Summary
One way of raising awareness and upskilling employees about Legatics and legal tech tools generally at a firm is organising an event or competition (for example, a hackathon or innovation challenge encouraging employees to come up with applications for the tool). Event management can be challenging - we’ve tried to simplify the process by creating a high-level draft project plan, which you can tailor for your own firm. It covers some key things to consider when planning an event.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact your Customer Success or Engagement Manager.
Draft Project Plan
Objective: Raise awareness, upskill lawyers and promote the use of the legal technology tool within your law firm.
1. Planning Phase:
Define competition/event goals and objectives.
Identify target audience and key stakeholders. These will likely be:
Audience: Lawyers/Partners (either firmwide, office-wide or practice-group specific)
Stakeholders:
Marketing/Design teams (for design and promotional material creation such as emails/posters - see below)
Learning teams (to advise on how best to collect CPD points for any upskilling training/learning and events)
Knowledge teams (to act as promoters of the event within practice groups)
Operational teams (for office-based room bookings and catering/distribution of materials/prizes)
Determine competition/event duration and timeline:
If you are running a competition, we suggest asking employees to make submissions over a one or two week window.
Events can be run during the competition window to maintain momentum.
It’s worth choosing your dates so they don’t conflict with existing large projects which may otherwise affect an employee’s participation or your team’s ability to execute, for example large IT projects, training contract/graduate seat changes or summer/winter holidays.
If you are booking rooms in your office for an event, check capacity requirements and existing bookings to make sure the right rooms are available before deciding your event dates.
3. Competition or Event Design:
Determine competition or event format (e.g., hackathon, innovation challenge, guest speaker).
Develop competition rules, guidelines, and evaluation criteria.
Create a registration process for participating teams, for example a Google/Microsoft Form for submissions.
Establish a dedicated communication channel for participants (this may be simply a new or existing group email address).
Consider setting up time codes or matter numbers for the event for lawyers to record their time to when working on the competition or attending an event. Ideally, these will be linked or noted in performance reviews.
Contact speakers to find suitable times for events. “Lunch and learn” sessions can be optimal here to encourage participation in the office.
4. Promotion and Communication:
Collaborate with the marketing and design team to develop a targeted digital marketing campaign, including:
Creating promotional materials (e.g., posters, emails) to raise awareness among employees in the two weeks leading up to the competition event.
Utilise the firm's website, intranet, and other internal communication channels to promote the competition.
Organise prizes/rewards. If you require any promotional branded Legatics prizes, we can provide these - please contact your Customer Success or Engagement Manager.
5. Competition Execution:
Publicise the competition or event
Provide necessary resources and support for teams during the competition.
Assign mentors or experts to assist participants with technical and legal aspects if needed.
Conduct regular check-ins and progress updates with participating teams as required.
Conduct information sessions to educate employees about the technology tool and the competition.
6. Competition Evaluation and Judging:
Establish a panel of judges comprising Partners, lawyers and legal and technology experts.
Evaluate competition submissions based on predetermined criteria.
Conduct presentations or demos by participating teams to showcase their ideas and solutions - this could be in an organised hackathon format.
Determine winners and recognise outstanding contributions.
7. Post-Competition Activities:
Organise an award ceremony or celebration to honour winners and participants can be a good way to celebrate success.
Share success stories and case studies highlighting the impact of the technology tool via email or communication channels after the event.
Consider gathering feedback from participants to identify areas for improvement.
Develop a plan for implementing the most promising ideas and solutions.
Encourage participants to raise their contribution to a competition or event in their performance reviews.
8. Continuous Promotion and Support:
Encourage ongoing usage and adoption of the technology tool within the law firm (perhaps using some of our other ideas to increase adoption, for example, providing training to further enhance skills and recognise and rewarding active use of the tool).
9. Monitoring and Evaluation:
Track key metrics, such as the number of submissions, employees using the technology tool and feedback received.
Assess the overall impact of the competition on raising awareness and promoting the adoption of the technology tool using the Legatics Admin platform to monitor any increase in usage.
10. Iterate and Improve:
Review the project plan and competition outcomes.
Incorporate lessons learned for future awareness campaigns.