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
22 PCMA CONVENE JUNE 2013
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
PCMA.ORG
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
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108