For example, I recently attended a\u00a0keynote\u00a0where\u00a0the presenter told\u00a0his life story and\u00a0about\u00a0how he was\u00a0seriously injured in a plane crash. It no doubt was\u00a0interesting to\u00a0him\u00a0but it didn\u2019t\u00a0seem to have\u00a0much\u00a0connection\u00a0to the audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet another\u00a0keynote\u00a0was by a\u00a0former well-known\u00a0pro\u00a0football player. It\u00a0was\u00a0sort of\u00a0interesting but\u00a0also\u00a0of limited\u00a0value.\u00a0How he related to other football players coming into the league\u00a0as a star\u00a0college\u00a0quarterback\u00a0may have been\u00a0engaging to the football fans in the audience\u00a0but not very relevant\u00a0to the practice of law.\u00a0Plus, it was\u00a0clearly geared to a male audience. It\u2019s content\u00a0that\u00a0was more of a whimper than\u00a0the hoped for\u00a0bang.<\/p>\n
And then there was the keynote I recently attended by a well-known and supposedly expert crisis management guru. This guy did little more than tell stories about situations in which he had been involved. Interesting? I guess. But there were a couple of problems.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0first problem was\u00a0that he didn\u2019t make clear how\u00a0crisis\u00a0management\u00a0was\u00a0relevant to\u00a0day-to-day\u00a0legal.\u00a0Yes, some legal work involves crisis management. Things like a\u00a0significant data breach. Even some of the single incident catastrophic events in which I was involved. But\u00a0typical\u00a0legal work is\u00a0much\u00a0less so.<\/p>\n
But the worst problem was that his presentation and even his stories were disjointed. For example, he told us at the start of his presentation that he was a helicopter pilot and there are more helicopter crashes in the U.S. than in the U.K., suggesting it must have something to do with his talk. But he never mentioned it again and it wasn\u2019t till someone asked him in the Q and A session that he told us the difference. It had nothing to do with his subject.<\/p>\n
What crisis management lessons he did impart were offered through a series of vignettes about things in which he had been involved. But he never tied all this up at the end or summed them all up. Instead, he just told a long story about how he applied to be an astronaut and made it most of the way until he was rejected. And then he just stopped.<\/p>\n
Frankly, I had the feeling he accepted the invitation to speak and then just showed up with his stories without thinking through who the audience was, how they would resonate, and how to tie it all together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moreover, the lessons he offered, things like empower your team, use distributed expertise, don\u2019t be dictatorial, don\u2019t get swallowed up with the data, and lead with hope were the kinds of things you\u2019d find in any airport self-help book.<\/p>\n
And if you asked most lawyers and legal professionals if they had experienced and agreed with his points, they would say of course, that\u2019s common sense and intuitive. These are things most of us already know.<\/p>\n
Celebrity Keynotes: To Do or Not to Do<\/strong><\/p>\n My assessment? Celebrity keynotes like this are rarely a good call. Certainly, conference organizers can\u2019t be blamed for it all: celebrity speakers are difficult to corral and ensure they are prepared and relevant. And often their prior speaking reviews are excellent.<\/p>\n But these kinds of keynotes\u00a0if done poorly can\u00a0leave a bad taste in the mouths of attendees. Their expectations for the keynote and for the conference are\u00a0diminished.\u00a0If the keynote is at the beginning, it\u00a0can sour\u00a0them on the rest of the conference. If\u00a0it\u2019s at the end, they walk away\u00a0on a down note.\u00a0<\/p>\n So what is the answer? Believe it or not, there are very engaging lawyer and legal professional speakers. The ones who make you think. Who uplift you. Lawyers and legal professionals can be great speakers if they put their mind to it. Speakers like Jordan Furlong<\/a> whose keynote I recently discussed<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are also great speakers who, while not in the legal space, can talk about issues that a legal audience can easily relate to.\u00a0Cory Doctorow<\/a>, for example,\u00a0has\u00a0given presentations\u00a0to legal audiences and\u00a0talked\u00a0about the\u00a0enshitification\u00a0of tech products in ways\u00a0that\u00a0the\u00a0audience can immediately\u00a0grasp.\u00a0And\u00a0Nilay Patel<\/a>, who I also\u00a0wrote about<\/a>,\u00a0doesn\u2019t practice law but managed to make some compelling points applicable to\u00a0all of us in the room.<\/p>\n The\u00a0real\u00a0problem with celebrities is that most of them are celebrities. They don\u2019t take the time to tailor what they are going to say in a way to make it relevant to the audience.\u00a0Unless they are really good\u00a0natural\u00a0speakers, you don\u2019t get what\u00a0you\u2019re paying for.\u00a0<\/p>\n So if you\u2019re going for celebrity bang, keep in mind that what you might get is the proverbial whimper.<\/p>\n Stephen Embry is a lawyer, speaker, blogger, and writer. He publishes\u00a0TechLaw Crossroads<\/a>, a blog devoted to the examination of the tension between technology, the law, and the practice of law<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n The post Celebrity Keynotes At Legal Tech\u00a0Conferences: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve attended lots of recent legal tech\u00a0conferences\u00a0where one or more of the keynote presentations are given by\u00a0celebrities\u00a0who are decidedly not lawyers or legal professionals. They are instead actors or professional athletes or well-known\u00a0for-hire\u00a0speakers. They typically have little\u00a0to any passing\u00a0connection to legal\u00a0world.<\/p>\n I know the argument for having them: these celebrities will draw attendees who know the name and just want to see and hear the person. Indeed, most of these keynotes are well attended but the value is often questionable.