Let's ReThink LexThink
If you head over to the LexThink! site, you'll see it is "Under Construction." We'll have some more info soon after Techshow.
This Speech Sponsored by ...
My pal JoAnna Forshee has (finally) started to do some blogging at her new venture InsideLegal. She recently hosted the InsideLegal Summit, and it appears to have been a fantastic success. The one topic that really caught my eye was the debate surrounding the "Pay to Speak" trend. What is Pay to Speak? It is when conferences (like LegalTech*) allow vendors to "sponsor" a conference track. The controversy, which has been brewing in the legal conference industry for a while, is over what level of control the vendors have over their sponsored track, and what responsibility conference organizers have to disclose that control.
Why is this a big deal? If a (fictional) company XYZ Discovery Solutions pays $25,000 to sponsor the "Electronic Discovery" track at a conference, what do they get for their investment? More specifically:
- Does XYZ get to pick the topics for the track?
- Does XYZ get to choose the track's speakers, favoring those who sell or promote XYZ products, and excluding other speakers who don't?
- Does XYZ have a responsibility to present information the attendees want to hear instead of information they want attendees to hear?
If the answers to any of these questions are yes, do the attendees know that the "CLE accredited" sessions they attend are given by a hand-picked rosterof sponsor-friendly speakers? And are any CLE accreditation rules compromised?
Right now, the answers to these questions aren't clear, and I'm sure each conference organizer and each sponsor approach the "sponsored track" differently. I don't think the sponsored track should go away, but I do think some disclosure is in order. Just as lawyers must avoid actual or apparent conflicts of interest (which in some cases can waived by agreement), conference organizers must recognize the inherent conflicts that arise when a for-profit vendor sponsors, designs and staffs a CLE accredited, "educational" session
At a minimum, the conference must disclose whether the speakers in a sponsored track are chosen by the conference or by the sponsoring vendor, and whether those speakers are paid by the vendor.
I applaud JoAnna and her InsideLegal partner Jobst, for getting this out in the open. Your comments are welcome.
* I use LegalTech as an example here only because I know they have sponsored tracks, and the InsideLegal Summit happened in NYC at the same time of LegalTech. I don't know what the vendors get for their investment and what rules (if any) LegalTech places on the speakers or the content in those sponsored tracks.
(How) Do You Take Credit?
Here's a great idea for ways to remember the folks who've helped you along the way, from this post on How to Take Credit:
So when the time comes to take the stage, remember that you didn’t get here alone: go ahead, grab the microphone and acknowledge your team. Do it before a crowd and in e-mail. Say it with bonuses and baked goods -- but be sure to say it. No one likes to be left out. By sharing the credit the right way, you won't diminish your own accomplishments, you'll add to them by building a reputation as the kind of person people want to work for and for your focus on developing others.Not sure whom to credit? In their book, Becoming a Resonant Leader, Annie McKee, Richard Boyatzis and Frances Johnston suggest keeping running lists of peers who have helped you along your route to success -- along with notes about what you actually learned from them. Keeping such a list will likely help ensure that you don’t forget them in your acceptance speech.
I really like the idea of keeping a running list of people who've helped you along with a note or two about how they've helped. This is a pretty powerful way to not only remember how you've gotten to where you are, but to also remind you to give help to others who seek it from you. More on this in the next post.
Six Word Memoirs
If you liked my PowerPoint Haiku exercise, you've got to check out this Six-Word Memoir video (thanks, Magda). Can you write your memoir in six words?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBnP0DoGjRI&w=425&h=355]
My first shot: Stopped lawyering. Having way more fun.
Simple Solutions, Informally Delivered
Paul Graham shares his product development strategy in a wonderful essay:
Here it is: I like to find (a) simple solutions (b) to overlooked problems (c) that actually need to be solved, and (d) deliver them as informally as possible, (e) starting with a very crude version 1, then (f) iterating rapidly. When I first laid out theseprinciples explicitly, I noticed something striking: this ispractically a recipe for generating a contemptuous initial reaction.Though simple solutions are better, they don't seem as impressive ascomplex ones. Overlooked problems are by definition problems that mostpeople think don't matter. Delivering solutions in an informal waymeans that instead of judging something by the way it's presented,people have to actually understand it, which is more work. And startingwith a crude version 1 means your initial effort is always small andincomplete.
Paul suggests that his technique extends beyond startups to any type of creative work, and I'm inclined to agree.
In the delivery of legal services, what are the overlooked problems that can be simply solved? How many of us ask our clients (before, during or after they've engaged us) about the one thing we could change in our practices to improve their experience? Is it something as simple as shifting our office hours to be available when our clients can see us? Or, is it something more profound like changing the way we charge for our services? No matter what that one thing is -- and it could be a different one thing for every client -- what's keeping us for trying it? Just once. To see if it works.
