From: Cunningham, Dan (DCunningham@ReedSmith.com)
Date: Fri Jun 18 2004 - 11:07:57 PDT
Subject: 2004 SLA Conference in Nashville, TN - The Dan Edition Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 11:07:57 -0700 Message-ID: <E24EE7C4956E264EB5152DC56DB8A63604EB1656@oakexchg.reedsmith.com> From: "Cunningham, Dan" <DCunningham@ReedSmith.com>
> Hi all,
>
> Here is an annotated list of the sessions I attended:
>
> Presentation and Communications 101
> Recent polls report that the top stresses in life include marrying and divorcing, relocating, starting a new job, and ... giving formal business presentations. What?! This was an interactive session, which included the "do's" and "don'ts" of good communications, as well as tricks and tips. To help reiterate the lessons learned, the course included role-playing exercises to help to enhance presentation skills.
> This session had many useful tips on presenting to an audience, something I don't do very often, and see the need to do more often in the future. We were required to write a 5 minute speech on any topic in 15 minutes and then deliver it to the facilitators and attendees. After giving our speeches, we were each critiqued. My speech was on the history of the blues. Here's a pdf of the handout with scribbled notes:
> > > <<2004 SLA Presentation & Communication.pdf>>
> Refresh, Renew, Remind: The Three R's of Legal Research
> Training at law firms has its own unique set of obstacles to overcome. This session had a lot of tips for teaching and retraining attorneys in conducting legal research, of which, I expect, I'll be doing more in the future. Here's a pdf of the handouts:
> > > <<2004 SLA Refresh, Renew & Remind.pdf>>
> Intranets - Cool Content & Tools & Getting the work Done
> This was about a newsroom intranet and different ways it's used in the newsroom of the Sun-Sentinel in southeastern Florida. While newsroom intranets are traditionally considered a reference resource, providing access to news archives, subscription services, and compilations of Web sites, some newsrooms use them to assist staff with workflow automation tools and to build databases of new information. This was an interesting presentation on tools that relate maps to demographic information, for example the demographics of polling areas in the 2000 presidential elections and which precincts had the "hanging chads", etc. Here's the URL to the presentation: http://66.166.242.163/sla/Intro.htm
> SLA Hot Topic: Specialized Search Tools - Making the Invisible Web Visible
> In another one of his fast-paced, resource heavy presentations, Gary Price provided a brief update of the latest goings on in the web search world, numerous specialized databases and tools, and a look at some of the streaming audio and video content that's online and becoming increasingly searchable. The URL for Gary's outline is www.resourceshelf.com/2004/specializedsearch04.html
> Web Tools
> The popular web experts, Genie Tyburski and Gary, discussed tools available for effective Web research and trends for the future. The outline URLs are: www.freepint.com/gary/webtools04.html and www.virtualchase.com/tir/index.html
> You, Inc!
> Info-entrepreneurship beckons to many special librarians; it's a wide-open market and a natural career shift for information professionals.Mary Ellen Bates and Suzanne Sabroski talked about the opportunities, challenges, and rewards of this fast-growing profession, and how to enter the field. They both have books on the topic: Super Searchers Make It On Their Own by Sabroski, and > Marketing for the Info-Entrepreneur: Top Techniques to Build Your Business by Bates, her sixth book on searching or info-entrepreneurship. 12 step program to get started: 1. Join AIIP-collegial, mentoring, vendor discounts, email list, $150/year. 2. Prepare business and marketing plans. 3. Research your business name. 4. Do the back office stuff in advance: company structure, accounting software, logo, domain name, business phone, checking account, business cards and letterhead, set up online accounts, buy office equipment, health insurance, firewall. 5. Do a budget including salary goals and overhead. Calculate minimum hourly rate by adding salary and overhead and dividing by 1000 billable hours/yr. 6. Develop an "elevator speech" focussed on benefits, not features. 7. Develop a multi-touch marketing appr> oach like an email newsletter. 8. Start collecting contacts. 9. Psych yourself up; the first year will be slow. 10. Start a separate savings account at least a year in advance to put money away for your first year in business. 11. Do your reading, like the aforementioned books. 12. Have fun! It's a satisfying career. Give yourself credit for conceiving and building a new business.
> Extreme Searching
> Looking for web search tricks that will wow your clients? Trying to fine-tune your knowledge of searching on the web? Gary Price talked about what's new and shared tips and tricks that you can use. The URL of the outline is www.resourceshelf.com/2004/newsdivision04.html
> Practical Knowledge Management in the Law Firm - Initiatives in Action
> Knowledge Management buzzes hot and cold in law firms. Various groups claim ownership but is any actual progress being made in this area in law firms? How do law librarians fit into the scheme of things within the firm hierarchy? This session provided two different actual scenarios of how activities of law librarians benefit the overall Knowledge Management objectives of the firm. Topics discussed included: samples of Intranet applications prepared by library personnel; the organizational structure of the Knowledge Management function; how Knowledge Services can integrate with the Information Technology department; and KM initiatives that have proven success records. This session moved faster than my hand could write but here are some of the things discussed: One speaker's steps in developing a KM initiative: assemble a workproduct team, develop criteria, select a development platform, form focus groups to work on particular aspects, West KM added, metadata added to documents. Applications: IP page, Companies practice page with info on work done for a particular client and lessons learned, Judges database, Transaction/Deal Volumes. Other speakers steps: meet with IT for knowledge transfer and to facilitate trust and relationships, create a coalition throughout the firm, pick target dates and moments (win small, early and often), borrow resources, develop a manifesto, isolate the development without premature buzz, develop a champion. Applications: E-learning, communities of practice--determine members and facilitate processes.
> 60 Sites in 60 Minutes
> Genie and Jenny Kanji once again provided us with the best amusing, astonishing, whimsical, and most of all useful websites. The outline URL is http://www.virtualchase.com/sla/60sites/60sites2004.html
>
> Dan Cunningham
> Research Librarian
> Reed Smith LLP
> 1999 Harrison St.
> Oakland CA 94612
> Ph: 510-466-6194
> Fax: 510-273-8832
> dcunningham@reedsmith.com
>
>
>
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