Document Excellence Day – 12 October 2022 (virtual)
Once again, our Document Excellence Day was held as a virtual event, allowing attendees to join from all over the world. Sessions were hosted in the U.K. and U.S. - it was fabulous to hear from our wonderful speakers, as well as the enthusiastic contributions to discussion from all the attendees.
A big thanks to everyone that helped make this day possible, especially our sponsors this year, who were:
Supporting Materials
Document Excellence Day – 27 October 2021 (virtual)
In October 2021 we hosted another virtual Document Excellence Day - pandemic restrictions enabled us to make it an international event, with sessions hosted in the U.K. and U.S. While it would have been great to see everyone in person, there's a lining to every cloud as the virtual format enabled us to reach a larger audience spanning multiple time zones.
As ever, we hugely appreciate the support from our event sponsors, who this year were:
Supporting Materials
Save the Date - Document Excellence Day 27th October 2021
The next Document Excellence Day will take place on 27 October 2021 (please note new date). Like last year, this will be a virtual event, enabling us to connect with our friends and colleagues around the world.
Watch this space for more information. Full Agenda and Joining Instructions will be available soon.
Document Excellence Day – 7 October 2020 (virtual)
2020 saw us host our first virtual Document Excellence Day, due to restrictions related to the pandemic. However, this enabled us to make it an international event, with sessions hosted in the U.K. and U.S. While it would have been great to see everyone in person, the new format enabled us to reach a larger audience spanning multiple time zones.
Starting at 10:00 in the U.K. and passing the baton to U.S. from 14:00 BST / 9:00 EDT, we hosted a number of exciting sessions, culminating at 20:00 BST / 15:00 EDT with an opportunity to network and socialise.
The agenda included interesting topics, speakers and panel discussions with joint U.K. and U.S. sessions to connect our global network, including the big reveal of our Document Compatibility Matrix and Survey.
With grateful thanks to our event sponsors.
Supporting Materials
Agenda - Document Excellence Day 2020
The Agenda for the Document Excellence Day on 7th October can be downloaded here - however please bear in mind that it is subject to changes and alterations.
Document Excellence Day Agenda 2020
Submit your photos
As always, our photographers will be on the scene capturing the day but we know our members enjoy taking snaps of their own.
If you'd like to share them with the group and be featured in our event gallery, you can upload pictures here.
Speakers - Document Excellence Day 2019
Meet this year's Document Excellence Day speakers.
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Joanne Humber – Humber AssociatesMembership Secretary
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Annette BrownIT Manager, Milbank LLP
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Carol SkinnerHead of IT, Lewis Silkin
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Ben MitchellVP Global Commercial Operations, DocsCorp
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Chris NoakesBusiness Analysis & Technology Training Manager, Linklaters
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Chuck HenrichDirector, Octantus
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Clare WallerIndependent Consultant
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Danielle John-CharlesLead Consultant, Tikit Limited
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Darshna DaveProduct Owner, Clifford Chance
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Gina QuernsDocument Centre Manager, Fladgate LLP
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Jamie GashGlobal IT Training Manager, Withersworldwide
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Jayne SmithManaging Director, Bluebird Support Services Limited
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Julie McCarthyLead Consultant, Tikit Limited
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Kerry ChurchDocument Production Team Leader, Forsters LLP
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Leona MillsPA Manager, Travers Smith LLP
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Levente NagyProduct Marketing Manager, Microsoft
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Linda DuncanDDC Manager, Integron at CMS
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Matt JamesDirector, Pre-Sales Engineering & Evangelism, Litera Microsystems
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Mercedes BrownUK Community Manager, ILTA
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Morten Hald MortensenCTO, SkabelonDesign / Templafy
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Nicola JonesDirector, Athena Professional
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Rachel BaidenGlobal Technology Training Manager, Squire Patton Boggs
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Sheila Quansah-SolomonDocument Technology Specialist, Allen & Overy
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Sherry KappelDocument Lifecycle Evangelist, Litera Microsystems
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Tara LaymanHead of PA & Admin Services, Pinsent Masons
About Joanne
For more than 25 years Joanne Humber delivered IT training programmes to law firms and corporate legal departments across the world – initially through her own company and for 8 years as Director of Training for Phoenix Business Solutions. Since leaving Phoenix she has worked as an independent technology skills consultant. She also actively promotes the Legal Technology Core Competency Certification Coalition (LTC4). LTC4 was founded 11 years ago by training and IT professionals in the US and UK to address the skills gaps which exist within the global legal industry. Joanne’s experience of working with law firms of all sizes clearly demonstrated the need to improve technology skills in a way which is relevant to the way they work. LTC4 Core Competency Learning Plans are workflow based and are now recognised as providing an industry standard for both lawyers and support staff.
