Kristyn Brophy:
Hey, podcast listeners. Welcome to this week’s episode of One More Thing, part of LISI’s podcast, All The Things. I’m your host for this week, Kristyn Brophy, Director of Client Strategy here at LISI, and I’m joined by two seasoned legal marketers, Jennifer Manton and Deb Scaringi, who are organizing the 2022 Legal Marketing Association Northeast Region Bootcamp. We chat about how this year’s bootcamp provides legal marketing professionals who are early in their careers an incredible opportunity to learn firsthand from industry leaders who are at all stages in their careers. This is such a great opportunity for LMA members or even prospective members who are more junior in their careers to learn from some of the best in the industry. So I’m really excited to dive right in. Let’s get to it.
Kristyn Brophy:
Hello, everyone. I am Kristyn Brophy, Director of Client Strategy here at Legal Internet Solutions Incorporated, and today I am joined by two very special guests for our podcast, Deb Scaringi and Jennifer Manton, and they are organizing the Legal Marketing Association Northeast Boot Camp, which I am so excited to chat about and help them promote. How are you both today?
Jennifer Manton:
Great, Kristyn.
Deb Scaringi:
I’m great.
Jennifer Manton:
Thanks for having us.
Kristyn Brophy:
Yeah. I’m so excited. So Jennifer, how about we start with you? Why don’t you introduce yourself to our listeners, tell them a little bit about your background, what you’re doing now, and what you are most excited for this bootcamp.
Jennifer Manton:
Sure. Thanks again for having me. I’m Jennifer Manton. I’m the Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Kramer Levin. Long time LMAer, coming up on 30 years. Forget that. Over 30 years. The New York chapter is coming up on 30 years, and I’ve been a member of that.
What I’m most excited this year about the bootcamp, having seen many bootcamps throughout my career, is that I think this bootcamp attempts to really demonstrate and shed light on all of the different opportunities that exist for our talent, and under the marketing and business development umbrella and legal services. I remember back in the day, bootcamp was a primer on public relations, and some on RFPs and pitches, and creating mailing lists, or doing business plans, and it really was an amalgamation of things that you think of now as marketing or business development functions. And so Deb and I came at it this year by really wanting to do a deep dive under what’s under the marketing umbrella, and what does that ecosystem look like, and what skillset and what career opportunities are available for you there, as well as in business development, since there’s been more of a segmentation in our industry that I think has been evolving for a long time, but it feels very pronounced to me now and it’s great that we’re going to be able to deliver this content in that manner.
Kristyn Brophy:
Yeah. So true, and so exciting for all of that. I wish that I were an LMA Next member, or earlier in my career, so that I could attend, because it just is so different and has come such a long way from when I attended my first bootcamp in 2013, if you can believe it.
All right. So Deb, how about you introduce yourself and tell everybody a little bit about your background and what you’re most excited for, for this bootcamp?
Deb Scaringi:
Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. It’s really fun to be here today. So I’m Deb Scaringi. I am a marketing and business development consultant. I help lawyers and law firms build visibility, bring in business, determine value, things along those lines. It’s really a full basket of fun.
So I am really excited about the bootcamp again this year. I echo Jennifer’s excitement, but I want to add to it I’m really thrilled that we are adding to the great community that LMA is. I have been a member forever as well, about, what is it now, 27 years, and I owe my career to this organization. I’ve built friendships, and I’ve built my professional development, my skillset. It really has enabled me to create a career and a life that I truly am grateful for and I love. So I think the bootcamp is a really nice way to do that, introduce younger generations to each other, but also to some of us who have been around for a while. We hope to provide some really valuable, hands-on, walk away and do it kind of stuff over our four days of programming, and just hope to cement some new relationships along the way.
Jennifer Manton:
I just want to build on what Deb said there, because I think her and I, this is our second year of co-chairing this together, and it really is very different than the bootcamp that we delivered last year, which I think followed more of a traditional format, albeit it was all virtual and it took place over four mornings, actually five mornings during a week. But we have tapped, I think, the next generation of LMA luminaries to deliver the content.
