Legal Marketing & PR

Ari Kaplan at ABA Techshow: Market Your Imperfection

By Larry Bodine

Ari Kaplan -- razor thin, bespectacled and brimming with enthusiam, said the way to market yourself is to let your imperfections show.  "You need to stop worrying about creating the perfect email or the perfect marketing campaign. The new technology allows you to be authentic. We live in a 140-character world. You don't have to be perfect. People are more interested in getting your information than getting it perfectly."

More to come.... 

When I picked up my press pass for ABA Techshow, I was told there would be "special seating" for the press, including bloggers and website publishers like me.  The special seating for the keynote speech turned out to be a row of chairs against the back wall of the ballroom.  The program started at Noon and media has been watching everyone else eat ample lunches since Noon.

Later a representative from the ABA explained that they've given out 100 press passes -- because everyone who's sent a Tweet is claiming to be a reporter. Luncheon tickets to the program, which was expensive to stage, were sold out.   They're not trying to "diss" the media.

Hello? I was expecting a seat at a table with an electric outlet nearby. No such luck.  If Techshow wants news coverage they should give reporters the same access as attendees.  It would be nice to have working wi-fi too.  It's hard to believe that the wi-fi in the Hilton Hotel doesn't work.

I'm a former Boy Scout.  Our motto was "Be Prepared."  So I brought my Verizon skycard which gets me online with a cell phone connection.  Also, I wisely packed some bran muffins and apples in my briefcase.  I offered my food to my fellow reporters.

ABA Techshow is a blowout this year – 1,200 attendees (way up from last year) and 100 exhibitors.

Coming up next: the keynote address by boy wonder Ari Kaplan, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise from being an associate for 9 years at McDermott Will in New York to social networking guru. His topic is 'The Convergence of Technology and Marketing.'

Stay tuned.

Full post as published by Larry Bodine's LawMarketing Blog on March 25, 2010 (boomark / email).