Committee Roles
Membership Secretary
Committee member 2014 – 2020, returned in October 2021
About Annette
As the IT Manager for Milbank in Europe Annette is responsible and accountable for the smooth running of the Firm’s information technology systems in the London, Frankfurt and Munich offices. Annette manages the IT team who deliver day to day IT/helpdesk support, IT Training, System Management and IT Infrastructure & Projects. Recent IT projects Annette has worked on have included the move of core infrastructure to a co-location, upgrade to Windows 10, Office 2016, migration of office phones in Europe from Avaya to Cisco and is currently working on deploying password management and a printing solution.
Slipping Through the Net
Managing Metadata in a law firm is paramount and not doing it can lead to damaged reputations or worse. Annette and the panel will look at the risks and issues and discuss guidelines to follow when dealing with metadata.
About Carol
Carol Skinner has worked at Lewis Silkin LLP for over 20 years starting as a Helpdesk Analyst and them moving into management as IT Manager then Head of IT which involves new systems, day to day running of the team, liaising with the business on requirements, strategy, projects, IT service and support delivery as well as negotiating contracts with suppliers, developing supplier relationships and planning the IT budget and delivery.
Slipping Through the Net
Managing Metadata in a law firm is paramount and not doing it can lead to damaged reputations or worse. Annette and the panel will look at the risks and issues and discuss guidelines to follow when dealing with metadata.
About Ben
Ben has 20 years of experience driving business performance within independent software vendors. He is a member of the executive management team at DocsCorp, where he leads the global sales & marketing organisation and is responsible for achieving the company’s growth objectives. Also involved in setting product strategy, Ben works with firms to understand their business problems and translates that into functional specifications for software solutions. Specialising in legal technology, he has acquired extensive knowledge of document productivity, enterprise content management, and cryptographic solutions.
Slipping Through the Net
Managing Metadata in a law firm is paramount and not doing it can lead to damaged reputations or worse. Annette and the panel will look at the risks and issues and discuss guidelines to follow when dealing with metadata.
About Chris
As the Business Analysis & Technology Training Manager for Linklaters, Chris is accountable for ensuring the right solutions are delivered to the firm and that all users globally receive quality training, enabling them to use the tools effectively and efficiently. Implementing new and innovative techniques to deliver solutions to the firm, Chris has modernised the way both teams work, enhancing the full delivery life cycle, enabling a collaborative and robust way of supporting the firm’s global strategy, benefiting both the firm and its clients.
Slipping Through the Net
Managing Metadata in a law firm is paramount and not doing it can lead to damaged reputations or worse. Annette and the panel will look at the risks and issues and discuss guidelines to follow when dealing with metadata.
About Chuck
Chuck has worked in legal IT for over 35 years with all sorts of professional practices, from sole practitioner to global enterprise, as a developer, trainer, business process analyst, and consultant. He understands the practical needs of professional users, support staff, and IT, and frequently serves as a translator between business and technical teams. As a consultant he helps firms discover and implement innovations that improve working life and client service, particularly around the document lifecycle – first draft to final delivery.
Technology Changes – How to Overcome Resistance
Without understanding how to implement real change firms’ investment in technology can be wasted. A lack of user adoption and understanding of the business value of change often causes projects to fail and law firms to fall behind business in their use of the latest technology. The panel will discuss their thoughts on how to make change happen in a law firm and why it is important to overcome resistance if firms are to be seen to be innovative.
