Making Connections at ABA Techshow 2008

If you've been following my Do Something! category of posts, you'll recall that last week I suggested that one way to keep investing in yourself is to attend conferences. In fact, last week I attended the ABA's Techshow 2008. This was my second time at the conference in two years, and I highly recommend it for many reasons/ I'll be talking more about Techshow in future posts. If you're interested in what others are saying about Techshow, take a look at Techshow Buzz.

One of the main reasons to attend conferences like Techshow is the opportunity to make new connections and strengthen old ones. It's always fun to put real faces (and handshakes, and conversations) to the names of 'virtual' friends and to re-connect with others. Sometimes these conferences are the only chanes you get to meet some of these people in person!

Here are some of the 'friends' I was lucky enough to connect with last week:

Pictured here (L to R) are Bob Kraft, me, Ed Poll and Aviva Cuyler. I enjoyed seeing Bob and Ed again, having met both of them at previous events.

Aviva is a new friend, and a friend to lawyers with her recently launched online resource at JDSupra. I'll be writing more about Aviva and JD Supra in an upcoming post.

I also had the pleasure of re-connecting with fellow members of my mastermind group (of which Bob Kraft is also a member). Pictured here are Lisa Solomon, Andy Simpson and Carolyn Elefant. Carolyn is the author of the book, Solo By Choice, recently reviewed by the New York Law Journal, and was one of the speakers at this year's Techshow, providing valuable advice about technology for solos and using technology to keep up with clients. Next year, Andy will be one of the speakers. (Thanks to Lisa for providing the photos!)

I was also happy to re-connect (if only briefly) with Tom Mighell, Adriana Linares, Jim Calloway, Reid Trautz and Nerino Petro, among others, including fellow New Yorker Glenn Dornfeld.

And I loved meeting Kevin O'Keefe and Dennis Kennedy, both of whom are fabulous lawyer-bloggers and think-outside-the-box guys. Although we've read (and sometimes commented on) one another's blogs, it was the first time I've had the opportunity to meet them both in person. The fact is that no matter how well you 'know' someone online, there's no substitute for a live meeting. (Something to keep in mind with clients, too).

Comments

[Dennis Kennedy]

Allison,

I've always liked the irony that the best thing about attending a technology show is meeting the people. I really enjoyed getting the chance to meet you and talking about blogging and other topics. You have such great insights into these things.

Dennis

[Kevin OKeefe]

Enjoyed meeeting you as well Allison. Wish there was more time to get to know people like yourself and learn more about what you're working on. But when there's 2,000 people attending, I guess not having enough time comes with the territory.