Last evening, while pondering such existential questions as
who would win in a fight between the Retrivika pink elephant and the Megaputer
sphinx, or who would dominate a closed ring wrestling match between Charles Itriago
and Patrick Oot, my mind slowly turned to the panels and participants from the
first day of the third annual ACEDS eDiscovery conference.
Speaking with attendees, it seems the conference delivered
on educational content (panels included predictive coding, malpractice, data
retention and project management) and creative delivery format – the most
interesting format included a parade of 20-30 experts who each provided a best
practice tip in one to two minutes.
ACEDS’ genuine effort put into developing new content and formats is
commendable and something that the participants stated leads to an enjoyable
conference experience.
The predictive coding panel, like most of its kind, focused
very much on the future and what will be next with that technology. Somewhat conversely, the malpractice session
offered advice and tips for preventing and preparing for malpractice and
obtaining malpractice insurance today.
Essentially the message was: get your ducks in a row before the issue
arises or before an event occurs. The
other panels delivered everyday tips for pragmatic application and use.
One interesting observation came from a vendor attendee. This individual noted that there were fewer
sponsors at the conference this year compared to the previous year. Interestingly this individual said this is a
trend they are seeing across the eDiscovery conference industry. What does this indicate? Is the conference scene too saturated? Is the ROI for attending a conference the past
few years no longer attractive? Are the
conferences not bringing value from the vendor perspective? More importantly, what is the impact if this
trend of fewer sponsors continues, and will it have a negative impact on the
knowledge base and discussion in the eDiscovery field? I certainly hope that is not the case and
that this trend does not have a negative impact on the eDiscovery industry.