About Clare
With too many years working with law firms’ documents than she would like to admit to, Clare has run her own training company, been a consultant at major legal software supplier and provided consultancy services to law firms. Clare is passionate about encouraging people to get the best from Microsoft Office and all legal software. She is specialist in legal document production and has been a member of the Document Excellence Group Committee since 2014.
Event Chair
Welcome and Introduction
About Danielle
Danielle has over 10 years’ experience working in the legal sector. In her previous role she was Secretarial Support and DPU Team Leader where she managed a team of Document Production Specialists and would provide training on the firm’s legal templates and presentations. Danielle’s experience includes TMS, Word, NetDocuments, Carpe Diem and E-Learning.
Do You Remember? Part One and Part Two
Looking at some forgotten and underused features, Julie and Danielle will take us through some hints, tips and quick wins in PowerPoint, Excel and Word.
About Darshna
Darshna has been in the legal industry for the past 22½ years supporting document production applications in some shape of form and is now a Product Owner for the Document Production Portfolio. She has extensive knowledge of how applications are configured, the day to day frustrations of users and the drive that is required to make the applications more efficient. She really enjoys having roadmap discussions with vendors, introducing new technology and using different change management elements to drive change and adopt new technologies and processes.
Technology Changes – How to Overcome Resistance
Without understanding how to implement real change firms’ investment in technology can be wasted. A lack of user adoption and understanding of the business value of change often causes projects to fail and law firms to fall behind business in their use of the latest technology. The panel will discuss their thoughts on how to make change happen in a law firm and why it is important to overcome resistance if firms are to be seen to be innovative.
About Gina
Gina has been at Fladgate for 15 years and previously worked at Freshfields in what was then called “WP” for 18 years. She has worked as an IT Trainer and is TAP qualified. She has a strong interest in best practice for house styles and templates and gives talks to Fladgate’s fee earners on those topics. She thinks our biggest challenge is sustaining clean and stable documents, to ensure our fee earners are trained and supported to a level where they can amend their own documentation but also know their limitations and when to call for help!
What’s the future of the DPU?
We hear about AI, document automation and collaboration platforms and lawyers working in their own documents. In a legal sector of more than 11,000 firms in England & Wales alone, the document production team really is a niche specialist role. Should we be worried about how our skills are valued or should we embrace whatever opportunities that technology can offer us?”
About Jamie
From Microsoft Office Specialist Master Instructor to the world’s largest law firm, US law firm and now Withersworldwide. Jamie is a change manager focusing on guiding others to the next milestone, one coffee at a time.
Technology Changes – How to Overcome Resistance
Without understanding how to implement real change firms’ investment in technology can be wasted. A lack of user adoption and understanding of the business value of change often causes projects to fail and law firms to fall behind business in their use of the latest technology. The panel will discuss their thoughts on how to make change happen in a law firm and why it is important to overcome resistance if firms are to be seen to be innovative.
About Jayne
Jayne has always worked in the legal profession and started her career as a legal secretary, progressing to document specialist and IT trainer in the large international law firm DLA Piper. Since 2006, she has developed businesses specialising in legal secretarial support. She is a committee member of the Document Excellence Group. Jayne has expert knowledge of the legal sector, trends in human resources and current technologies and ensures that Bluebird remains innovative in the services the company provides to its clients.
What’s the future of the DPU?
We hear about AI, document automation and collaboration platforms and lawyers working in their own documents. In a legal sector of more than 11,000 firms in England & Wales alone, the document production team really is a niche specialist role. Should we be worried about how our skills are valued or should we embrace whatever opportunities that technology can offer us?”
About Julie
Julie has over 20 years’ consultancy and training experience working in a variety of sectors ranging from legal, wealth management and media. Julie works with Tikit’s Template Management System and partner software through each stage of a project including gathering client requirements, implementation, training and floor walking. Julie is passionate about creating an interactive and enjoyable environment that supports learning and has excellent Word skills especially around styles.
Do You Remember? Part One and Part Two
Looking at some forgotten and underused features, Julie and Danielle will take us through some hints, tips and quick wins in PowerPoint, Excel and Word.
