Updated: Attorney Nicole “Niki” Black, Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, wrote an intriguing essay yesterday at Above The Law, “Today’s Tech: Legaltech New York 2016 ad My Invisibility Cloak.”

It’s of interest to CodeXistas for several reasons, including 1) her discussion of several technologies familiar to our constituents and 2) her experience walking around the massive exhibit hall at LTNY 2016.

Black kicks off her essay by reporting that “legal cloud computing seems to finally be coming of age.” She highlights NetDocuments (CEO: Matt Duncan); AltLeal (CEO: Nehal Madhani); Lexcity (CEO: Shawn Kennedy); Lex Machina (CEO: Josh Becker); and eDiscovery Assistant (Founder: Kelly Twigger).

Black then discusses her frustrating tour of the Legaltech New York 2016 Exhibit Hall, where she tried “to make eye contact with and smile at those manning the booths.” As a control, Black asked two male colleages to walk around about 30 booths, and each was acknowledged four times. (She did the same thing at the International Legal Technology Association lLTACon last August.)

At LTNY 2016, “I walked by 160+ booths at least three times and was acknowledged a mere six times,” she said. “Not exactly a scientific experiment, but I feel fairly comfortable declaring this: Houston, we have a problem. It’s called sexism. And it ain’t pretty.”

I certainly resonate to Black’s conclusions—it’s definitely a problem that savvy technology leaders need to address, now. There has been some improvement over the years, but we need more. I’ve attended technology trade shows for 20+ years, and early ones were flagrantly offensive. Women at booths were openly called “demo dollies” and it wasn’t unusual for the guys to top off an convention evening by visiting strip shows.

But the problem isn’t just sexism. Vendors sometimes focus more on getting attendees to the booth than planning what to communicate once they are there. At Legaltech, every year there’s an unofficial contest for who will have the best tchotchke/swag, which is almost always covered by media and is big fun. The most famous was Denver-based Catalyst’s “Rolling Papers,” with the tag line, “Come See What All the Buzz is About,” in 2014. People still talk about it today. (Photo courtesy of Above The Law.)

[A side issue: Sometimes the incentives cross the line into sexism or stupidity. LTNY 2016 booths included puppies, massage chairs and shoe shines from short-skirted women (and one man after complaints last year). Full disclosure: I love the massage chairs, nothing better than a quick spa-fix when walking through the seemingly-acres of booths. And it guilt-trips me into actually listening to the demos. But here’s the difference: I’ve never seen a massage professional wearing provocative clothing. Both men and women take advantage of the massage option, but I sure didn’t see any women getting their boots polished.

And the puppies controversy raised a different issue, and Sarah Glassmeyer was not alone in her concern about the purebreds who drew a lot of folks to the booth. The general assessment was that if the puppies were shelter dogs available for adoption it would be great, but exploiting purebreds, who too often come from puppy mills, is not good.]

But back to the main agenda: Unfortunately, once the vendors have drawn people to the booth, they often fail to engage the attendee. I’ve seen many attendees walking buy booths without representatives trying to initiate a conversation. While some are excellent, many booth representatives are clueless about how to “work the booth” and seem to have zero training. Especially on the final day, I’ve seen many booth workers spend their time talking to each other, to the point where it’s sometimes difficult to even get their attention.

Obviously, in a jam-packed show like LegalTech New York or ILTACon you don’t  expect to get a detailed demo or conversation in a booth. But effective representatives will greet you, find out your interests and issues, exchange business cards, and begin a conversation that can be continued after the show.

So Niki, yes, I agree with you about the sexism, it’s definitely there. (At least it’s not as bad as Home Depot!)  But the problem may also be about the lack of overall people skills and training. And Legaltech New York can be overwhelming for even the most social of human beings.

HOW TO IMPROVE
Here are some suggestions to improve communication and booth success, via Legaltech News’ recent “Ask the Marketers” article:

• Make sure everyone knows the pitch and is comfortable demonstrating your software. Take notes when talking to people, be sincere and do something to make their visit to your booth memorable. —Amy Juers, Edge Legal Marketing.

• The secret to standing out amid the noise at Legaltech is not really about noise, it’s about focus. Communicate with the people who matter most to your business and use the show as a magnet to draw them in closer. —Christy Burke,  President, Burke & Company.

• Get your most important news out in January. LTNY attendees often backfill their dance cards with the most “compelling” vendors by checking out the news before the show. —Valerie Chan, Founder, Plat4orm PR.

Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX and a freelance journalist and consultant. She is a member of the California bar.