If you follow me on social media this week, you’re going to see a LOT of talk about #LMA14 – that’s the Legal Marketing Association’s annual conference, which takes place in Orlando this week (a welcome respite to those of us in the cold, cold north who have pretty much forgotten what sunlight looks like).
The LMA conference is a true highlight of my year, and not just because I’m not responsible for the planning and execution of the event for a change. The programming and thoughtful conversations with the best of the best in my industry always gets me thinking, acts like a "reset" button for my brain, and gets me inspired to return to my desk full of new ideas and renewed enthusiasm.
But, as it is with the ILN, the best part is actually the relationships. I have been very lucky to make some very close friends within the LMA, which is something I heard a lot about when I first joined, but never thought would be true for me (also true is our saying "We’re LMA, we hug."). I don’t get to see my out-of-state friends very much, if at all, between conferences, so it’s a wonderful opportunity to spend some time with them.
I get to renew my friendships, meet new people, and put faces to the names I’ve seen on social media throughout the year. These relationships are invaluable to me, personally, of course, but also professionally, because I’ve come to rely on these friends for professional guidance, feedback on ideas, answers to pressing questions, and more – all things that make me a better advocate for my attorneys. For a gal who works for an organization with only one other colleague (our Executive Director), this is a hugely valuable tool for me and for my attorneys.
I chatted again with Colin O’Keefe about this in the video below. If you’re interested in seeing what we talk about at LMA14, be sure to follow along on the Twitter stream – it can be a little overwhelming over there with so many people tweeting these days, but I promise, you’ll get a lot of great information. I’ll also be blogging here, and you’ll want to keep an eye on LXBN’s coverage of the event, since they’ll be sharing both interviews and the blog posts covering the conference and its sessions.
To my LMA friends – I’ll see you soon!