About Kerry
Kerry has worked in the legal industry for 30 years and still enjoys it as much as she did when she started. She’s always been interested in in-depth document work both design or content based. She says she remembers being asked “We are looking for volunteers for a new Document Specialist Team we are setting up … would you be interested”. She jumped at the chance and has never looked back. Three years down the line she was offered the role as team leader. She believes there is a lack of understanding of the complexities that exist within a DPU and that fee earners underestimate how long jobs can take.
What’s the future of the DPU?
We hear about AI, document automation and collaboration platforms and lawyers working in their own documents. In a legal sector of more than 11,000 firms in England & Wales alone, the document production team really is a niche specialist role. Should we be worried about how our skills are valued or should we embrace whatever opportunities that technology can offer us?”
About Leona
As the PA Manager Leona has overall management responsibilities for the PA, DP and Admin teams. Her experience in the legal industry spans over 30 years. Her role involves, amongst other things, implementing and championing ‘best in class’ initiatives and processes, resourcing, talent management and developing innovative mechanisms to ensure efficiency and excellence in service delivery.
What’s the future of the DPU?
We hear about AI, document automation and collaboration platforms and lawyers working in their own documents. In a legal sector of more than 11,000 firms in England & Wales alone, the document production team really is a niche specialist role. Should we be worried about how our skills are valued or should we embrace whatever opportunities that technology can offer us?”
About Levente
Levente is a product marketing manager with Microsoft UK’s Modern Workplace business group. He has been working on Microsoft productivity solutions for the past 10 years ranging from consumer marketing to collaboration technologies. A productivity enthusiast who wants to squeeze more out of time and tools like Office and is passionate about sharing these techniques.
The New Way of Working
Information workers spend up to 80% of their working time collaborating with others. Documents are born in this context and this collaboration-first environment requires us to behave differently than in the past. This leads to new tools, new ways of working, and also requires a proactive approach to achieving a change in behaviour. In this session we will explore the new collaborative tools of Microsoft Teams while also looking at a few Word novelties. We will discuss approaches, tools and programs that can help organisations adopt the technology.
About Linda
With a background in document production and graphic design, Linda has extensive experience in managing DP teams onshore and offshore. Linda joined Integreon at CMS McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP in early 2017. Since joining, she has facilitated a comprehensive business expansion programme alongside BAU work. She is particularly interested in change management and the workplace of the future.
What’s the future of the DPU?
We hear about AI, document automation and collaboration platforms and lawyers working in their own documents. In a legal sector of more than 11,000 firms in England & Wales alone, the document production team really is a niche specialist role. Should we be worried about how our skills are valued or should we embrace whatever opportunities that technology can offer us?”
About Matt
Matt oversees the subject matter experts and evangelists teams at Litera, and has 11 years of experience in the legal technology space. In recent years Matt has heavily focused on driving lawyers adoption of technology by ensuring Litera’s solutions complement as opposed to dictate workflows. Matt is no stranger to presentations or panel discussion as he’s been onstage at ILTA, Microsoft Ignite, iManage ConnectLive, various roadshows, and even previously at UKDEG.
Slipping Through the Net
Managing Metadata in a law firm is paramount and not doing it can lead to damaged reputations or worse. Annette and the panel will look at the risks and issues and discuss guidelines to follow when dealing with metadata.
About Mercedes
Mercedes is ILTA’s first full-time staff member outside of North America. She previously worked for Thomson Reuters as a Database Trainer. Before that, she worked as a Knowledge & Learning Assistant for Charles Russell Speechlys LLP and other organisations. Mercedes is a Law graduate, she is passionate about learning, creating outstanding educational events, and advocating the use of technology in law practice. She is also a volunteer and advocate for Workplace Mediation as a founder and manager of HIVE – Society for Workplace and Employment Mediation and a member of the Civil Mediation Council’s Workplace and Employment group.
International Legal Technology Association
Mercedes will be introducing us to the ILTA Programmes in UK / Europe and to ILTACON Europe, the biggest conference this year.
