What would I like to learn from attending the ARMA International Conference in San Francisco?”

This was a question posed by one of my colleagues who will be attending the ARMA conference in November. Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend due to business commitments, but I will share my thoughts on sessions that I would attend based on past experience in attending this annual conference.

While I do attend many of the excellent educational sessions offered at conferences by knowledgeable professionals, I can usually be found talking with vendors and/or attending technology sessions in the Conference Exposition Hall. However, I would probably make sure to attend those sessions that are currently my favorite topics. For example:

• Sunday – 1:00-2:30pm: If I was new to the profession I would attend the session “Six Starting Points for a Records Management Rookie”, presented by Richard Smith, CRM. I have attended his poster session in the past and his session on basic RIM should be worthwhile.
• Monday – 8:-9:30am: I have found in the past that Laurie Carpenter, CRM, has a real grasp on marketing her records management program which would make her session “Motivating Through RIM Marketing” a must for anyone in the profession.
• Monday – 2:45-4:30pm: Training of the RIM professional is one of the areas I find lacking with most organizations that I have worked for as a consultant. One of the reasons given is a limited budget. So I would attend the “Employee RM Training on a Limited Budget”, presented by Richard Smith, CRM.
• Tuesday – 8:-9:30am: Hot Topic - The ARMA International Educational Foundation will have a session “The Impact of Social Networks on RIM” that will discuss the negative effects these tools have on an organization's ability to manage information.
• Tuesday – 1:-2:30pm: The session “Developing an Interactive RIM Training Program”, presented by Karon Teague may also be of interested to those who are trying to implement a RIM training program within their organization.

In addition there are many other sessions being presented by experts in the field of records and information management that would be worthwhile attending.

As I have written in past articles on attending conferences I need good visual stimulation to I need to fully understand the technology. In short, I need to see and hopefully touch what the written words have described to fully understand the process. That is one of the reasons I would attend the training sessions and visit the vendor booths that will be in the Expo Hall. I liken the visit to the Expo Hall as one visiting a candy store. It is the only time in the year that you get a chance to view new products, ask questions and hopefully attend an informational training session that makes you think how you could use the product.

I would also attend the Poster Sessions that will be located in the Expo Hall. I found some of the past poster sessions provided some very interesting approaches to management of a project, case studies, or marketing of a program. The poster sessions are less formal and provides the attendee a chance to talk directly with the presenter. You can review the posters on Sunday, November 7 and come back Monday afternoon, November 8, to ask questions of the presenter.

I urge members of our profession to continually seek out educational opportunities that are offered through our association and other associations that provide the training to keep up with the many changes in our profession.