It’s time.

The largest annual meeting of legal marketing and business development professionals from around the world is taking place in New Orleans April 9-11. If history even comes close to repeating itself, we will have:

• Over 1500 business of law professionals
• From 20 countries
• Representing 46 out of 50 states
• All 8 LMA governing regions
• With titles of Director, Officer, Coordinator, Assistant, Specialist, Strategist, Consultant, VP, President, and others
• From firms ranging in size from under 100 to well over 1000 lawyers actively engaged in the practice of law

This Is The Place

It is no secret that I look forward to LMA Annual Conferences. Having joined LMA in 1997 when I started in the industry as an in-house Director of Marketing at Baker & Daniels (now Faegre Baker Daniels), then starting my own business, Myrland Marketing & Social Media, in 2002 in what has become a marketing, business development, content, social and digital media strategy, consulting, and training company, this is the industry I have chosen, and these are the legal professionals I have chosen to help.

Why I Look Forward To This Conference

I look forward to this conference because it is filled with very smart, passionate, well-rounded businesspeople who help one another become better at what they do every day throughout the year. Having 1500 of us in the same building sharing knowledge and skills for 3 to 4 days is an amazing gift that all law firms should recognize as the bare minimum when deciding how best to empower and educate their marketing and business development professionals.

I also look forward to the conference because these are “my people.” I have spent many years with some, and only a few days with others. It doesn’t matter how long because we all have something very important in common. We care deeply about what we do, about each other, about the attorneys and law firms we are a part of, and we sincerely care about becoming better at what we do to help our lawyers do what they do better, too.

The Reunion Is Real

We are a very close family, and our reunion is amazing for all the reasons I mentioned above. I look forward to the hugs (especially the hugs as I am a hugger, try me), the stories, the lessons, the old friends, the new ones, the atmosphere of excitement, the amazing way the conference is organized to take care of all of us, the pages of to-do items I gather after attending sessions and having conversations, all with too many asterisks noting must-do items that I must implement as soon as possible, and the feeling we will undoubtedly have being in New Orleans a city that is in the midst of celebrating its 300^th birthday.

What could be more perfect than all of that?

Conference and Association Leadership

A conference like this is no small endeavor.

The muscle behind this conference is the Legal Marketing Association, or LMA, which is headed by Executive Director Betsi Roach, President Ashraf Lakhani, and the International Board of Directors.

Once again this year, we have amazing volunteers organizing the conference, led by Conference Co-Chairs:

• Katherine D’Urso, Chief Client Development Office, Wilmer Hale, and
• Brian Dare, Chief Marketing Office, Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP

as well as the 2018 Annual Conference Advisory Committee:

• Mary Margaret Gorman, Senior Public Relation & Media Manager, Jones Walker LLP
• Mike Haag, Director of Business Development, GrayRobinson
• Jon Mattson, Director of Business Development, Baker & Hostetler LLP
• Christine Mitchell, Business Development Manager, Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP
• Clare Ota, Senior Marketing & Business Development Manager, Allen Matkins
• Jim Pagliaro, Partner, PP&C Consulting
• Betsi Roach, Executive Director, Legal Marketing Association
• Lisa Simon, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer, ‎Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP
• Mary K. Young, Consultant., Zeughauser Group
• Mona Zeiberg, Chief Marketing Officer, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
• Ashraf Lakhani, Director of Business Development & Marketing, Porter Hedges LLP, and LMA Board President and Conference Committee Liaison

Thank you for all of your hard work!

Conference Highlights

The conference website summarizes this year’s conference highlights:

• 150+ speakers representing different firm sizes, various marketing roles and a wealth of experience will share their knowledge. (By the way, I’m happy to be presenting at this year’s Pre-Conference Quick Start program on Social & Digital Media Ethics For Lawyers & Legal Marketers.)
• Participate in discussions around the evolution and innovations taking place within legal services at over 40 breakout sessions
• Choose from 7 pre-conference programs to take a deep dive into the topics that matter most to you.
• New this year! Explore the possibilities of new legal marketing and business development products and services at the Lagniappe Demo Lounge.

Join and Follow Each Other On My #LMA18 Twitter List

Every year, I create a list on Twitter of all of those who are attending the annual conference. I encourage you to follow that list and each other as we have a lot in common! If you have already Tweeted with the #LMA18 hashtag, I have added you automatically via the IFTTT app. If you haven’t and would like to be added, check out the list to see if you are there: #LMA18 by Nancy Myrland, and let me know if I need to add you. Just let me know on Twitter right here at @NancyMyrland. If you would like to follow all #LMA18 Tweets in one place, you can do that here.

This Blog Post Will Be A Gathering Place

As I like to do, I will collect blog posts, videos, audio and other content from this year’s conference to make it easier for anyone interested to find everything in one place.

I will add to this post as my colleagues and I publish additional content. If you see, write or produce something I haven’t found, please let me know so I can add it, okay? I will date the entries with the date I add them so you can quickly find new posts.