New Research Explains Billable Hour's Staying Power!
Well, not exactly, but this article in the Telegraph discusses an experiment exploring humans' preference for a familiar (though less efficient) path, and found:
most of us are happy to play follow-my-leader, even if we aretrailing after someone who does not know where they are going andtaking the most meandering route. Even more striking, even when we are shown a faster route, we prefer tostick with the old one and tell others to take the long road too, afinding that could have lethal implications when it comes to evacuatinga building or ship in an emergency.
In the study, participants were led from one room to another. When asked to return to the first room, almost all took the familiar path back, even when they were aware of a shorter path:
All but one person took the route they had beenled. What we were surprised by was how strong this effect was, evenwhen the alternative route was much shorter .... They preferred the long route even when the experimenter had drawnattention to the alternative route, or when the experimenter took thelong route solely to pick up a fallen poster, eliminating thepossibility that participants thought the experimenter had a good, butunknown, reason to take the long route. By askingparticipants to collect the next guinea pig in the experiment, thescientists observed that each person in the chain copied the route ofthe participant before them: a simple tradition that meant thealternative route was never discovered.
Interesting food for thought, don't you think?
Here are Some Posters for Your Waiting Room
Need some subtle reminders to your clients as they wait for their appointment? I ran across this online poster shop titled Advice To Sink In Slowly that has well-designed posters containing GREAT advice. My favorite (and there are many I absolutely love) is Work Hard. Play Hard. Create something amazing. Check it out.
Go Ahead, Write on Your Walls
I'm certain that I think better when I'm standing in front of a dry-erase white board, so my perfect office (or house, for that matter) would have dry erase boards everywhere. If you are like me, check out Markee Dry Erase Paint. According to the website, it is a clear paint that turns any smooth surface into a dry-erase board. It is about a hundred bucks a gallon. If you've tried it, I'd love to know your results.
Tags: Markee, whiteboard
Use Haiku to Get to the Point
I just returned from VizThink, where I facilitated a few exercises for the nearly 400 attendees. My favorite -- and the one I used to close out the conference -- is one I call PowerPoint Haiku. Here's how it works:
- Everyone gets three "slides" (one each for the questions they have to answer) that can be notecards, 8.5 " x 11" cardstock, or even (gasp) actual PowerPoint slides.
- You pose three questions to the group. At VizThink, they were: "Why did you come to VizThink?" "What did you learn?" and "What are you going to do next?"
- Each question is answered on a separate slide with this Haiku-like twist: The first question MUST be answered in 5 words, the second question in 7 words, and the third in 5 words. And yes, I know that in true Haiku, you count syllables instead of words.
- Everyone can then take their "slides" and add a drawing, picture or other visual images to each one.
- The mini-presentations are then shared around the table.
Here's the VizThink recap from the VizThink Blog. I love this exercise, and use it in almost all of my XPLANE sessions to understand "what good looks like" to the stakeholders. It is fun, and often provides startling insights. Give it a try with your clients. Ask them:
- Why are you here? (5 words)
- What can I do for you? (7 words)
- Why is it important to you? (5 words)
Let me know what happens.
Tags: vizthink08, presentations, powerpoint, haiku, facilitation
In San Francisco Next Week? Come to VizThink!
I've not written much about my work at XPLANE on this blog - ok, I've not written much of anything, lately -- but I'm really enjoying my work at "The Visual Thinking Company." I've had an amazing time working with some really amazing clients. One of the super cool things I'm going to be doing happens next week at VizThink, a conference for visual thinkers that takes place in next week San Francisco from January 27-29th. I'm going to be facilitating several visual "icebreakers" for the 325+ attendees before each of the plenary sessions. I'll also be hanging out a lot after the sessions, so if you are in the S.F. area, give me a call on my cell 314-541-6412 or email me if you'd like to meet up.
One more thing. Here's a Slideshare presentation about why you should go. Enjoy!
Tags: vizthink, xplane, visualthinking, homann
Big News Coming Tomorrow
I've got some big resolution-themed news coming Monday. Until then, make sure you spend an hour or two with the NY Times Magazine's annual Year in Ideas issue.
A "Business Card" for Litigators
Do your clients think you are full of hot air? Here's a business card that might just prove them right:
Check out several other cool "cards" here.
