Digital White Papers

I L T A W H I T E P A P E R | K N O W L E D G E M A N A G E M E N T & M A R K E T I N G T E C H N O L O G Y 59 • Organize a 30-minute evening happy hour with the peers in your industry that you would ordinarily see at an event (think of those you enjoyed catching up with at an ILTA event); provide an overarching question or challenge to give it meaning if you wish • Aim to connect with three people in your industry each week • Organize a Zoom meeting with a small group of trusted peers with a purpose: "I'm struggling with this…", "I've noticed that…", "I'm trying to achieve this…"; or, simply set a topic or subject you wish to learn and share on as the agenda for the meeting • Re-share thoughtfully; acknowledge who put up the content and why you found it relevant; these quick takeaways are beneficial in our ever-busy world • Start a professional book club or 'monthly topic'; people have limited spare time, but reading and sharing on one topic of interest is often far easier (and often more engaging and relevant) • Initiate a 'lessons learned' catch up; this can be with your team, with peers, or with people who want to learn from or engage with • Note the articles you read and the places where you go to in order to seek out industry updates; share these meaningfully and pull out the key pieces; you can even forward these to specific individuals who would benefit • Comment on peoples' job anniversary's, volunteer roles and other similar milestones; these are important to each of us • Look for groups on LinkedIn to enhance your own professional development; there are literally far too many to mention, so a tailored search is a must (or, start your own group) • Form your own special interest group, for example, 'small firm legal technologists' • Last but definitely not least, simply reach out and say hi to someone in your network that you haven't come across in a while; ask them how they are doing with everything; these more personal one-on-one connections can never be underestimated Virtual networking 'misses' Our online presence – whether its professional or personal – will stick with us for some time, if not forever. This means we all need to be mindful and considerate when we're virtual. Being flippant, abrupt or vague creates the wrong impression, and typically one that you can't explain away. H E RE ARE TH E TO P M ISS ES O F VI RTUAL N ET WO RKI N G : • The pleasant by elusive connection request. Sending a connection request with "we are both within the same industry and so I thought we should connect" might have seemed like a good idea for the person initiating the connection. But, what about for the person receiving the connection? Why and how does it benefit them? Professional virtual

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