BlawgThink Update
Well, I’m back from Chicago and BlawgThink. I was hesitant about taking the time from work for a legal blogging conference. It looked really cool, but wasn’t certain I could justify it with all of my other commitments and with as many trial lawyer Conventions I go to. But Matt Homann called and with the personal touch, off I went. I am glad that I did.
The real value of BlawgThink was getting about 100 talented people together and cutting them loose. At the end of the first day and the whole second day was an open source conference. What’s that? People got up, wrote what they wanted to talk about, learn about or hear about on a piece of butcher’s paper, told the room and put it on the wall. Then you broke into small groups and went where the people were talking about what you wanted to know about. It worked much better than I thought it would, and I think as it catches on it will work much better. A sort of self-organizing conference, but on topics that people really wanted to talk about.
A Few Thoughts About the Attendees:
- Bloggers Really Care About What they Write About – There were a lot of bloggers from a lot of different areas of law, but all were passionate, excited and really cared about their subject area. In hindsight, that’s not too surprising, because they don’t get paid to write, so they would have to care to keep it up.
- People Write Weblogs for Different Reasons – I write about trial techniques, practice management and using technology in trial and to run a better office because that interests me. Some people write specifically about a niche area of law primarily to attract clients. Some people just write about and share their experiences. There’s no right or wrong. With a weblog, you have a microphone. Say what you want.
- Bloggers are Generous People – Everyone was friendly and giving of their time, thoughts and ideas. It was amazing how much people were sharing ideas.
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There’s a Lot of Exciting Things Around the Corner – I’m not going to bother cataloguing them, but there is a lot of exciting software and technologies that are coming up. Nowadays, there is a lot of experimental/social software basecamp, backpack, writely and feedster just to name a few. These all look real cool, but half baked and not quite ready for use at work. If you enjoy playing with these things, have at it, but personally I’ll just keep an eye on them and wait for them to shake out.
A Few Thoughts About the Conference:
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A Lot of Wireless Laptops – Nearly everyone had a wireless laptop with them. I’m not used to seeing people checking their e-mail, surfing the internet and updating their blogs while having a spare minute between sessions at lunch, etc… It made me feel more normal than I’m not the only tech addict out there.
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A Lot of Macintoshes – About 30–40% of the laptops were Macs. Considering that Apple only has about 5% of the computer market, that was a bit of a surprise. Also, there was a higher percentage of Macs from the tech people than the lawyers.
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The Open Source Method Worked – The classes were more interactive. In the planned presentations, there were discussions and they were less formal. The impromptu sessions were really group sessions with much more interaction going on than you see at a typical conference. There was also lots of space, cubbyholes and other places to talk.
The personal connections are too numerous to talk about. In addition to the conference, I also wanted to meet Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog and Tim Stanley of Justia as they do my weblog and website. I got an opportunity to talk to them for an extended period of time. They’re both extremely talented and wicked scary smart. So I met a hung out with a lot of cool people, made a number of connections, got a lot of ideas and maybe a few new projects. Thanks to Matt Homann and Dennis Kennedy for putting on the show.