Ideate for the Holidays
Church Marketing Sucks continues a great series on Lessons in Not Sucking with this post on Building an Ideation Team. There are some absolutely great tips in the post, including: "Invite People You Don't Like," and "Invite People with Unusual Professions." Read the post, and then think about ways to do a firm-wide ideation session at your holiday party this year. That's right, gather up some of your people and your clients and spend a bit of time thinking of ways to get better as a firm -- perhaps by focusing on what your top-ten firm resolutions for 2008 should be. You might be surprised at the result.
Boise, Idaho ... Here I Come!
I'm going to be in Boise, Idaho on Monday (November 5) to speak about innovation for lawyers to the Idaho Bar Association. If you are in the neighborhood (and really, who isn't?) come on by.
15 Thoughts for Law Students: A Mini-Manifesto
I've written a few mini-manifestos for clients and lawyers before and remain quite enamored with the format. Here's one for law students with some random (semi-related) thoughts on law school and the legal profession. Let me know what you think, and feel free to add your own in the comments.
1. Law school is a trade school. The only people who don't believe this to be true are the professors and deans.
2. Want to piss off your professors? Ask them if they've ever run a successful law practice.
3. Being good at writing makes you a good law student. Being good atunderstanding makes you a good lawyer. Being good at arguing makes youan ass.
4. You can learn more about client service by working at Starbucks for three weeks than you can by going to law school for three years.
5. Law school doesn't teach you to think like a lawyer. Law schoolteaches you to think like a law professor. Believe me, there's a hugedifference.
6. You can get through law school without understanding anything about what it is like to be a lawyer. That is a terrible shame.
7. The people who will help you the most in your legal career aresitting next to you in class. Get to know them outside of law school.They are pretty cool people. They are even cooler when you stop talking about the Rule Against Perpetuities.
8. Your reputation as a lawyer begins now. Don't screw it up (and quitbragging on your MySpace page about how drunk you got last night).
9. Law is a precedent-based profession. It doesn't have to be a precedent-based business. Be prepared to challenge the prevailing business model. Somebody has to.
10. Experienced lawyers work with clients. Young lawyers work with paper. You like working with paper, right?
11. You are about to enter a world where getting your work done in half the time as your peers doesn't get you rewarded. It gets you more work.
12. Except for prosecutors and public defenders, nobody tries cases anymore. Especially not second year associates.
13. You have a choice: You can help people and make a decent living, or you can help corporations and make a killing. Choose wisely.
14. There are plenty of things you don't know, and even more things you'llnever know. Get used to it. Use your ignorance to your benefit. Themost significant advantage you possess over those who've come beforeyou is that you don't believe what they do.
15. People don't tell lawyer jokes just because they think they are funny. They tell lawyer jokes because they think they are true. Spend your career proving them wrong.
Outsource Your (Non)Legal Practice
I'm a big fan of Tim Ferriss' book The 4-Hour Workweek, though some of his suggestions are a bit impractical for an office-dwelling professional. That's why I really liked this post on 43 Folders that gives several realistic examples of ways to outsource your personal and professional life. Well worth a read, if only for this fantastic advice for those to whom "delegation" is a four letter word:
It’s easy to tell yourself that it would take too long to figure outhow to explain a project to someone else than to do it on your own. After all, you’re the only person who has the grand picture,understands the purpose of the work, and is familiar with the details.But with a bit of pluck and a capacity for seeing projects for whatthey truly are (collections of discrete actions,) you’ll be astonishedat how much you can rid yourself of. I have often found that what atfirst seemed daunting to explain to someone else actually just requireda few moments thinking about how the problem needed to beapproached—which is a process I was going to have to go through anyway if I were ever going to complete the task in the first place.
"Build a team you shall, young Skywalker."
Want a team-building activity for an afternoon that "only" costs $500? Got a few geeks in your office? Have I got an idea for you: the LEGO Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon. Check out this post, and make sure to watch the YouTube video of seven people putting one together in just over two hours.
And if anyone wants to get me something cool for Christmas...
20 Slides. 20 Seconds Each. Pecha-Kucha
How would your next presentation go if you only had twenty slides and could show each one for "only" twenty seconds (for a total of 6 minutes 40 seconds? A format embracing these very constraints is called Pecha Kucha, and was started by two architects in Tokyo as part of a designers' show and tell. It seems like a natural fit for an Idea Market, as a replacement for a panel presentation, or any time a lot of presenters have something to say.
I'm doing a very short speech (nine minutes) on innovation in two days, and am going to give this presentation format a try. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more, check out several examples on You Tube, or this recent Wired magazine article. If you are in the St. Louis area and want to have a Pecha Kucha night, let me know.
Idea Market in the News
I've written about my Idea Markets here before. Here's an article from the local Suburban Journal that talks about one I did for the International Association of Business Communicators.