Legal Commentary

Monday morning, at the ILTA keynote address, Tom Koulpoulos of the Delphi Group started off the thinking with "Innovating More with Less," which was a bit long but very engaging. Koulpoulos argued that the three major constitutencies (Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y) approach technology through very different eyes. A key point: much innovation has occurred during tough economic news. That's good news, for sure!

Because I do a lot of public speaking, I always listen with two agendas -- one, to learn from the speaker about the subject matter; second to see if there are any kewl thangs I can steal adopt when I speak. I definitely robbed my "please turn to the person next to you and introduce yourself" tactic from a prior person at the podium (I think it was Keith Ferrazzi at Silvia Coulter's RainDance marketing event) but Koulpoulos took it to a new (and insulin-inducing) level when he insisted that we hug our neighbor. Waaaay too kumbaya for me, thank you very much. (Fortunately, I got to hug a very nice and handsome dude, so it wasn't all bad :)

Another thing I notice about speakers is whether or not they take the time to truly tailor their presentation to the audience. That means, at a minimum, going to the organization's website and learning a bit about them. I was so impressed a few years back when ILTA brought Jim Lovell (the Apollo 13 astronaut) and he did exactly that. Since his talk, I always follow one of the "take-aways" from his presentation -- I keep duct tape within close reach at all times. 

My attitude is if I walk away with 1 good idea from a speech it's worth the fidget time of sitting for an hour. Koulpoulos got a solid base hit. But he coulda hit a grand slam -- with just a bit more homework.