About Morten
Morten is CTO in SkabelonDesign and co-founder of Templafy. He has been in the template management industry for more than a decade and has acted in a variety of roles. He is currently CTO, but he has also been involved in project management, business development, change management and as an MS Office consultant. Morten’s drive is all about making users efficient and on-brand in MS Office – across all industries. He is based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Transitioning is Tough!
Template changes can be caused by many things, e.g. rebranding, new stylesets, colours, Office version, integrations and productivity tools. With over a decade of experience managing template transitions, Morten is going to share some insights on best practices on how to transition based on real case scenarios – the do’s and don’ts.
About Nicola
Nicola is a former barrister with 20 years’ experience designing and delivering continuous learning for senior lawyers, scientists and technical specialists in the UK and abroad. She owns and runs Athena Professional, a multiple award-winning learning & development consultancy. A graduate of Balliol College, Oxford and the University of Sussex, she is a Fellow of the Learning & Performance Institute and a member of the ABP. She is also an executive coach, facilitator and speaker.
Technology Changes – How to Overcome Resistance
Without understanding how to implement real change firms’ investment in technology can be wasted. A lack of user adoption and understanding of the business value of change often causes projects to fail and law firms to fall behind business in their use of the latest technology. The panel will discuss their thoughts on how to make change happen in a law firm and why it is important to overcome resistance if firms are to be seen to be innovative.
About Rachel
Rachel has 20 years’ experience in the technology training industry. Her principal accountabilities are the strategy and leadership of the Technology Training team ensuring lawyers and staff have the technology skills they require to do their jobs. Rachel believes that training must focus on real-world tasks and be workflow based, in order to facilitate the transfer of learning from the classroom into the real world. Rachel is one of the founding members of Legal Technology Core Competencies Certification Coalition (LTC4) and serves on the board of directors.
Technology Changes – How to Overcome Resistance
Without understanding how to implement real change firms’ investment in technology can be wasted. A lack of user adoption and understanding of the business value of change often causes projects to fail and law firms to fall behind business in their use of the latest technology. The panel will discuss their thoughts on how to make change happen in a law firm and why it is important to overcome resistance if firms are to be seen to be innovative.
About Sheila
With over 37 year’s experience working in law firms, Sheila started her career as a Personal Assistant. In 29 years working for Allen & Overy LLP she has held various positions, starting as a Word-processing Operator she progressed to a Systems Analyst, IT Trainer, IT Helpdesk Support Analyst, Documents Service Line Leader, Document Expert Analyst, Document Application Support Team Leader and in the last six years, Document Technology Specialist. She is a founding member of the Document Excellence Group (DEG) and has chaired and presented at various DEG events.
Slipping Through the Net
Managing Metadata in a law firm is paramount and not doing it can lead to damaged reputations or worse. Annette and the panel will look at the risks and issues and discuss guidelines to follow when dealing with metadata.
About Sherry
Sherry has more than 30 years’ experience in the design, implementation and change management surrounding content-authoring technologies. She has written and spoken widely to address the needs, goals and strategies of document-intensive businesses, and is an expert in Microsoft Office applications. She was recognized by ILTA as Innovative Consultant of the Year in 2014, and as Vendor Thought Leader in 2017. Sherry is a member of the Document Lifecycle Evangelist team at Litera Microsystems.
“The Seven Laws of Word’s Outline Numbering”: 20 Years Later
Twenty years ago, legal’s mass exodus into Microsoft Office found us baffled by what was then a brand-new feature in Word: Multilevel Lists. To address challenges faced community-wide, our founding organisation published what became the venerable “Seven Laws of Word’s Outline Numbering”. In this informative session, we’ll honour the document and its contributors, poke fun at its Defined Terms and summarise its impact then – and even now.
About Tara
Tara has over a decade of successful experience in managing organisational and cultural change as well as assuming accountability for both the relationship with the firm’s outsource provider and its own remote Document Production team. Most recently Tara led the UK business through a PA restructure which saw significant changes in efficiency, best practice, technology and process.
What’s the future of the DPU?
We hear about AI, document automation and collaboration platforms and lawyers working in their own documents. In a legal sector of more than 11,000 firms in England & Wales alone, the document production team really is a niche specialist role. Should we be worried about how our skills are valued or should we embrace whatever opportunities that technology can offer us?”
