plenary American Bar Association PRE CON ABA Raises the Bar

Bona Fide The American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting is home to the largest legal trade show in the world.

and energy has been put into potential changes for 2014.” ABA has adjusted its online Electronic Program, going from 300 pages two years ago to an approxi- mately 30-page program in 2013. “It’s a fabulous system,” Balogh said. “People really like it, but we learned that we still needed to have a printed calendar of events. We do 1,500 events at our Annual Meeting, so people needed the security of having that.” Because ABA hosts its Annual Meet-

MEETING The American Bar Associa- tion (ABA) 2013 Annual Meeting will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Aug. 8–13. ABA’s Annual Meeting draws nearly 10,000 legal pro- fessionals — including leaders of major international bar associations — and boasts the largest legal trade show in the world. This year’s meeting will offer more than 200 continuing legal educa- tion programs.

CHALLENGES “You’re catching us at a really interesting time,” said Martin Balogh, ABA’s director of meetings and travel. “We’re in the midst of a whole reorganization of our Annual Meeting. Our meeting has been declining in num- ber of registrants. We have to address this and do something that makes it an event that you don’t want to miss.” ABA has more than 3,000 entities

focusing on different areas of legal practice. About 20 years ago, its Annual Meeting saw nearly double the attend- ees it does now. “Our meeting is differ- ent than others, because it’s a collection

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of our ABA entities meeting all at the same time,” Balogh said, “so they all have different agendas in terms of what they’re trying to do.” With so many separate specialty

groups to consider, it can be difficult to create a cohesive meeting. An annual meeting task force has been on the job for about two years, devising strategies to bring the group together, create a stronger brand for the conference, and attract a bigger crowd. “We’re explor- ing the possibility of a more unified Annual Meeting,” Balogh said, “to make it more of a showcase of ABA-wide pro- grams. The hope is that we have a more centralized event, with more people having opportunities to network, not just within their own area of practice.” ABA’s board is slated to address the new plan this month; if it’s approved, it will go into effect for next year’s Annual Meeting.

INITIATIVES “This year is not one that’s filled with a lot of change,” Balogh said, “because so much of our time

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ing in San Francisco every three years, it goes out of its way to try to keep the city exciting for attendees when they’re back in town. “We have to constantly be coming up with fresh venues, ideas, and ways to make the meeting as exciting as it’s been in the past, if not more so,” Balogh said. ABA has packed this year’s schedule with must-see sites, includ- ing an opening assembly at Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, a president’s reception at San Francisco City Hall, and programs near the scenic San Fran- cisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, now even more eye-catching with the LED light exhibit “The Bay Lights.” In addition to adding networking

opportunities to help unify the meeting in 2014, ABA plans to tinker with its educational programming. “We’d like to have continuing legal education pro- grams that would be broader in their scope,” Balogh said, “but possibly more elevated in the level of speaker — some- thing you could only get at a national meeting.”

. — Sarah Beauchamp For more information: ambar.org/annual