D



ear ILTANs! I have returned from Ascend 2019 in Orlando. The energy, creativity, and passion for ILTA was evident in every contact! Lots of learning, lots of teamwork, and a fair measure of fun!

Before launching into my reflections on the event, please allow me to thank all of the volunteers who attended (we missed those of you who could not be with us) and the staff who provided support prior to the event, on site, and from back in their offices. A special shout out to the Board, who met with various volunteer groups all week, and to the Ascend Steering Committee. We could not have done it without you!

As some of you may know, Ascend actually started on Wednesday, with a staff retreat. Many of the staff had never met in person (including me); the bonding was great – and we had a chance to remember Lisa Noll together. We also participated in a DiSC workshop (BTW, I am an iS, with a secondary D – supposedly an “unusual finding”) and reviewed in detail our Strategic Goals, Operational Goals for 2019, Staff Themes, and Staff Guiding Principles.

Our volunteer leaders began arriving on Thursday. The ILTACON team spent all day Friday planning our premier educational event of the year.

Friday night, we had the entire volunteer programming team – not only ILTACON, but PPC, Content Teams, LegalSEC Summit, SRLs, and the RCT – plus the Board, Governance Committee, VLTF, and Talent Council, as well as many staff. Terrific networking – greeting long-time friends and welcoming new ones. 155 volunteers – including an amazing 75 new volunteers – plus 20 staff broke bread and built teams.

Saturday morning, Angela Dowd kicked us off (although everyone kept confusing Angela and me – common mistake). We followed with a review of Strategic Goals, Staff Themes, and select Operational Goals. We then moved to our keynote, an interview with long-time ILTA volunteer and ILTA Futurist John Alber and new ILTAN Rick Reznicsek. They explored change and associated disruption in the business of law and the practice of law. It was a pleasure picking their brains on the future! Key takeaways were as follows:
 lawyers want to learn technology in the context of their practice and daily tasks;
 texting has become a preferred form of communication for many clients, which has numerous implications for client service and records (BTW, this rise of texting for business was unforeseen);
 we talk quite a bit but AFAs, but the issue is really predictability of cost for the clients and a desire to manage to a matter budget;
 use the easy tools at your disposal, e.g., Google alerts about your organization, reading your organization’s press releases, and watching the new matters list, to gain insight into your organization’s business goals and objectives;
 eat lunch with your tech partner, associates, laterals, and operational leaders to build bridges and learn; and
 servant leadership is the key to achieving a seat at the table with lawyers.

Then, after updates from our PPC Co-Chairs and ILTACON Co-Chairs, we dived into the business of planning, with breakout sessions throughout Saturday.

One of the most valuable aspects of Ascend was bringing together the ILTACON Teams and the Content Teams to cross-pollinate ideas, brainstorm on how to manage key topic series with pre-con and post-con content, and create a continuum of programming addressing common target audiences, areas of focus, and hot topics. Look for this collaboration to expand and deepen!

After an evening of networking on Saturday (I know you were just familiarizing yourselves with the property), our final day of Ascend began with a panel discussion of giving and receiving feedback in a volunteer environment. ILTA volunteers Chris Boyd, Jim McKenna, Peter Qumsiyeh, and Ginevra Saylor were joined by staffer Samantha Surillo and consultant/facilitator Hedda Rublin. Click here for summary advice from some of our panelists. My favorite moment was when all of our volunteers and staff raised their hands for a question on whether we want feedback. Be on the lookout for people to begin asking “what feedback do you have for me?” We now have some next steps around formalizing the feedback process.

A new Ascend feature was our Hack-A-Thon. Groups of volunteers had a week to develop their most creative and thoughtful ideas around four important topics: the ILTA Awards; Diversity and Inclusion; Lawyer Involvement in ILTA; and ILTA Competitors and Collaborators. Look for more soon on the recommendations of these teams. Their discussions are informing our decision making. Spoiler Alert: Expect the addition of a new core value around Diversity and Inclusion.

Before lunch and lots of farewell hugging, the teams met to update their Performance Contracts, wrap-up their discussions, and verify, document, and assign their next steps.

I came back from Ascend with lots of ideas (someone still needs to figure out how to add hours in the day) and even more energy to tackle those ideas. Is it really a year until our next Ascend???? (Mark your calendar for January 17-19, 2020.)

See you all at ILTACON 2019 in Orlando!!