IBA, ?Paris 2023 – “une transformation�
Julian Yarr
Chair, non executive director and board advisor. Strategic advisor to professional services firms and their leaders, Mentor and Coach.
?
?
Last weekend was a festival of rugby in Paris when the Rugby World Cup hit the knockout stages – the best teams in the world delighting and disappointing in equal measure.
?
(As an Irish man I was very much in the former :( but proud of all that team has achieved despite the loss).
?
I was reminded, when sitting in the Stade de France, that the words and phrases to describe rugby in French are so much more descriptive than their English counterparts - une mêlée spontanée seems far more dramatic than a maul!
?
I got thinking about strategy when I heard the announcer shout out “transformation†when a conversion was kicked over the posts.
?
And then being in Paris my thoughts then turned to the IBA Annual conference next week.
?
IBA 2023– how will you convert?
?
So my questions to all those attending the week long premier event for the legal services industry are – what is your strategy for your week? More importantly will it lead to a transformation? Will you convert the effort into scores and outcomes?
?
Think about the outcome you want to achieve and how it relates to your strategy (rather than the organisation of the meetings and dinners)
?
By now your diaries should be pretty full – a combination of eating drinking, listening to the sessions and engaging on your firm on firm meetings.
?
Having attended many of these conferences I know it’s easy to run from one thing to the next and by the end of day 2 (never mind the end of the week) you struggle to remember who you have met and certainly what they said. ?It can often be easy to drift from drinks reception to drinks reception with a colleague and spend most of your time taking to them!
?
So think about what you want to achieve as the group representing your firm or as an individual.
?
Brainstorm the best outcomes before you go and then assess what you achieved when you come back
?
A good way of doing this is to take an hour in advance of the conference and brain storm what a good outcome would be for the week (as opposed to the usual meeting which takes place to finalise the agenda.)
?
As a firm? Is it to make new connections in a country or firm that’s relevant to your firms priorities? ?If so, what’s your message? Why is your country interesting to them? What makes your firm special? Do you have clients in common? How will you ensure that there is actually a follow up after the event?
?
As a speaker? ?Ask what you want to gain from this opportunity? To demonstrate your, and your firms, expertise and market knowledge? To make new lawyer connections in other countries? To use it as an opportunity to connect with clients or prospects during or after the conference? If so, how will you do so and what does good look like?
?
领英推è
As a law firm leader? What’s on my mind that I can get advice or suggestions on? Who can I engage with? How will I meet them? Is there an informal group ?I can establish to share best practices and experiences after the conference?
?
As a learner? Do you want to learn about a country, a market, a sector, best management practice, what firms are doing with GenAI; merger experiences; retention and engagement tips? If so, where will you get it? How do you collate the info? Who do you share it with in your firm? What connections can you make during the conference that you can introduce to others in your firm afterwards?
?
As a host of a dinner or drinks reception? Why are you hosting the event? Is it to promote or reinforce your brand? If so what makes you memorable? Is it to stay close to those important relationships for your firm? How will you engage with your guests to achieve this? How will you follow up after the IBA? What will the message be?
?
Sharing information among the group every day
?
You will have already got your firm WhatsApp group established? Do you use this to share intel or just to plan? A daily catch up always works well – with a focus on “what we have learned†and how we are progressing to our goals for the week.
?
?
Use your phone’s voice recognition software to take notes after every meeting, event, session.
?
I always took a minute or two after meetings to dictate a few thoughts on what I had learned, who I had met and any follow up required and then collated these notes when I got back home. It made life much easier than staring at business cards a week or 2 later. Taking a photo of the card was helpful though and a PA at home can prepare a list for your return.
?
The “so what did we learn and achieve†meeting on your return.
?
We all have best intentions on IBA follow up. It often does not happen though. Long haul flights can be useful to pull together a note of actions to take. Blocking a few hours during the week of your return is also good. What’s better is a catch up meeting with your team within 10 days of your return. Assess the week and what was achieved or learned. How will you follow up? Who will take responsibility? How will you share the information within your firm? What will you do differently next year as a result Can you use any insights or presentations as thought leadership for clients?
?
Conversion is key but so is the experience.
?
Outcome thinking is key to strategy execution. But attending the IBA is also about the experience of making lifelong friends, learning about the culture and the country you are visiting, having a better perspective on the world and learning about yourself.
?
?
We are now well into es arrêts du jeu (injury time) and so I finish up here. I look forward to the IBA week and meeting many colleagues to learn and to share and hopefully to make a transformation or two.
?
?
?
Julian Yarr
Principal
Julian Yarr Advisory
?