Document Excellence Day registration open
We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the next Document Excellence Day. Thank you once again to Tikit Limited for sponsoring this annual event.
This will be held on Wednesday 2 October 2019 at BT Centre, London and will be followed by an informal drinks and canapes reception.
Agenda to follow, but topics include:
- Making Change Happen
- What’s in a DPU?
- Things We’ve Forgotten or Didn’t Know About Office
The event is open to UKDEG members only. To join the group, please visit www.docexcellence.com/register. This event is normally oversubscribed so places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Please note we reserve the right to limit the number of attendees from any one organisation should the event become heavily oversubscribed.
Document Excellence Day – 10 October 2018 (BT Centre)
Well the Document Excellence Day is over for another year. Feedback is still pouring in and we've already started thinking about next year!
Thanks
We wish to thank our Document Excellence Day sponsor (Tikit) along with our hosts (BT Centre), our evening drinks reception sponsors (Enable, NetDocuments, Tikit), the event chair (Marianne Armitage) and all of our speakers and guests for helping to make the day such a success.
Don't take our Word for it...
Event Write Ups
Once again one of our attendees has written up their thoughts of the day:
Sue McNulty (regular attendee)
Slides and Supporting Materials
Simon Elven and Leonard Johnson
Microsoft Q&A coming soon
Photos
Twitter #DED18
Document Excellence Day – October 2018
Event write up by Sue McNulty, regular attendee
From jazzy socks to Word Perfect memories to Scottish humourism – the Document Excellence Day did not fail to deliver, as always.
The first session by Simon Ellis-Hughes (nice socks, Simon!) showed us some new features of 365. He also clarified why Outlook rebranded it’s colour to blue, which apparently was done to bring Outlook under the umbrella of “Communications Blue” which Skype also falls under – who knew?!
The breaks in between sessions gave us enough time to mingle with other peers and I enjoyed bumping into former colleagues (one from 20 years ago – we must have been around 6 years old when we first worked together!).
I picked up some really good tips during the seminars and one presentation which stood out was by Fiona Donkin on BLearning for the Scottish firm, Brodies – it was great to see how she got the Brodies elearning project up and running (although she did mention alcohol quite a few times – maybe Captivate/Articulate should come with some form of alcohol subscription too?!).
Adrienne Mansfield presented her case study on Paper Reduction and gave some really good tips on reducing the paper in the office, one of my favourites being the Open Archive policy to get files off site which are unable to be fully archived because they still have balances on them. And the thought of having 5 linear miles’ worth of paper in the office… well…!
The Evolution of the Matter File presentation was interesting and thanks go to Simon Elven for bringing back wonderful Word Perfect memories to the audience. A collective Ahhhhhh went around the room when he showed his Word Perfect screenshot.
Although Clare Waller wasn’t ‘hosting’ the event this year (Marianne did a fantastic job stepping in), Clare did make an appearance with Rod Lambert to discuss themes and it was surprising how much you can do with them. I’m guilty of being one of those people who just think of them in terms of PowerPoint branding, but there is so much more to them.
Although I had to leave early to travel back to Manchester, I believe the rest of the sessions were equally interesting and as always, Ryan didn’t disappoint with a meerkat appearance!
To sum up, the day itself was “Pure, dead, brilliant” (Scottish for excellent, apparently).
Sue McNulty
IT Trainer
Brabners
Speakers - Document Excellence Day 2018
Agenda Document Excellence Day 2018
Meet this year's Document Excellence Day speakers.
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Marianne ArmitageIT Training Manager, Watson Farley & Williams
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Fiona DonkinSenior IT Trainer, Brodies LLP
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Simon Ellis-HughesMicrosoft 365 Product Marketing Manager
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Simon ElvenCommercial and Marketing Director, Tikit Limited
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Leonard JohnsonSenior VP Products & Partnerships, NetDocuments
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Rod LambertManaging Director, Mediasterling
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Adrienne MansfieldProgramme Management Consultant, Jepmond Associates
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Rob SimcockDirector, Kutana Limited
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Ryan SoosayrajDirector of Product Management, Workshare
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Clare WallerIndependent Consultant
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Peter WallqvistVP of Strategy, iManage
About Marianne
Marianne is a self-proclaimed Word Nerd with over seventeen years’ experience in legal technology learning. Marianne has been a member of the UKDEG Organising Committee for 3.5 years, is geekily passionate about our Standard Styles and has recently taken over as Standard Styles lead.
