A couple thoughts...

Law firm and legal record-keeping is something of a different animal.
As many of you know, Lee, Jean Barr and Beth Chiaiese published a book
(I'll plug it because Lee is too proper to do so herself -- "Records
Management in the Legal Environment") dedicated to law firm records
management (and legal departments in corporations). I highly recommend
the book to all records managers. (Available to all through the ARMA
Bookstore.) But to my point, it is a sub-specialty, as are nuclear
power plant records and pharmaceutical records (which can probably be
extended to all FDA-regulated records). Those are the big three areas
where there is a body of law / regulation / practice that is often
different from what many of us experience on a day to day basis. I've
argued (unsuccessfully) that the ICRM should have additional vertical
CRM designations for the legal and pharma industries. Perhaps some ISG
lobbying there would be helpful.

As for the Conference, I'm troubled when someone says "I can't find
anything of use to me". Good grief! I think our program committees have
done a wonderful job of trying to be topical, while still meeting the
needs of a very diverse membership. And frankly, whether or not you
work in a particular specialty, there should be topics upon which you
can build knowledge that you can share with your organization, or
simply add to your RM toolbox. You don't know what you're going to be
doing next year or even five years down the road. If your present job
dries up, don't limit yourself to the industry (or the role) where you
are. Wouldn't you rather go to a job interview where you can say,
"Well, I've never directly managed those records, but here are the top
three records issues that I'm aware of in this industry." Or, "Instant
messaging was never used in my former company, but if you consider IM
to be a record, here's a couple strategies to deal with it." Breadth of
knowledge is just as important as depth of knowledge.

One of the major challenges of the Conference is slotting sessions. We
have a finite number of time slots and often a finite number of rooms
that we've contracted for (or are available at the venue). As PaK
notes, another day would be helpful -- of course, another day brings
another day of expenses simply for per diems for every attendee. And
that's the balance that we try to have: diverse sessions, expo time,
networking, keynotes, specialty tracks, and so forth. If anything, my
biggest problem has been trying to find time to get to the Expo floor.

I'm still someone who thinks that the ARMA Conference is a tremendous
bargain. There are lots of one-day seminars out there with pricetags
far in excess of $1000. Now some people prefer those just because the
net expense is about the same as the ARMA Conference, but you're only
out of the office for a day. In my mind, the added value of the ARMA
Conference has always been the networking and the Expo.

Now having said that, I think there is an opportunity for ISGs or even
groups of members to lobby for the stuff they want to learn about. That
doesn't mean you have to have a speaker in mind, but I bet if you send
Mimi your interests (preferably now), she'll be able to start looking
for people to speak on these topics in time for the 2006 Conference.
And if memory serves, the Program Committee also tries to hold a few
sessions open for "late breaking topics" -- topics that get hot right
before Conference. But you have to ASK. Don't shake the dust from your
feet and walk away.

Education is something you should be doing continuously. If I recall
Mimi's recent introduction of herself, she is probably at the far
extreme of that statement, but even in our busy work and personal
lives, we need to make room for self-improvement, and particularly,
professional improvement. Your management should support that -- but
you have to deliver on your part of the bargain as well. If coming to
Chicago is primarily about going to the Art Institute and shopping on
Michigan Ave. (and that's the first thing your manager hears upon your
return), you're going to have a hard time convincing management that
the company's dollars are well spent. So when you get the opportunity
to get education, come back and share what you've learned. Be
enthusiastic. When your boss asks you how the conference was, tell her
that you have three takeaways -- and here they are -- you have action
items for your performance plan, you have opportunities for process
improvement or cost reduction or risk avoidance. Tell her that you
found two other people in your industry that you can talk to about
common issues. Tell her that your organization is 1) about where other
folks are; 2) behind the curve; or 3) ahead of the curve. (And why.)

And if the Conference isn't within reach, lobby your ISG leadership to
bring back Spring Seminars (and maybe your local Chapter to co-sponsor
one). Once upon a time, when I was just a little records manager, I was
fortunate enough to be part of several. The ARMA friends that I made at
those ISG (then IAC) meetings are still my friends today, even though
many of us are in different industries. The challenge, of course, is
finding people to manage those seminars -- and we all have so little
time these days...

Stepping down from the pulpit, I am,


Patrick Cunningham, CRM

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