Legal Research

An Ongoing Experiment in Collaboration?

By David Bilinsky

♫ We-eee-eeel….
You know you make me wanna (Shout!)
Kick my heels up and (Shout!)
Throw my hands up and (Shout!)
Throw my head back and (Shout!)
Come on now (Shout!)
Don’t forget to say you will.. ♫

Lyrics and music by: O’Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley, recorded by The Isley Brothers.

The Pacific Legal Technology Conference is scheduled for Friday Oct. 2, 2009 at the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre. This conference is unique in that attendees - past and present - have the opportunity to select the sessions they most wish to see presented at the conference. This is done via an on-line survey that is based on the brainstormed list of courses developed by the Conference Advisory Board and then shortlisted (by a vote among the Advisory Board members). This short list is then incorporated into a Survey Monkey on-line survey. This survey was just released on Thursday June 16th; it is only open for one week and is already receiving a terrific response! It is an example of using on-line collaboration tools to develop, hone and polish the Conference so that it presents on topics of most interest to the attendees. The survey incorporates both multiple-question as well as write-in questions - which hopefully ensures that the respondents are given every opportunity to raise the topics, issues and questions that they most wish incorporated into the Conference.

All those who complete the survey are entitled to be entered into a draw for 2 free admissions to the Conference. Moreover, if you complete the survey, you are also entitled to a special survey respondent admission rate (the link to which is only found at the end of the survey).

As the Chair of the Conference I believe that this approach to collaborative and participative planning ensures that the sessions are as closely matched to the expressed needs of the attendees as possible. I also believe it demonstrates that The Pacific Legal Technology Conference is unique in striving to meet the needs of lawyers and law firms as those needs are buffeted by the changes around us.

The survey can be found at: PLTC Conference Survey and must be completed by Wed June 24th to be eligible for the survey respondent rate.

Now is the time to kick your heels up and say you will complete the survey, shout out your needs and then come to the Conference! I hope to see you there.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on June 19, 2009 (boomark / email).