As one attendee who’s been coming here since 1985 told me:  ”If I learn one pearl of wisdom, it’s worth the price.”  Personally, I find that being exposed to different people in different lines of work allow me to see creative solutions to problems I’d never otherwise stumble upon.  And that’s what you get at conventions – people from diverse disciplines brought together by a common cause.

I write this post from the Portofino Hotel in Orlando, where I’m attending the mid-year meeting of ACLEA, The Association for Continuing Legal Education.  Matt Homann of the must-learn-about LexThink brought this organization to my attention.  When Matt talks, I listen.

What a great place to be.  The people are wonderful.  ACLEA is one of those organizations that just gels.  People talk glowingly of each other, as opposed to other organizations plagued by political infighting, detectable by eye rolling.

My goal here is twofold:  we’re lining up great talent for our Rocket Matter webinar series as well as getting our name out as speakers.  Our CLE and speaking curriculum evolved out of a need to help our customers keep their business healthy, and at this point, our educational services have taken on a life of their own.

(If you’d like to download a speaking brochure on our topics to have me speak at your convention, click here).

Conventions attract  people with a lot of great information and ideas.  I thought I knew a lot about Facebook until I heard Jennifer Flynn (Legal Education Society of Alberta) and Amy Danziger Shapiro (ALI-ABA) discuss how they use it professionally.  And have you ever had a conversation with Kevin O’Keefe about blog and Twitter strategy?  It’s a stream of consciousness fire hose with amazing information.

I’ll go over some more later –  in fact I’ll probably type up my ACLEA wrap-up on my flight to my next convention, Legal Tech NY, or perhaps on my trip back to Orlando on Wednesday, to case the ABA Midyear Meeting.  This week is a triple-witching for legal conferences.

And as always these days when you come to a conference, your social media footsteps precede you and pave the way for instant friendships.  I got to meet uMCLE, CLEGina, MarkRosch, and put a face to the name.  And I’ve made a lot more friends (if the delegation from Colorado can forgive my Karaoke performance last night) that I’m sure I’ll keep up with on FB, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Some initial pics:

The Portofino Bay Hotel, site of the ACLEA conference (from Flip HD video).

Keynote Plenary Session with (left to right) Amy Dazinger Shapiro, Alli Gerkman, Peter Berge, Kevin O’Keefe, and Nathaniel Trelease.

Unidentified ACLEA attendee performing Karaoke last evening.

After two sessions and lunch, you’ll be armed with the tools and inside tips and tricks to transform your law office efficiency in 2010!

• When: Wed, December 16, 2009 10:30AM-2PM
• Where: Boca Raton Conference & Executive Center, 301 Yamato Road, Suite 1240
• CLE: 2.0 FL Credits Pending
• Cost: $99 per attendee, includes lunch.

REGISTER TODAY!

Part One
This session will talk about how small law firms can be run more efficiently and with less potential errors, leading to more billable time (or productive time for value billers), and reducing risk of malpractice. By borrowing some ideas popular with the software and manufacturing industries on project management, such as Agile Software Development and the Getting Things Done System, attorneys can learn practical, simple techniques to employ right away.

Break
Catered lunch provided.

Part Two
This session will walk a law firm through the importance of running a paperless office and the dramatic effect being paperless can have on productivity and efficiency; not to mention time and cost savings. We will be conducting hands on demonstrations to show concretely how to scan, organize, and backup documents.

Speaker Bio

Larry Port
Founding Partner and Chief Software Architect
Rocket Matter, LLC

At the crossroads of the legal profession and cutting edge technology, Port discusses efficiency and quality techniques in the software industry that can be leveraged by law practitioners. He has published extensively in legal publications, including ILTA’s Peer to Peer, FindLaw, Chicago Lawyer, and others. Port is also a public speaker, conducting free monthly webinars for attorneys as well speaking at Bar Association CLE’s around the country.

REGISTER TODAY!

Starting Tuesday, January 13th, we’ll be introducing Training Tuesdays!

Every Tuesday, at 1:30PM EST, you can log on to a webinar and enjoy free Rocket Matter training. Customers will receive emails for attendance instruction.

Training Tuesday starts NEXT week. This week, we still offer:

FREE Rocket Matter 101 Refresher

A review of the basics. Fall in love with Rocket Matter again for the first time.

• When: Thursday, January 8, at 1:30PM EST

RSVP by clicking here

FREE Rocket Matter Mail Merge Tutorial

Please join us on Friday, January 9th, at 1:30PM EST to learn about this powerful functionality. Learn how to print out labels and send out mail merge letters in time for the holidays!

• When: Friday, January 9, at 1:30PM EST

RSVP by clicking here

FREE Rocket Matter Billing Training

Learn how to generate invoices, batch bill all matters at once, set different rates for different matters, and streamline your billing operations.

• When: Tuesday, January 13, at 1:30PM EST

RSVP by clicking here

• Billing: Friday, August 8 2008 at 3:00pm EST
• Rocket Refresher: Wednesday, August 13 2008 at 4:00pm EST
• New Features: Wednesday, August 20 2008 at 4:00pm EST
• Billing: Wednesday, August 27 2008 at 4:00pm EST

Please note this invitation is valid for Rocket Matter customers only. Please let us know if you plan to attend by emailing us at support@rocketmatter.com.

Training is a fundamental part of a firm’s adoption of legal practice management software. Law.com recently featured an article, “Coming to Terms With Case Management”, stating:

“..the annual American Bar Association technology survey consistently shows that only 53 percent of their respondents actually have purchased a CMS (case management system) — and only 36 percent report actually using it.”

If you’re considering a traditional practice management software package, which you install locally in your office, prepare to spend hundreds or potentially thousands of dollars to encourage usage of the new software by your staff.

Or, when you sign up for Rocket Matter, feel free to attend our weekly webinars where we will be covering various aspects of our product – included in your monthly fee, with no need to pay extra.

Of course, Rocket Matter is so simple and intuitive to use, no one may show up for training!