I recently had the privilege of attending the Women + AI Summit in Nashville, an event that brought together 150 to 200 incredibly smart and passionate individuals.
The common theme among us is that we are all committed to leading, teaching, supporting, and engaging in the critical conversations surrounding artificial intelligence.
The summit was the brainchild of Professor Cat Moon of Vanderbilt University Law School. In just 60 days, she put together an event that ensured women had a seat at the AI table. Cat recognized a glaring issue: many articles and reports were highlighting male-driven AI advancements and overlooking womens’ contributions. Rather than simply observing this disparity, she took action. If you don’t know Cat, you should because she’s amazing.
Her goal was clear, which was to create a space for women and allies of women to contribute to and lead discussions about artificial intelligence. The event was open to anyone interested, and while predominantly attended by women, it was inclusive. After knowing him for many years via social media, I was happy to finally meet Dennis Kennedy, a well-respected name in the legal profession.
Just like meeting Dennis, one of the most rewarding aspects of the summit was the opportunity to meet people I had only interacted with online. Out of all of the attendees, I had only previously met one, Lydia Flocchini, a very smart legal tech advisor, before the event. I met Lydia during Ari Kaplan, another legal tech leader’s Virtual Lunch, which he has hosted since the pandemic started. Lydia and I met at the LMA, or Legal Marketing Association, conference a few years ago, so it was wonderful to see her again. Thanks to social media, we had already built a friendship.
This reinforced something I often talk about, which is the power of virtual relationships. Social and digital media allow us to develop meaningful professional relationships long before we meet in person. I consider this a gift that we have all been given, and that is waiting for each of us to take advantage of.
I enjoyed the diversity of attendees at the summit. While the summit was rooted in legal because of Cat Moon, she posted the invitation publicly on LinkedIn so that anyone who was interested knew they were welcome to attend.
I met new friends from inside and outside the legal profession, including professionals from, among others:
- WebMD
- Microsoft
- Education
- Public health organizations
- The Washington Court System
This interdisciplinary approach is invaluable to me. Learning from professionals outside the legal bubble expands my perspective and helps me provide better guidance to my law firms clients.
A key takeaway from the summit was a sentiment shared by one of the speakers: “There aren’t necessarily a lot of people who can call themselves experts in AI, but there are a lot of people with expertise.”
I like that distinction because, like you, I am on a journey of AI discernment, which means I help firms think through their AI adoption strategies. I am committed to continuing to learn from experts and those with expertise. AI has been around since the 1950s, and while some AI pioneers are true experts, many of us are still developing our expertise in this fast-evolving field.
I’ll be looking at my notes to share a few summaries of key sessions from the summit in the coming weeks. Some of this content will be written (blog and social media), some will be spoken (my 2 podcasts), and some will be visual (videos and graphics on social media), a concept I teach called The Relationship Continuum.
As AI becomes an integral part of the legal profession, I will help firms integrate AI wisely, effectively, efficiently, and ethically while continuing to focus on the foundational marketing and business development strategies I teach every day, such as:
- LinkedIn
- Podcasting
- Personal branding
- Video
- Livestreaming
- Zoom and virtual presentation skills
- Content marketing, and
- Marketing and business development planning
