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I L T A N E T . O R G
T
he right questions really boil down to
two: Did the in-person participants get
what they came for? Was there value
in the educational program for digital
participants?
I spent a lot of my time at ILTACON writing blog
posts with my perspective on what was going on as it was
happening and asking people those two questions. I re-read
the posts this week, after the international travel flights back
to Canada and a couple of weeks of home office routine and
talking with digital participants, to make sure the answers
were still "Yes". And they were. We could just stop there but
we won't as there's still more to share and discuss. You can
find my ILTACON posts in their entirety here:
• Day One - It didn't take long for the energy and
sound level to rise
• Day Two – Things Really Get Going
• Day Three – It's All About Moral Support
• Day Four – AI and Security are Top Issues
There were so many reasons why ILTACON might
not have had an in-person component this year, and so
many reasons why ILTA members and business partners
were not able to attend the in-person conference. But ILTA
persevered (I think the main theme of ILTCON 2021 was
"Resilience") and over 800 people were at ILTACON 2021
in-person. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have
been one of them.
ILTACON is a mindset, reflective of the ILTA
membership. I talked with a lot of people in Las Vegas.
All those who came with the ILTA mindset of being fully
present, sharing stories and experiences with people from
all over the ILTAverse, making connections that often
last through the years, while learning from each other
and from experts, came away with exactly all of that. I've
treated every one of my so far 20 ILTACONs as if it might
be my last. Each has been filled with precious memories
(and a few not-so precious memories… but those fade). This
year was no different. The people who were disappointed
were those with unrealistic expectations or had an ideal
in their heads that was not possible in the circumstances.
I wish more old friends had been there but that was not
possible – COVID and Hurricane Henri saw to that. And
yet, that ILTA feeling of community was there from the
moment of arrival on the conference center floor – ILTA
was all around in the:
• smiling eyes above the masks
• bacon at the opening reception
• t-shirts and bags
• conference co-chairs Mike Viscito, Data Center &
Systems Engineering Manager at Seyfarth Shaw LLP,
and Martha Breil, Legal Service Delivery Manager
at Colley LLP, sitting in beanbag chairs working on
their Introductory Comments for the conference
orientation and for the Monday morning Keynote
• the exhibitor booths being set up (ask me sometime
about the fun we had putting together a lighted sign
with a new, slightly irregular skin)
• signs being put up all over the place
• chat in the mobile app