Deb Scaringi:
Absolutely.
Jennifer Manton:
Because as Deb said, she wanted these panelists to feel relatable, and that these were real people that you could emulate, and that you understood they’re sort of your more … You would look to them as more of peers than someone that’s made these great advancements, but they all have. And the opportunity to hear from them on what made the difference, or how they climbed the ladder, or what their little secret sauce was, I hope will really resonate with people and give people some strong skills that they can start applying tomorrow, when they get that email from the cranky partner, or their boss wants them to do something that they’re not sure why. That it’ll help really give them the softer skills to fine-tune their overall performance.
Kristyn Brophy:
Yeah. I think those are really great comments. Echoing kind of what you were saying about introducing the LMA Next or LMA Bootcamp attendees to that real community building and career development track that LMA has to offer is just huge. I mean, if not for LMA, then my career would not be anything like what it is today. I joined LMA when I was a baby legal marketer and just learning things, and I developed into this lovely, experienced marketer under Deb, actually, under some of your tutelage.
Deb Scaringi:
Thank you.
Kristyn Brophy:
Because you took me under your wing as a connection in Boston for LMA, and then I developed as a solo marketer, and took all of these skills that I’ve learned throughout LMA throughout the years, and was able to apply it to the service provider side. And then because of my connections in LMA, I was snatched up and now here I am at LISI.
Jennifer Manton:
Well, I think it’s important to, what do you, Kristyn, and Deb and I have in common? It was our willingness to volunteer our time in the Legal Marketing Association that created those opportunities for us to learn and to grow and to build relationships. I’m pretty sure that if I was just a receiver of what LMA had to offer and didn’t dig in and roll up my sleeves, I wouldn’t have gotten the same benefits. And that really is what is so awesome about our association, is that you have these opportunities to develop skills outside of what you do professionally.
My time on the International board taught me so much about leading, and leading a large organization, working with a board of directors, things that I would never have the opportunity to learn just by being a CMO at a law firm. So for everyone listening, if you’re not involved, please get involved. I promise you, you will reap so many benefits from doing so.
Deb Scaringi:
Absolutely. And I want to point out as well, just to build on that, is that getting involved doesn’t necessarily mean taking on a huge, enormous task from day one. I remember I started on the board for the Boston chapter a million years ago. I was filling in for someone who was on maternity leave, and they were running a mentoring program, and they needed someone to step in, and just help make it happen. And I was like, “Sure, I’ll do it. Why not?” And that just sort of snowballed, and I ended up going through the ranks, and I’ve learned so much about not only my field, but about myself, and about managing people, and putting really good people in place, and then letting them do their job. It’s really something that LMA teaches you through doing, right? Rolling up your sleeves and doing it. Figuring it out. So I agree. I think we all have that in common, and I also encourage anybody who is even thinking about deepening their commitment to this industry to try going through an LMA committee, or a programming, or whatever it may be. You can learn a lot.
Kristyn Brophy:
You hear that, folks? Raise your hands for micro-volunteering opportunities with LMA. We will all greatly appreciate it.
And there seriously is something for anyone. I started out in my legal marketing career doing event planning and executional support, as well as graphic design. So I never thought that my career would develop into legal marketing in the traditional sense of what it is, with the business development aspect, and the coms aspect, and all of these different buckets. And so there really is something for everyone to learn, something for everybody to get involved with, and something for everybody’s skill sets that are out there.
Alrighty. So let’s dive into the programming a little bit deeper for bootcamp, and what’s really exciting. So day one, you have this career development panel. What can attendees look forward to in that panel?
