Ever wonder how much coffee gets consumed at a week-long legal tech conference? The annual ILTACON, organized by the International Legal Technology Association, offers a revealing glimpse. Set to convene this weekend in Nashville, the event’s organizers are preparing to serve a staggering 1,500 gallons of the caffeinated brew.
This year’s ILTACON aims high, with 3,906 registrations as of Friday, inching towards breaking the 2019 attendance record of just under 4,000. According to ILTA CEO Joy Heath Rush and Senior Vice President Dawn Hudgins, the conference has already set records in two other areas:
- Representation from the highest number of countries, at 29, with a notable increase in attendees from Asia and Africa. The previous record was 26.
- The largest number of full-week member registrations, at 1,749, which is 300 more than the previous record.
- An unprecedented 431 networking opportunities, although this metric was only started last year.
Key stats further underscore the event’s scale:
- 211 vendors will populate the exhibit hall, up from 195 in 2019, including 55 first-time sponsors.
- The Startup Hub will feature 26 startups selected from a pool of 56 applications, slightly down from last year’s 28.
- A profound interest in speaking opportunities, with 944 applications submitted and 336 speakers selected for 84 educational grid sessions.
In light of recent reports of harassment incidents at legal tech conferences, ILTA is enhancing its safety and security measures. This includes a more robust anti-harassment policy, increased signage, a 24/7 help hotline for attendees, and a greater presence of both uniformed and plainclothes security personnel.
Adding a humorous note, Joy Heath Rush remarked on one small but notable milestone: “For the second year in a row, there’s no email management session on the grid. So I keep telling the committee, either we’ve all solved email management or we’ve surrendered.”
For more detailed coverage of ILTACON 2024, visit the full article here.