Event Chair and An Interview with Microsoft
Earlier this year UKDEG members were asked to submit questions for Microsoft and we are really pleased to say that we will get the opportunity to put some of these to a Microsoft Representative on the day. Obviously, with time being limited, we may not have time on the day to cover all the questions that were submitted. However, Microsoft has assured us that it will supply us with the answers so we can publish these on the website afterwards.
About Fiona
Fiona has worked with Brodies LLP for 11 years. Fiona is TAP certified and has worked in the legal environment for many, many years! In fact, when Fiona first started in the legal industry, manual typewriters were the norm! Times change and Fiona is now particularly interested in developing and delivering customised eLearning solutions.
BLearning
The day came when we had to embark on the eLearning road. We were keen, as a business, to reduce the length of the IT Induction and there was a requirement to plan for ISO 27001:2013. This therefore demanded that we ‘get on board’ with eLearning. Anyone who has faced the challenge of pulling together eLearning for a business will know that this is a mammoth task. The hardest part was starting. Fiona will take us through her eLearning journey at Brodies.
About Simon
Simon leads revenue growth and customer success for the Microsoft 365 Small Medium & Corporate business in the UK and previously worked in Microsoft’s UK COO Office orchestrating business planning and marketing budget management. Simon takes a particular interest in personal productivity, workplace collaboration and the opportunities that exist for the future of work.
An Interview with Microsoft
Earlier this year UKDEG members were asked to submit questions for Microsoft and we are really pleased to say that we will get the opportunity to put some of these to a Microsoft Representative on the day. Obviously, with time being limited, we may not have time on the day to cover all the questions that were submitted. However, Microsoft has assured us that it will supply us with the answers so we can publish these on the website afterwards.
About Simon
Simon was a founding member of Tikit and has been influential in the development of the company over the last 19 years. Tikit is recognised as one of the leading providers of IT products and services to the legal and accounting sectors. Much of Simon’s early work was with document management systems and then with CRM systems and their application for business development.
The Evolution of the Matter File – from One to Many to One
Life in the past used to be easy. We had our one matter file, it was paper and it was all in one place. Then we started to get clever. As technology developed so did the number of places where items related to the matter file existed. We are now in a position where technology has grown up sufficiently for us to return to the holy grail of a single place to hold ‘a matter’. Considering the benefits of a single matter file, how can technology help achieve the trust that everything related to a matter is, indeed, in one place.
About Leonard
Leonard has been with NetDocuments since its establishment in 1997 — involved in sales, marketing and product development. Prior to NetDocuments, he launched the first document management product, SoftSolutions, to the UK and International market. He lives in the Wild West of Utah and enjoys competing in triathlons, hiking and riding a bike wherever he can! He is the proud granddad of six grand-children.
The Evolution of the Matter File – from One to Many to One
Life in the past used to be easy. We had our one matter file, it was paper and it was all in one place. Then we started to get clever. As technology developed so did the number of places where items related to the matter file existed. We are now in a position where technology has grown up sufficiently for us to return to the holy grail of a single place to hold ‘a matter’. Considering the benefits of a single matter file, how can technology help achieve the trust that everything related to a matter is, indeed, in one place.
About Rod
As one of the founding directors, Rod is the driver behind Mediasterling’s new product development for legal and professional services, including design-driven technology solutions for Mediasterling’s business development software. Rod graduated from Southampton with a 1st class degree in Mechanical Engineering and worked for BP designing and managing R&D innovation projects for 8 years.
I Think We’re Seeing a Theme Here!
Introduced in Office 2007, themes are one of the most significant changes in applying design and formatting in the history of Microsoft Office. But they don’t appear to have been adopted by many firms investing in their brand — so why not? Clare Waller, an independent consultant and Rod Lambert, Director at Mediasterling will take a dive into themes, including how they work, how to build them and where they are best used.
