It’s been a week since I returned home from the LMA’s Annual Conference, and I’m still digesting everything that went on there – it was a non-stop whirlwind of networking, meetups with social media friends and ILN marketers, face-time with new attendees, and conference sessions (as well as a LOT of food). LMA served its purpose once again though, and I’ve returned to the office with new vigor, feeling more inspired than when I left! Even better for this Social Media Special Interest Group Co-Leader? Not only did I get to see my friends and make new connections face to face, but #LMA13 was trending on Twitter! (Pictured are fellow co-leaders Gail Lamarche of Henderson Franklin and Nancy Myrland, Myrland Marketing with me. Not pictured are Lance Godard of JD Supra, who was unable to join us, and Laura Toledo, Tenrec, who was ill).
There will be several recap posts to come, but while I’m still ruminating on those, I thought I’d share with you my three favorite sessions, as well as what’s on my reading list now that I’ve returned home. Keep an eye out for the recaps on these sessions!
- My absolute favorite session of the conference was hands-down "Delivering Happiness:" Fresh Ideas for Service-Driven Brands Deploying Social Media Tactics, Seeking ROI. Why? First, because the presenters were incredibly engaging and led the session in a casual, interactive format that really benefited the audience members. Second, because although we got the legal perspective from moderator, Jayne Navarre, of Law Gravity LLC, we also got an outside perspective from Graham Kahr, Social Scientist with Zappos.com. Zappos may be a consumer brand, but since they’re all about service and the customer/client experience (and so are we), it was great to hear some fresh ideas and be challenged to think about how we can adopt them within the legal field.
- Wednesday’s General Counsel Panel: Separate from the Pack: Best Practices in Building and Maintaining Your Law Firm’s Relationship with In-House Counsel. If you’ve been following along with me, you know that I LOVE me a good GC panel – there’s no better way for me to deliver value to my attorney clients than to be able to tell them exactly what a sampling of their clients in the industry are thinking about and looking for in their outside counsel relationships. While we’re still hearing a lot of the same things from GCs (once again, making me wonder what firms are really listening), we also learned more about their thoughts on new media and how that impacts their outside counsel selection process.
- GC Focus: Project Management. Position Your Firm in Alignment with the Unique Challenges Faced by In-House Counsel. We were treated to not one, but TWO in-house counsel sessions this conference, with this one being a breakout on the first day. We heard from the managing attorney at GlaxoSmithKline, as well as their procurement guy (a new perspective at LMA Annual from the in-house side), and Wicker Park Group’s Nat Slavin, who shared his years of experience doing client interviews. This was a much more nuts and bolts type of session, which was again hugely beneficial and gave us all food for thought.
You’ll be seeing recap posts on these sessions, and maybe a few others, in the coming days.
During Graham’s session, someone asked him for reading recommendations for the in-house marketer, and with my information all saved at Amazon, I was able to order the books on the spot. He recommended:
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
- Delivering Happiness (of course) by Tony Hsieh
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- The follow up, Great by Choice by Collins and Hansen
- Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King, And Halee Fischer-Wright
These are all sitting just next to my monitor, and I hope to be able to dive into them soon!
Thanks to LMA for another great and inspiring conference – I’m already excited for 2014!