Ever wonder how much coffee gets consumed at a week-long legal tech conference?

Well, with ILTACON, the annual conference of the International Legal Technology Association, set to convene this weekend in Nashville, organizers plan to serve some 1,500 gallons of the caffeinated brew.

Organizers hope this year’s ILTACON will set an attendance record, with 3,906 registrations as of Friday, which is closing in on the 2019 record of just under 4,000.

While it is still waiting on that record, it has set two other records, ILTA CEO Joy Heath Rush and Senior Vice President Dawn Hudgins said during a press conference this morning:

  • The most countries represented, at 29, with a greater number of people from Asia and Africa. The previous record was 26.
  • The most full-week member registrations, at 1,749, which is 300 more than the previous record. (ILTA CEO Joy Heath Rush says this full-week number is the one she considers most telling.)
  • The most networking opportunities, at 431 (although ILTA only started tracking this last year).

Some other stats about the conference:

  • The exhibit hall will have 211 vendors, up from 195 in 2019, including 55 first-time sponsors.
  • The Startup Hub will have 26 startups selected from 56 applications, down from last year’s 28. Hudgins said the drop is due to a change in the selection process.
  • 944 people applied to be speakers.
  • 336 speakers were selected for 84 educational grid sessions.

In the wake of reports of ugly harassment incidents at legal tech conferences over the past year, ILTA plans to step up its safety and security measures. This will include an enhanced anti-harassment policy for attendees and more signage around the conference.

ILTA says there will be a 24/7 hotline that anyone can call if they are experiencing or witnessing an issue, or even if they just get lost in the byzantine Gaylord Opryland. There will also be a greater number of uniformed and plainclothes security personnel on site.

Rush said there is one other milestone she is proud of this year: “For the second year in a row, there’s no email management session on the grid. So I keep telling the committee, either we’ve all solved email management or we’ve surrendered.”

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.