Thank you to author Elegra Davis, Business Development & Client Success Manager.
I confess. When I visited the registration page of the LMA Midwest Region Conference, I was still carrying a bit of post-COVID “conference-apathy.” After over 15 years in the legal marketing and business development domain in several capacities, I’ve had the opportunity to attend several non-LMA conferences. These conferences ranged from personal development to client-specific industries, focusing on business development activities. I thought I had pretty much seen it all.
I hadn’t.
From the start, LMA provided two seasoned conference mentors, Sherri Gutman and Rebecca Wenglinski. Sherry and Rebecca set up an introductory Zoom meeting with me before the conference to answer any questions and set my expectations. This was followed closely by a larger group invitation from Nancy Myrland on “Let’s Get Comfortable.” During both sessions, members expressed their eagerness to attend. There was also a consistent theme that permeated: LMA members are marketers who freely share information.
However, I confess, marketers exclaiming their excitement for an event is akin to water explaining that it’s wet. We, marketers, are skilled in promotion. Was this promotion, or was it demonstrative of a relationship-building principle of ensuring the strength of the value chain through a client-centered approach?
Conference day
Here’s where my shift happened.
There is no denying the power of the energy that hops from person to person. Especially in a room full of legal marketers and business development professionals who are armed with passion and purpose. These elements fuel the learning. A Zoom call just can’t replicate the entirety of the human connection experience. The networking was golden.
One of my favorite quotes, an old African proverb, states:
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
LMA’s commitment to the growth of every single member through a forward-thinking group approach became evident to me through the people and programming.
Here are a few takeaways that I gathered:
The Process:
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The domains outlined in LMA’s Body of Knowledge were laid out through conference tracks. This personalized experience included professional development, marketing technology and AI, as well as business development tracks.
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The informative opening keynote presentation, The EQ Advantage: Activate Your Legal Marketing Superpower, by Kendra Brodin from EsquireWell, focused on how humanizing ourselves and the attorneys we work with by embracing and understanding the role emotional intelligence plays in our relationships, really supported this year’s theme of “Activating Your Potential.”
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The riveting closing keynote from Brianna Leung of Red Bird Strategy also focused on aspects of emotional intelligence. Brianna honed in on legal marketers and business development professionals as leaders during change. This session effectively reinforced the importance of self-honesty and strategy during times of change. There was an additional embedded message of self-care, which is invaluable for those of us who have worked to support attorneys so that they can support their clients, but may forget to properly support ourselves in the process.
The Presenters:
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The breakout session presenters were not only skilled but also wise. It was obvious that their suggestions stemmed from reflections on the work they performed and lessons learned. Tom Keller’s immersive community-building exercise from “Improv Tools to Improve Your Skills and Advance Your Career” brilliantly weaved improv comedy into real-life – or not-so-real-life – issues that could arise in management positions. The “yes, and” principle of thoughtfully responding to the unexpected was a fun way to emphasize the point.
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Anne Gallagher’s presentation on “Leading with Memorable Presentations” taught 9 skills based on connecting with your audience during your initial introduction. Again, as with nearly all of the sessions, there were opportunities for one-on-one and group learning demonstrations.
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Matt Plavnick’s ”Critical Thinking as Client Service: Why Giving Lawyers What They Ask for is Seldom Enough,” was a perfect end-of-the-day session. Matt helped to summarize my entire conference experience by challenging me to think more critically about how to be more responsive in any business development or marketing capacity. Rethinking the “whys” behind common business development actions helped me to consider new approaches to familiar problems.
All in all, the conference reinforced the truth of gathering together in person as a tool for professional growth. There is a lot to learn outside of our everyday silos. You don’t know what you don’t know. If you haven’t attended an LMA Midwest Conference, I recommend saving the date for the next one.
Sure, you can go fast alone. However, if you want to go far, consider joining forces with other LMA members like yourself.
Authored by: Elegra Davis, Business Development & Client Success Manager.