A gathering of geek gods (and goddesses)

In late August I attended the 29th Annual Educational Conference of the International Legal Technology Association , a/k/a ILTA ’06: Evolving Together, held this year in Orlando at the beautiful J.W. Marriott - Grande Lakes . Generally only our network administrator attends the yearly event, but since it was local this year, we persuaded the firm to pay for the entire IT department to attend. Over 1,100 technology professionals from all over the world, plus 1,000 folks representing 160+ technology vendors, all gathered together for four days of fun and sun. And it really was fun. ILTA ’06 was probably the best professional experience I’ve ever had.

The keynote address was by Connie Podesta, whose topic was "Life Would be Easy If It Weren't For Other People". Since I am always telling my fellow IT workers that my job would be perfect if it weren't for the users, I instantly felt a kindred spirit in Connie. She was a fantastic speaker, very funny but very insightful.

Other memorable moments . . . at ILTA '06: "Pirate's Cove", the theme of the opening night of the Exhibit Hall. All the vendors were dressed up as pirates, had pirate-themed displays, the food and libations were island/Caribbean, you could get your picture taken with Captain Jack Sparrow and the governor's daughter from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie (unable to post my photo here for some reason, drat); there was even a big pirate ship in the hallway outside the exhibition area where a band of pirates and their wenches had gathered. Avast and ahoy, maties! . . . "Demanding Attorneys: How to Figure Out What They Want and Give Them What They Need." We all laughed at the title, but of all the sessions I attended, this had to be the best, most useful one of the conference. What I learned: (1) Attorneys may have two or three degrees, but they don't get taught how to run a business, and (2) IT folks often don’t get told what the business direction and goals of the firm they work for actually are. Kinda like the blind leading the blind. Should that frighten you when you think about hiring an attorney? I let you be the judge. . . . Meeting a fellow knitter! Vicki, who works in litigation technology for a law firm in St. Louis, had breakfast with me the first morning of the conference. We then sat next to each other at the keynote address, and I was so excited to see her whip out a sweater she was knitting towards the end. "I knit too!" I yelled out, sounding like a perfect fool. She said that she often brings her knitting into meetings and other situations where she doesn't have to "pay attention" to the faces but mostly listens. Following her lead, I brought my knitting to a forum session I attended and happily knitted while I listened to the speakers. Knitting is very relaxing; what better place to do it than in a work environment? . . . Inside me is a blackjack player just dying to get out. One night we had a wonderful sit-down surf and turf dinner and enjoyed conversing with some vendors from Connecticut. After dinner, I ventured to the casino area of the ballroom with Chuck, one of the vendors, where, with his guidance, I turned $1,000 in play money into $8,000 at one of the blackjack tables. I don’t understand poker well enough to play, but blackjack? Get as close to 21 without going over, now that I can understand. I even learned the little motions to tell the dealer to give me another card or that I was staying, and some other little tricks. I had a blast. Makes me think about going out on one of the casino cruises out of Port Canaveral . . .

ILTA ’06 was just a fantastic, first-rate conference in an absolutely gorgeous setting. It was a positive learning experience that I’ll always remember.

Thanks to my brother-in-law Charles who gave me the idea for the title of this post (and many other geek/Greek phrases I didn’t get a chance to use, like . . . “beware of geeks bearing gifts” [the vendors in the exhibit hall]). :-)