Latest / Technically Sound Strategy / Episode 47 - Inside Connectionology: Key Takeaways from "Depositions Are Trial" With Ginger Jirik

Transcript

Episode 47 - Inside Connectionology: Key Takeaways from "Depositions Are Trial" With Ginger Jirik · Technically Sound Strategy

• 0:00
  Hi everyone and welcome back to Legal Marketing Radio.
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  I'm joined today by Ginger Jirik, the Executive Director of
• 0:06
  Connectionology Seminars of America.
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  If you've ever been to a connectionology event, you know that Ginger is
• 0:12
  the energy behind the experience.
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  She brings together some of the best minds in the legal field
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  and creates an environment that's both educational and inspiring.
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  Today we're talking about what makes connectionology unique.
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  And looking into some of their exciting programming coming next for 2026,
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  including Sun Valley, Idaho, and their upcoming conference in Italy in the fall.
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  It's great to have you here today, ginger.
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  Today we've got Ginger Jirik with us with connectionology which is a conference
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  series that we've been really happy to be a part of through the years.
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  And it's, and I think they do a wonderful job programming.
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  But I really happy to have you here today.
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  Thank you for taking the time.
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  And I wanted to talk to you a little bit about technology . As we were
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  prepping, we were talking a little bit about the upcoming one in January.
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  But Give me some background, where did the series come from?
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  Who runs it?
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  What's the.
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  What's the background?
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  Absolutely.
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  First of all, Chip, it is an honor to be here with you today and to speak about a
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  program that is so special and dear to us.
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  connectionology was started back in 2012 by John Romano.
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  As you guys know, great attorney down in West Palm Beach with the Roman Law Group.
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  He has always been a teacher.
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  He loves to share knowledge, so that's how he came up with the
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  concept of Connectology as a company that could go to a lot of different
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  places around the country and connect personal injury lawyers and also some
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  criminal defense lawyers as well.
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  And just bring in experts and incredible speakers and travel to locations that
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  people might not necessarily go to.
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  I think one of our first seminars we did, as a full company was
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  in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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  And then we went to places like Hershey, Pennsylvania and we
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  just kept going , Savannah, Charleston, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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  And now we've started to find our spot.
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  Nashville, Tennessee was an incredible location where we did our.
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  TBI, traumatic brain injury seminar.
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  And John brought in all of his great, friends and lawyers and
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  experts from around the country.
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  And we did that.
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  And it was such a great, great experience.
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  We had so many wonderful exhibitors and partners and friends that came
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  and was a part of this as well.
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  And you guys were there with us the whole time.
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  And so that went so well that we decided, this year, 2025, let's switch it up.
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  Let's go ahead to a new place.
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  Let's go to Sun Valley, Idaho.
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  And it's not a place again that most people would be like, Hey, let's go.
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  But it is an incredible destination in the mountains and.
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  So we decided to go there this year and it was a great hit.
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  So now we've decided we're going back, we did a poll between all of
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  the attorneys, Nashville, sun Valley.
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  They picked Sun Valley again.
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  So the date for that one is actually gonna be April 20th through the 24th, and we're
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  gonna be going to the Sun Valley Lodge.
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  Cool.
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  And this one's a little smaller too, right?
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  This is a little bit more, this is a tighter group, I know.
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  We work with a lot of attorneys across the spectrum in terms of experience, but
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  especially the younger attorneys who are really getting their start, they're always
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  looking for that opportunity to, kind of kinda join the club, right of mm-hmm.
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  Building that network of people who help them grow their cases and get better
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  settlements get better results of trial.
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  This one's a little bit more intimate, right?
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  We I didn't make it last year.
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  We're planning on it this year, but.
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  Usually there's about I would say, less than a hundred attorneys and we like
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  to keep our programs like in that range because when you go to programs like
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  that, you can really get that opportunity to talk with everybody one-on-one.
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  And one of the greatest things I think about this TBI seminar is when
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  our speakers are coming, these are speakers that are actually trying cases.
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  Hundreds of them, and they love sharing all of their knowledge.
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  So when you come to a program like this, you're gonna be able to spend
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  four to five days with these speakers.
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  And they don't typically just fly in, fly out, they spend a good amount
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  of their time with everyone and you get to know everybody who's there.
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  And there's a lot of great, conferences that are also larger ones that have
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  hundreds or thousands of people.
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  I feel like every single one of them has something unique and special they bring.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  To the.
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  The platform.
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  But for ours, we like to keep them pretty, tight knit.
