimum, you should attend the keynote presentation offered each morning as a ‘kickoff’ to the day. The topics are usually of universal interest to the attendees; they are an excellent opportunity to make new connections. Make sure you sit in between two people you don’t know and introduce yourself. For attorneys, the presentations are CLE eligible (make sure the greeters scan your badge).
BONUS TIP!
If you’re already at the event waiting for the next CLE to start, this is the perfect time to tweet and follow us at @ThinkExtend.
Members of the EXTEND team will attend Legaltech NY. Will you be there? Leave a comment below to connect with us in New York.