<\/p>\n To be fair,\u00a0celebrity\u00a0keynotes do\u00a0occasionally\u00a0offer\u00a0inspirational talks that motivate\u00a0the audience to apply the presenter\u2019s\u00a0key points to\u00a0every day\u00a0work\u00a0in an\u00a0uplifting\u00a0way.\u00a0You walk out feeling energized and can\u00a0see or\u00a0maybe feel\u00a0the\u00a0points.<\/p>\n But most of the time they are merely entertaining talks that somehow try to shoehorn in something marginally relevant to legal. These are less valuable and frankly feel contrived. Sometimes celebrity keynotes don\u2019t even do that. Either way, other than seeing a famous person, these presentations are mostly a waste and do little to contribute to what lawyers and legal professionals do and need. And since they don\u2019t offer CLE, it\u2019s pretty easy to see the real purpose: put butts in the seats.<\/p>\n Some Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n For example, I recently attended a\u00a0keynote\u00a0where\u00a0the presenter told\u00a0his life story and\u00a0about\u00a0how he was\u00a0seriously injured in a plane crash. It no doubt was\u00a0interesting to\u00a0him\u00a0but it didn\u2019t\u00a0seem to have\u00a0much\u00a0connection\u00a0to the audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet another\u00a0keynote\u00a0was by a\u00a0former well-known\u00a0pro\u00a0football player. It\u00a0was\u00a0sort of\u00a0interesting but\u00a0also\u00a0of limited\u00a0value.\u00a0How he related to other football players coming into the league\u00a0as a star\u00a0college\u00a0quarterback\u00a0may have been\u00a0engaging to the football fans in the audience\u00a0but not very relevant\u00a0to the practice of law.\u00a0Plus, it was\u00a0clearly geared to a male audience. It\u2019s content\u00a0that\u00a0was more of a whimper than\u00a0the hoped for\u00a0bang.<\/p>\n And then there was the keynote I recently attended by a well-known and supposedly expert crisis management guru. This guy did little more than tell stories about situations in which he had been involved. Interesting? I guess. But there were a couple of problems.<\/p>\n The\u00a0first problem was\u00a0that he didn\u2019t make clear how\u00a0crisis\u00a0management\u00a0was\u00a0relevant to\u00a0day-to-day\u00a0legal.\u00a0Yes, some legal work involves crisis management. Things like a\u00a0significant data breach. Even some of the single incident catastrophic events in which I was involved. But\u00a0typical\u00a0legal work is\u00a0much\u00a0less so.<\/p>\n But the worst problem was that his presentation and even his stories were disjointed. For example, he told us at the start of his presentation that he was a helicopter pilot and there are more helicopter crashes in the U.S. than in the U.K., suggesting it must have something to do with his talk. But he never mentioned it again and it wasn\u2019t till someone asked him in the Q and A session that he told us the difference. It had nothing to do with his subject.<\/p>\n What crisis management lessons he did impart were offered through a series of vignettes about things in which he had been involved. But he never tied all this up at the end or summed them all up. Instead, he just told a long story about how he applied to be an astronaut and made it most of the way until he was rejected. And then he just stopped.<\/p>\n Frankly, I had the feeling he accepted the invitation to speak and then just showed up with his stories without thinking through who the audience was, how they would resonate, and how to tie it all together.\u00a0<\/p>\n Moreover, the lessons he offered, things like empower your team, use distributed expertise, don\u2019t be dictatorial, don\u2019t get swallowed up with the data, and lead with hope were the kinds of things you\u2019d find in any airport self-help book.<\/p>\n And if you asked most lawyers and legal professionals if they had experienced and agreed with his points, they would say of course, that\u2019s common sense and intuitive. These are things most of us already know.<\/p>\n Celebrity Keynotes: To Do or Not to Do<\/strong><\/p>\n My assessment? Celebrity keynotes like this are rarely a good call. Certainly, conference organizers can\u2019t be blamed for it all: celebrity speakers are difficult to corral and ensure they are prepared and relevant. And often their prior speaking reviews are excellent.<\/p>\n But these kinds of keynotes\u00a0if done poorly can\u00a0leave a bad taste in the mouths of attendees. Their expectations for the keynote and for the conference are\u00a0diminished.\u00a0If the keynote is at the beginning, it\u00a0can sour\u00a0them on the rest of the conference. If\u00a0it\u2019s at the end, they walk away\u00a0on a down note.\u00a0<\/p>\n So what is the answer? Believe it or not, there are very engaging lawyer and legal professional speakers. The ones who make you think. Who uplift you. Lawyers and legal professionals can be great speakers if they put their mind to it. Speakers like Jordan Furlong<\/a> whose keynote I recently discussed<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are also great speakers who, while not in the legal space, can talk about issues that a legal audience can easily relate to.\u00a0Cory Doctorow<\/a>, for example,\u00a0has\u00a0given presentations\u00a0to legal audiences and\u00a0talked\u00a0about the\u00a0enshitification\u00a0of tech products in ways\u00a0that\u00a0the\u00a0audience can immediately\u00a0grasp.\u00a0And\u00a0Nilay Patel<\/a>, who I also\u00a0wrote about<\/a>,\u00a0doesn\u2019t practice law but managed to make some compelling points applicable to\u00a0all of us in the room.<\/p>\n The\u00a0real\u00a0problem with celebrities is that most of them are celebrities. They don\u2019t take the time to tailor what they are going to say in a way to make it relevant to the audience.\u00a0Unless they are really good\u00a0natural\u00a0speakers, you don\u2019t get what\u00a0you\u2019re paying for.\u00a0<\/p>\n So if you\u2019re going for celebrity bang, keep in mind that what you might get is the proverbial whimper.<\/p>\n
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