Deb Scaringi:
Okay. I’ll start with that. So with the career development panel, it’s led by Roy Sexton, who is our president-elect of the international organization. He has got an amazing panel setup. Actually, Robyn Addis from LISI is sitting on that panel, as well as Audra Triplet from Foley Lardner, and Michael Coston from Coston Consulting, and Melissa Ertek from Winston & Strawn. And that conversation will be really wrapped around highlighting career tracks, right? Figuring out, how did they get to where they are? They didn’t just one day wake up and be in charge of stuff. They worked to align their talents, their desires, and interests, and aspirations all the way through their career, and figure out where they wanted to be and where they were going to go.
And so I think in this particular session, they’re going to learn about the different tracks: Business development, technology, marketing and digital strategy, events, branding, coaching, you name it. There’s all kinds of things you can do. And they’re also going to talk a little bit about what kind of projects that you should undertake that can maximize your visibility and your impact within organizations, and they’re also going to cover really, really important things such as personal branding, staying relevant in the marketplace, understanding the industry, and really understanding the importance of our LMA community, which we’ve already covered a little bit a few minutes ago.
So that panel, it’s Monday morning, October 31. It goes from 9:00 to 10:30. It is a virtual program, and it’s going to be chock-full of senior individuals sharing their secret tips for success.
Jennifer Manton:
And then on Tuesday, we’re going to start the divide, if you will, between the differences between the marketing communications ecosystem, and then business development. So on Tuesday, we’re going to lead off with Leah Schloss, who is with Proskauer. She’s going to moderate a panel of folks that have more of a presence in the marketing communications space. They’re going to talk about everything from public relations and media relations, to the importance of internal and external messaging and positioning, brand management, content development, digital, social media, among other things. So what we’re looking for them to do is to have the professionals who focus on all those various aspects of marketing communications not only help us better understand the function, but how these efforts are impacting the overall business development and revenue generation for the firm, and the intersection of those things.
Kristyn Brophy:
So I love that Leah Schloss is moderating this panel, because she’s the reason I developed my career in legal marketing.
Deb Scaringi:
Oh, I didn’t know that.
Kristyn Brophy:
So it’s come full circle for me. I used to work for Leah at Sullivan & Worcester here in Boston years ago, when I first started out. And here I am. That path to becoming a legal marketing communications professional was started by Leah. So attendees, you have a great moderator to listen to for that panel for sure.
Jennifer Manton:
That’s awesome.
Deb Scaringi:
And then on day three, on Wednesday, we’re going to dive into the business development ecosystem. So we all know that marketing and business development go hand in hand, they’re the tool chest and the real actions, but we’re going to learn about business development. It’s led by Matt Goffy. His panelists, we have Taryn Erkliono. Sorry if I just butchered that name. Ali Simmons, Caitlin Smith, and Patrick Wild. This group is going to talk a lot about, as I mentioned, the ecosystem of business development, from client development initiatives, to engagement opportunities, driving success, getting partners motivated, dedicating their time, how to get them invested in business development activities.
And they’ll also discuss how to utilize cross-marketing firm departments, and communications, and diversity and equity and inclusion, of course, a huge part of this. And additional firm departments working all together to bring in clients, but also service clients, and get additional work out of clients. So that day is solely focused in on business development, and that’s Wednesday.
Jennifer Manton:
And then we’re going to wrap it up on Thursday. Willie Slight is leading a panel of those folks in our region who have been named a-
Deb Scaringi:
A rising star.
Jennifer Manton:
Named a rising star within the Legal Marketing Association, because again, we really wanted to highlight those individuals that have really identified legal marketing as their place to build their career and their livelihood, and they have different perspectives of how they’ve done that. And we think that this group is going to be really relatable and motivating for all of the participants at the bootcamp. So joining Willie on that panel is Johnna Barber, Rosa Cologne, Jacob Eidinger, and Aubrey George. That is a must-see. A must-attend.
Kristyn Brophy:
Yeah.
