Hi Lee,
Having attended and spoken at both AIIM and ARMA from 2003-2007, here are my
impressions. Full disclosure: I sit on the ARMA BOD and these comments do
NOT reflect any positions or opinions of ARMA, ARMA HQ staff, or the ARMA
BOD. I am also a past member of the AIIM BOD and have sat on the program
committees for AIIM (2005), Xplor (2004), and ARMA (2003, 2004, 2006).
Education:
AIIM historically has focused on all aspects of information management,
including heavy emphasis on the technologies: document management, imaging,
enterprise search, etc. Many of the sessions are "what is X?" or "why should
you do Y?". There are more sessions at AIIM - some 140 this year. Many of
the speakers are vendors; while the educational content is IMHO comparable
quality, they sometimes get more vendor sales pitches that slip through than
ARMA generally does. Generally speaking, I think AIIM talks about
technologies this year that won't hit ARMA until next year or the following
year.
AIIM 2008 Conference home page:
http://www.aiimexpo.com/aiimexpo2007/v42/index.cvn
20(!) tracks this year, including:
ECM Fundamentals
Business Process Management
Security, Risk & Compliance
Document Management
Data Capture & Imaging
Records Management
Web Content Management & Portals
Collaboration & Social Software
Enterprise 2.0/Web 2.0
Web Services
Information Infrastructure & Architecture
Business Intelligence
Next-Generation Search Tools & Applications
Information Classification, Taxonomies & Metadata Mgmt
Email Management
Litigation & Discovery
Payments & Billing
Product Selection & Implementation
SuperSessions
Pre-Conference Workshops on ERM, ECM, Enterprise Search, BPM, Email,
Enterprise 2.0
ARMA: Has been more focused on traditional records management historically;
more recent conferences are both broader and deeper, with increased
attention to more advanced topics and more topics on electronic records and
information management. ARMA is also trying to move more in the direction of
"How to X?" rather than the what and why stuff at AIIM. ARMA offers fewer
sessions, but I believe more of the sessions are directly applicable to more
of the attendees than AIIM's.
ARMA also features poster sessions which are quite popular and offer more
relaxed settings for both presenter and audience.
ARMA 2008 Call for Proposals (which lists desired topics):
http://www.arma.org/learningcenter/proposals/call/includes/topics08conferenc
e.pdf
I have heard ARMA folks in the past say that they didn't feel they needed to
attend every year's ARMA conference because so many of the sessions are the
"same old same old". I don't think that's the case any longer, and I think
even those seasoned ARMA veterans will see lots of sessions they can use.
Expo floor:
AIIM is collocated this year (2008) with a number of other conferences
including On Demand and Xplor, so the show floor should be pretty big and
focused heavily on technologies for printing, storage, and software with
some microfilming thrown in. Lots of booths, many of them HUGE and with lots
of competition for your attention.
ARMA: Includes many of the same software vendors as AIIM, with service
providers and RM-specific technologies well-represented as well (microfilm,
disaster recovery, folders, boxes, etc.). Generally fewer giant booths, but
lots of booths overall.
Cost and location:
AIIM: More expensive to attend, more expensive for accommodations as it's
usually held in NYC, SF, Boston (2008), Philadelphia, and other top-tier
travel cities.
ARMA: Doesn't cost as much to attend - several hundred dollars cheaper. More
variety in venues, some are more expensive (Boston 2003, Boston 2007) while
others are much more reasonable (San Antonio 2006, probably Las Vegas 2008).
Networking:
AIIM is great networking for me, but I'm a past vendor and present
consultant so lots of AIIM's attendees and vendors are in my personal
network. Not sure whether that would translate for the more traditional RIM
practitioner. The attendees are a broad spectrum of vendors, consultants,
analysts, practitioners, RM, legal, IT, executives, etc.
ARMA: MUCH better networking among practitioners, and enough vendors and
consultants come that attendees can get that information too, albeit less so
than at AIIM in my opinion. Most attendees are RIM practitioners, with a
small but growing contingent of legal, executives, IT, etc.
In short, I think there are good benefits for RIM practitioners to attending
both conferences if possible. For those for whom that ISN'T possible, I'd
say they or someone from their organization should attend AIIM at least
every couple years to get a feel for the current and pending state of
information management technologies and issues.
There are of course a number of other relevant conferences, including
Legaltech, ILTA, Storage Networking World, MER, KMWorld, and others. If
anyone wants information about AIIM and ARMA or any of these others I'd be
happy to discuss off-list.
If anyone wants to flame me for this post, don't waste the electrons - this
is MY perception of each, having been pretty intimately involved with both
organizations and conferences for the past six years running. Both have
their strengths and weaknesses and I think those who can go to both would be
well-served to do so. I certainly encourage everyone else who has attended
them to chime in - both past experiences and more recent ones.
Regards,
Jesse Wilkins
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