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  Yeah, I mean we've sponsored a lot of different conferences through the
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  years and each one has their advantage.
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  And I think as a vendor, when we go, one of the first things that by
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  default people look at is the size.
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  And they say, oh, we're gonna have this many people.
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  And I find like the inverse to be more valuable because when
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  we have so many people, we don't really build relationships.
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  We, we may get some visibility and there's some value in that, or there's
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  some brand lift, but we don't really.
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  Build the relationships and get to know the people that are there.
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  And I know that just from the Connectology events that we've been to, I know
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  John I know Steve Gersten really well.
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  There's a bunch of people that we just see when we go and we get to catch up with.
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  And I think that's one of the really big differentiators is that.
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  We look forward to it because we know it's not just about the sponsorship.
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  We don't just sit at a booth.
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  We actually get to hang out and talk with and learn, from the programming.
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  This one is your TBI conference?
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  Okay.
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  And who are you gonna have this year and what do you have?
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  Do you have some structure on the content already?
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  Absolutely.
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  In fact, the agenda will probably be released in the next two weeks
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  or so, but we've already got several great attorneys that are coming.
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  One in particular, I think, Joey Lowe out of California, he'll be coming.
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  What, speaking about TBI, obviously John Romano will be there.
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  We've invited Steve Geron in.
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  Just some of the great, I think, I lma out of Phoenix.
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  And then there's also.
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  Some other great attorneys Liz Swivel, who I think, down in Florida, so many
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  wonderful people that are coming.
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  And then one thing that we're doing a little bit different this year, chip,
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  which I think is great, is when you talked about how you guys come to these seminars,
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  I'm always trying to think about ways that we can incorporate working together.
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  So having you get up there and speak and share to the group
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  about what you do is so important.
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  Also what we're thinking about doing this year is for anybody who's coming
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  is we wanna somehow pair you up with one of the speakers who's gonna be there.
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  So you get a chance to actually demonstrate what
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  you do in front of the group.
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  So if they're talking about a certain case, you could talk about
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  how you were involved with it, what you did, but somehow we wanna
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  figure out how to involve more.
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  That's cool.
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  Yeah.
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  Of your expertise and.
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  It's so important to us to figure out how to make that work because what you
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  guys do is so important and we wanna make sure we get the word out to everybody.
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  No that's Really cool.
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  I think as time has gone by, as AI has taken a bigger and bigger
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  a bigger and bigger place in our world, I've found that we've even
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  repositioned our own brand, right?
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  It's more of a growth engine partner because.
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  It just is becoming more and more common for us to partner with the
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  attorneys that we work with, both on the marketing side, but then also
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  on the business practice, and even on the legal side of what they do.
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  Not to provide advice of course, but just to help build tools and build things
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  that they're able to use in helping them with their cases and things like that.
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  And I think that, as we look at.
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  Conferences like this, it seems like that's an area where we're
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  gonna see a lot of traction.
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  I know that when we go, every vendor has AI plastered all over their
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  booths, but sometimes it's harder to get into and understand what
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  they're actually doing with it.
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  And I tend to take the view that we have the big AI providers the
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  big platforms and those LLMs drive.
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  Most of what everybody's using.
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  So there's little flavors and things like that.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  How are you seeing, how are you seeing that kind of content
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  pop up in the conferences that, that you're planning out?
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  We've actually been seeing quite a bit of it lately and I think, a
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  lot of the different companies that are out there and I think pretty
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  much I would say demonstrating what they do has been a little bit more.
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  I guess valuable.
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  Then if somebody just gets up there and says what they do, if they can get up
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  there and show a demonstration, like when we did the webinar with you and
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  you were able to talk about ai, people are very visual when it comes to that,
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  I would say that's what's been helping me a lot is just having people come
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  and do these webinars and speak on them and then that way when they end
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  up coming to the conferences, they get to meet you personally and then they
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  already have an idea about what you do.
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  But I would say AI has definitely been incorporated in a lot of the
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  different presentations that I've seen.
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  The attorneys are extremely.
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  They're into it and you've gotta be.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  It's one of those things where you're gonna be left behind if
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  you're not doing it already.
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  Yeah.
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  And I know it can get overwhelming when there are so many different companies
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  doing it, but I think just having them up there on, on the stage, having them do
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  these webinars in advance, it really helps the attorneys get an idea about what they
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  actually do and how they can help 'em.
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  Yeah, that makes sense.
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  I had a great conversation with Eric Romano to talk through some
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  of the things that they're doing, and it's exciting to see that.
