I was approached by more than one person with positive feedback on my thoughts re: Day 1 of Techshow.  What I quickly learned though was that if I did not SCHEDULE time to blog, I was not going to find it.  Seriously, who wants to go to their room alone when so much is going on?  Not me! Therefore, sorry for the delay but here is the Synopsis of Day 2 and a quick mention of Day 3.

Day 2:

Attended Computing in the Cloud session with David Bilinsky and Matt Kesner.  Honestly, I could listen to David talk all day.  Along with understanding a lot of the implications of cloud computing, he has a voice like butter!

Next was Hey You, Got Onto My Cloud with Catherine Sanders Reach.  Catherine looks like a girly girl, but just like AdrianaL – she’s all geek.  Lots of recommended cloud applications which I will share in the near future.

Next, I went to the Taking Your Office Virtual session with Nicole Garton-Jones and Alan Wernick.  I don’t believe this session was properly titled as it was more of what you can do if virtual than how to get virtual.  By the way, if youw ant to learn of one of my recommended techs to get you virtual fast, join me on April 7th – more info here.)

As for touring the Expo, on Day 2 I got to meet up with Larry Port and @ArielD – the main peeps from RocketMatter who were this year accompanied by the lovely Kim (also a Palm girl).  I learned at TechShow that RocketMatter is integrating trust accounting into their on line practice management tech – worth a look/assessment for those considering taking their practice management into the cloud.

I wrapped up Day 2′s sessions with Beyond the Keyboard – Workflow Alternatives with Britt Lorish.  Britt is a fellow non-lawyer and she and I also share a love of lots of the same 80’s New Wave music.  Her session was informative and Britt had actual equipment which she invited attendees to hold and ask questions.  Britt is a great speaker, however, her talk revolved around Dragon and I still think that speech recognition removes the most important part of the process:  the human brain.  Dictation is not just about getting words on a page – it is delegation by voice … really, really.

Completing Day 2’s educational sessions was the very popular 60 Tips in 60 Minutes.

From there, it was off to the hotel lobby bar to meet up with Kevin O’Keefe and the Beer for Bloggers event; then a taste of Chicago Style pizza with @BSchorr and @DominicJaar, followed by a wonderful evening with @AlanKlevan and @AllisonShields, @CarolynElefant, a few vendors and other legal geeky types at Chicago’s Sushi Samba.  Lots of fun, even if no dancing (unless you count JD Supra’s Managing Director Aviva bopping and moving to the tunes every so often)(FYI, she’s another Palm girl).  In any event, certainly a fun time was had by all and thanks again to @goclio’s Jack for his company and hospitality!

Day 3 constituted going to only one session –  the ever popular 60 Websites in 60 Minutes.  Lots of websites worth a look – the full list is here.  Maybe next year will be my year. ;)

While working on this post, I’ve also been cleaning up my notes/tweets from the sessions I attended.  Up first will be Creating Your Online Presence with my gracious TechShow roomie: Carolyn Elefant

So far today has been a whopper!

Started off with Welcome by ABA Techshow Chair Debbie Foster at 8am and right into the first session: Creating Your Online Presence with Carolyn Elefant and Nicole Black. I quickly learned that there was no way the internet could keep up with the speed of my tweets or the content, so have taken notes and will add a post with them later today. Good intel!

Next up was the Expo – lots of good stuff here. I’m not saying that LegalTech NY doesn’t have good stuff – it’s just a completely different vibe in the room. Lots of people actually talking to the vendors instead of just trying to grab a give away.

Spoke with:
1. Corel – who just launched X5 which I will also review on the blog later this month.
2. Clio – on line practice management. Can’t say enough good things about this product or the people running the company.
3. Legal Workspaces – new to the legal tech scene, this company offers you a virtual desktop (so all programs for running your law practice are maintained on their servers in Denver). Pretty cool.
4. NY Times – signed up for Sunday delivery for less than $3 per week (can’t get that price in NY!)
5.  Direct Law – this one’s interesting.  They help lawyers get virtual, but there’s more.  They have a product that is like a law firm’s own private LegalZoom. Clients go on line and answer questions and documents are generated automatically; then reviewed by law firm.  Definitely keeping this one on my radar.

That’s about it for now.  Gotta get back down to try to locate the Solosezzer who registered on the SuperPass but then called me right before the Keynote to say they didn’t have her registration. 

Will post again later tonight.

I’m off tomorrow to the ABA’s TechShow.  This is the second year I join lots of other legal geeky people in Chicago for three days of education, networking and just plain old hanging out and having fun.

Here’s my proposed schedule:

Wednesday, March 24:

1:00 pm arrive at Chicago Hilton.

2:00-4:00 assist a few exhibitors with their booths; unpack, meet up with Chelsey from Total Attorneys and generally mill about

5:00 – 6:30  Dinner with ?

6:30 – 11:00 assist Matt Homann and attend IgniteLaw (sold out)

Thursday, March 25:

8:00 – 8:15 Welcome Session

8:30 – 9:30 Creating Your Online Presence with Carolyn Elefant

9:30 – 10:15 visit Exhibitor Booths and catch up with old friends

11:00-12:00 Managing Your Online Presence: The Care and Feeding of the Online You

12:00 – 1:30 Keynote Address &  Lunch

1:30 – 2:30  Grabbing coffee and touring Expo

2:30 – 3:30 Digital Workflow: Developing the Paperless Habit

4:00 – 5:00 The Lawyer’s Guide To Social Media

5:00 – 6:00 Welcome Reception – Hilton Lobby

6:00 – 7:00 TechShow tweet-up at Kitty O’Sheas in Hilton lobby and hopefully meet up with Amy Derby

7:15 – ?   Taste of Techshow Dinner

Friday, March 26:

8:00 – 9:00 Document Management on a Dime

10:00 – 11:00 VoIP for the Solo/Small Firm

11:45 – 1:00 Lunch-n-Learn Session C

1:15 – 2:15 Taking Your Office Virtual

2:15 – 3:15 Grabbing coffee and touring Expo

3:15 – 4:15 Beyond the Keyboard: Workflow Alternatives

5:30 – 7:30 Beer for Bloggers

7:30 – ?  Taste of TechShow Dinner

Saturday, March 27:

8:30 – 9:30 Alternative Billing

9:45 – 10:45  The Traveling Lawyer

11:00 – 12:00 60 Sites in 60 Minutes (let’s see if LegalTypist makes it this year!)

Of course, none of the above is written in stone.  So if you are in Chicago want to meet up, just call me – 888 two five five 5266.  You can also follow my tweets on twitter (@legaltypist); or the hashtag #techshow.  It is my hope to tweet from the sessions I attend, however, I hear internet is iffy.

Also, I don’t leave Chicago until the evening so if anyone wants to get together for lunch on Saturday or to stroll around (weather permitting), call me!