Home now from ILTACON, the annual conference of the International Legal Technology Association. It is five frenetic days of seminars, exhibitors and networking by legal technologists and vendors from all over the world. Here are some of my somewhat-random thoughts about the event.
Let’s start with what many were thinking: Orlando in August? I mean, WTF? But, guess what – the weather gods cooperated and kept any significantly stifling heat at bay. The threat of thunder showers was persistent, forcing the opening night reception to move indoors, but even the rain mostly held off.
I heard some griping about the hotel, the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin – mostly about the outdated rooms and the walking distances. The Swan and Dolphin are separate hotels connected by an outdoor walkway. It takes no more than five minutes to walk from one to the other, but with programs in each, the back-and-forth-and-back-again trek ensured attendees easily got in their daily 10,000 steps. For those uninclined to walk, Litera-sponsored golf carts provided rides between the buildings.
Personally, I liked the hotel as a conference venue. The registration area, exhibit hall, and most meeting rooms were easily accessible. And the main hotel, the Dolphin, had a large lobby bar that served as the always-buzzing center of networking, well into the late evening. Both hotels had a variety of restaurants and fast-food offerings, so pretty much anything one might need to survive the week could be found on premises.
Attendance made it the largest ILTACON ever. Advance, full-week registration was 1,785, and ILTA expected that to meet or surpass 1,800 by final count. Adding in single-day registrations, ILTA said the full attendance would be 1,850. Last year’s total was 1,715. Eight hundred of this year’s attendees were first-timers.
On