Jennifer Manton:
That’s where you’re going to get all the juicy little tidbits and stories, I think specifically for them, focusing on things like delegation, and managing up, managing down, managing across your peers, how to be super organized, what it means to be proactive, how do you problem solve, how do you work with your team, especially if you’ve got folks on your team that might be difficult? So that’s going to be, I think, the real robust, soft skills conversation that I think are those little things that really make people stand out.
Kristyn Brophy:
Yeah. In legal marketing, you really have to deal with all of those idiosyncrasies of different partner personalities, and attorney personalities, and all of the leadership personalities too. So I really think that that is going to be a really useful panel, and hopefully I’ll be able to maybe step in and watch a little bit of it, because I am attending the conference, which is the same day.
Jennifer Manton:
That would be fun.
Deb Scaringi:
Yeah. This is really meant as a pre-conference lead up. So there’s going to be four days of program that they really can dig in and figure out the kinds of things that they need to know as new legal marketers, and then go into the conference kind of primed to learn, even in more detail, what their jobs entail and what they need to.
Jennifer Manton:
And the difference for this panel is, on Thursday, November 3, this panel will not be at 8:30 in the morning. This panel will be at 2:30 in the afternoon, because we want to capitalize on those bootcamp attendees that are going to be at the Northeast Regional Conference, and we’re going to gather them physically together in a space. We will obviously have the hybrid component for those that are unable to join the conference. We don’t want them to miss the fourth day of the bootcamp conversation. So that one is going to take a little bit of a different time slot than the rest of the week. So hopefully you can still join us for that, Kristyn.
Kristyn Brophy:
Yeah. Absolutely. Well, this has been so great, and I love hearing from the actual event organizers and program organizers when promoting the programs, because no one knows it better than you do. So I guess in conclusion, Jennifer, what is one more thing that you would like our listeners to know about bootcamp?
Jennifer Manton:
I would just like to say, register, please. And if you register and someone interrupts you and you can’t participate on that day, there would be a recording available to you, to those that are registered in advance. So I just think that it would be a great investment. I can’t imagine that your CMO or your director also wouldn’t view it as a great investment of your time. And of course, just volunteer to take notes, and bring it back to the rest of the team, and that should guarantee your approval.
Kristyn Brophy:
Yeah. Absolutely. How about you, Deb? What is [inaudible 00:19:19]?
Deb Scaringi:
So I’m going to just leap off of a word that Jennifer said, was investment. It is an investment in yourself. I find that oftentimes, we don’t take time to invest in ourselves. We are in charge of our careers, We make decisions for ourselves based on our interests, our passion, our communities, all kinds of things. And I think the bootcamp is a spectacular way to invest in yourself. And so it’s not a lot of money, it’s not a lot of time, and so it’s sort of a no brainer. So I really would love people to register. Of course, they can reach out to both Jennifer or myself, if there’s any questions about the programming, or questions how to register. We do have group registrations, things along those lines. So we do hope that you’ll visit the LMA Bootcamp website and join us, because it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Kristyn Brophy:
Yeah. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much to both of you again for joining me. This has been really wonderful, and I am so excited for bootcamp, I almost wish I weren’t an experienced marketer so I could benefit from this programming. All right. Thank you so much.
Jennifer Manton:
Thanks for having us.
Kristyn Brophy:
Yeah. Of course. Of course. Of course. Thank you so much-
Deb Scaringi:
Thanks. Thanks.
Kristyn Brophy:
… podcast listeners, and I will talk to you next time on LISI’s One More Thing.
You have been listening to All The Things, the podcast from Legal Internet Solutions Incorporated, where we bring you all the things. Whether it’s three things we learned, hearing from a legal marketing insider, an ask me anything session, or that one more thing we’ve been dying to tell you all month long but couldn’t. That’s All The Things. Our next episode will be out in a week, wherever you get your podcasts, and you can join us for the live events every Friday at 12:30 Eastern on our LinkedIn channel, for our livestream, where we bring you All The Things live.