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  I think as time goes on, we'll see more and more attorneys talking about
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  how they're, how they are using these tools in their practice, mm-hmm.
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  I think we're a little ways off of that, but I think that'll
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  start happening pretty quickly.
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  I know Steve has talked, Steve Gerson's talked about that quite a bit, about
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  just touching on how they're starting to use it, and I think that's a whole
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  world to start exploring as well.
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  What's it like working with all of these attorneys and trying to
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  trying to herd that group together to put these conferences on?
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  That's a lot of juggling to get speakers, to get attendees.
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  Tell me a little bit about what that looks like.
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  What's the behind the scenes?
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  It's honestly so much fun and I feel like I have learned about myself in ways that
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  I never knew, but working under pressure.
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  Who, who would've thought that all this can happen and then happen quickly?
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  But I enjoy every single day I wake up and I'm like, oh my gosh,
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  what are privileges to work with?
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  So many great people around the country.
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  And I think what makes it so easy though, is because people like you,
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  people like John Romano and everyone, they wake up, they're enthusiastic
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  about their job, they love what they do, and they get, they're eager.
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  Like you wanna get up and work, you wanna get going.
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  So when I make that phone call to a speaker and I said, Hey,
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  we would love to feature you.
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  Come out to Sun Valley, Idaho with us.
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  They get excited and they immediately check their schedule.
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  If they're free, it's a yes.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Everybody wants to be a part of this.
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  And I think word has been catching on, like around the country,
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  people are hearing more about connection and I think it's because.
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  We truly care about getting that education out there.
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  Whether you're a young lawyer, whether you're a solo practitioner
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  or somebody running a huge firm we wanna work with everybody.
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  And, when you come to our programs, chip, you've probably seen,
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  some really big time lawyers.
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  They're already making millions of dollars and Yeah.
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  Getting great verdicts, but it's just the comradery with the group.
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  And we love working with good people, but I wake up every
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  day just blessed being able to.
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  Make those phone calls, and it is a little bit stressful, I'm not gonna
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  lie, but it's a fun, stressful, that's one of the, and then when you go to
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  one of these programs and you see all the work that's been put into it, and
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  people are so willing to help, yeah.
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  When I call you up and they say, Hey, can you get the word
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  out and share what we're doing?
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  You guys are like, yes.
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  And it's a great feeling.
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  No, that's cool.
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  It's one of The things that I've taken away just in, in running my own agency.
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  There is a comradery and there's a willingness to
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  help in the legal community.
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  There's some, there's a little bit of protectiveness, right?
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  Of their home turf.
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  They don't wanna go and they don't want to go and share all their secrets with
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  the attorney next door, but they'll go to a conference and do the same thing with,
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  and the attorney next door may be there.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  But it's something that I've tried to incorporate in my agency as well is,
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  how do we get, how do we get together with other agencies, with other business
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  owners and share what's working for us.
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  I think it makes us all sharper.
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  It makes us all better.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  And I love seeing that, I went to a Ben Glass conference many years ago when
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  I was first starting out on my own.
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  And one of his big initiative was trying to get mastermind groups together.
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  And, when I look at connection especially one, like the one coming up in April,
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  you really have that opportunity to start building your own group.
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  And there are ways to do that can be, I think, facilitated very well with, groups
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  like us where we bring attorneys together, but it's not something that's within
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  reach of anybody by going and starting to build those relationships because
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  those groups are built, really built on relationships and then having occasions.
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  Yeah.
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  And so that's one of the things that I've seen come out of these is you start the
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  relationship at a conference like this.
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  That turns into somebody that you chat with.
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  And then if one person's willing to take that initiative to say, you know
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  what, let's get together once a quarter.
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  We can do a video call once a quarter.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Or maybe we get together once a year, and if you can get three to five people
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  in a room to talk about the practice and non-competing, non-competing
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  geographies, man, you just get some amazing insights and that's where.
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  Going to the conference and then weaving that into the rest of your
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  practice really comes to life.
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  Everybody needs their CLEs.
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  I get that.
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  Get that, but then also start to build a relationship and
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  start building those groups.
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  And my favorite thing in the whole entire world is to collaborate.
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  Yeah.
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  I love when we do different seminars or programs and we work with
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  other groups and other people, and especially when we do our webinars,
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  I want every one of our speakers to be out there promoting themself.
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  I want them to be sharing about the books that they wrote, the
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  podcasts that they do the seminars that they are forming themselves.
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  I don't look at it, neither does John, nobody as competition.
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  This is something that we're in it all together.
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  It's amazing what happens when you start sharing things with all sorts of people
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  and I'm all about just get the word out about what you do because you never know
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  who you're gonna help down the road.
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  I love that.
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  I love that.
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  I appreciate you taking the time.
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  Can you just real quick give, just give the details again on the
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  upcoming conference and then let me know if you have anything else
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  coming up the rest of the year.
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  Oh, absolutely.
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  So our fifth annual traumatic brain injury seminar is gonna be in Sun Valley, Idaho.
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  It'll be April 20th through the 24th.
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  So it's gonna be about four to five days where we do all sorts of
• 14:17
  events and activities and education.
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  And the program is only gonna go from eight to one each day.
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  And then we're.
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  We're gonna do things together.
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  We're gonna be going fishing, we're gonna be going golfing, we're gonna
• 14:27
  be doing, different activities.
• 14:29
  'cause I think you build a lot of relationships and it is everybody
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  as a group, it's all of our partners, it's all of our attendees,
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  attorneys everybody, speakers.
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  We're all just gonna spend time together.
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  And I really hope that people will consider coming to this.
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  And you don't have to be.
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  Seasoned, you might not even practice traumatic brain injury, but this is a
• 14:49
  great opportunity 'cause you're gonna go and you're gonna hear everything
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  from intermediate to advanced.
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  And I've always believed, if it's, even if you don't practice, like you
• 14:58
  said, traumatic brain injury, nursing home medical malpractice, at least get
• 15:02
  out there and learn a little bit about it because you never know if you're
• 15:04
  gonna really get interested in it.
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  And then you're gonna wanna bring that on as part of your practice.
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  So we've got that program coming up.
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  And then also we are extremely excited.
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  We are going to Italy, we are doing, going to international.
• 15:19
  We're gonna be.
• 15:20
  You gonna come to that one?
• 15:21
  Sure.
• 15:22
  Probably.
• 15:22
  Sure.
• 15:23
  That's so great.
• 15:23
  No
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  we've signed the contract.
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  We're going to the Palace Hotel, which is right on Lo Lake Como, and
• 15:30
  that one is gonna be in November.
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  It's actually the 16th of the 20th.
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  Oh, sweet.
• 15:35
  And we're in the middle of getting that one all worked out right now
• 15:38
  and getting our speakers lined up.
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  But it is happening, we're going abroad and That's awesome.
• 15:44
  I can't wait to release the details and something that I'm
• 15:46
  very excited that I've been able.
• 15:49
  To announce now First Live with you, chip on this podcast is that connection.
• 15:54
  Aji is actually developing a pain, injury and damages institute that we're gonna
• 16:00
  be doing next year and John's gonna be inviting some of them the greatest
• 16:04
  international as well as national speakers that specialize in this.
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  And we're gonna be picking a great city and we'll be launching that in 2026.
• 16:14
  That's awesome.
• 16:15
  That's incredible.
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  And thank you for sharing it here first.
• 16:17
  That's so exciting.
• 16:18
  I'm honored.
• 16:19
  That's awesome.
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  That's something to look forward to.
• 16:21
  Sweet.
• 16:22
  Absolutely.
• 16:23
  And then we're gonna continue our webinars, so yeah, I hope you'll be on
• 16:26
  there and speaking with us and we're gonna continue doing those each week.
• 16:30
  So there's a lot of great things coming up in 2026 and
• 16:33
  we're excited to keep doing it.
• 16:36
  I love it.
• 16:36
  Thank you.
• 16:36
  Thank you so much, Ginger.
• 16:37
  I appreciate you taking the time.
• 16:39
  I look forward to being a part of what's coming up too.
• 16:42
  Absolutely.
• 16:42
  Thank you, chip.
• 16:44
  That's it for today's episode of Legal Marketing Radio.
• 16:47
  A huge thank you to Ginger for joining us and sharing some teasers
• 16:50
  for Connectionology upcoming year.
• 16:52
  If you haven't already, check out Connectionology.com to stay up to date
• 16:56
  on upcoming sessions and speaker lineups.
• 16:59
  And you could also connect with Ginger on LinkedIn for more info.
• 17:03
  If you'd like to hear more conversations like this one, spotlighting the people
• 17:05
  who move the legal industry forward, be sure to subscribe, leave a review
• 17:10
  and connect with us on LinkedIn.
• 17:13
  Thank you for joining me, Chip LaFleur.
• 17:15
  See you next time on Legal Marketing Radio.