About Adrienne
With experience spanning both public and private sectors, Adrienne is a highly qualified business change and transformation consultant. Adrienne has spent over a decade in the legal sector gaining extensive knowledge and experience in the delivery of cultural change and business change programmes. Qualified to portfolio management level she has in-depth knowledge of governance and delivery methods for all areas of programme and portfolio management.
Paper Reduction – Where Do I Start?
Working online is now the norm, and with the increase and ease of use of available electronic media, apps, AI and disruptive technologies flooding the market, many organisations are now looking at paper reduction initiatives to try to tame their reliance on paper. This is a real culture shift for any organisation, and as we all know law firms are seriously dependent on paper matter files and the need for original legal documents. Sharing her experiences of a successful paper reduction exercise in the legal environment, Adrienne will prepare you for tackling some of the issues you will face and to avoid some of the pitfalls you will come across.
About Rob
Rob began his career as a chef in the army before moving into sales roles in the copier industry. Rob has spent 30 years in the managed print industry, working predominantly with the legal sector. Through this time he has seen the industry strive to find more sustainable and economical ways of working. He was a Director at DMC for 20 years before joining Kutana in 2009. Kutana specialises in user productivity software, working with law firms to manage and reduce
Does Paper-Lite Just Mean Less Paper?
“Paper-Lite” means so many different things to different people. How has it become such a touchstone for everyone? Is the aim just to have less paper in the firm? Each firm is driven by a different ethos and different driving forces so, when your firm’s management decides to start its Paper-Lite initiative, what does it actually mean and what does success look like? One way or another, print management is used in the majority of firms as part of their Paper-Lite strategy. But where can the software and hardware tools that are appearing and evolving in the Paper-Lite world take us?
About Ryan
Born in Malaysia at a time when it was devoid of useful technologies and spending most of his adult life pursuing a career in product design in England has led to Ryan developing an unrelenting drive to craft simple, beautiful, delightful and useful products that improve the things people do every day. Always in pursuit of the perfect balance of technology and simplicity, for when these are crafted well and with taste, a pure product is formed that improves and enhances everything.
Disruptive Technologies – Simplifying Your Day or Complicating Your Life
Ryan will share some technologies that he has encountered in his personal and professional life and how these are either simplifying or over complicating our days. Some key industries are being disrupted by technology just as much as a change to principles and the market is listening. Others are applying stresses to social and personal well-being. All views are Ryan’s own.
About Clare
With too many years working with law firms’ documents than she would like to admit to, Clare is passionate about making Microsoft Office work for you and a specialist in legal document production.
I Think We’re Seeing a Theme Here!
Introduced in Office 2007, themes are one of the most significant changes in applying design and formatting in the history of Microsoft Office. But they don’t appear to have been adopted by many firms investing in their brand — so why not? Clare Waller, an independent consultant and Rod Lambert, Director at Mediasterling will take a dive into themes, including how they work, how to build them and where they are best used.
About Peter
Peter started in the information retrieval industry as a research engineer at BT Research around 20 years ago. From there he went on to be part of delivering some of the largest and high profile search and unstructured data processing systems in the world. He co-founded RAVN Systems in 2010 together with equally experienced scientists and engineers to build and deliver the next generation Applied AI systems. In 2017, RAVN Systems was acquired by iManage, the leading vendor of Work Product Management solutions in the legal space.
AI For Document Creation
How is AI being used to produce better quality documents, quicker, in today’s law firms?
Document Excellence Day – 4th October 2017
Event write up by Julie McCarthy, committee
I have been attending this event now for around 5 years and have to say this has got to be one of the best ones yet!! It was so well organised and ran exactly to the timings on the agenda. We started the day with refreshments and our first opportunity to network with other attendees. At 9.30 am the sessions started with Clare Waller leading the day. She gave an excellent introduction to the day with some interesting facts and figures, particularly how many total years’ experience the UKDEG team had been working in Law – too many to mention!
Throughout the day Clare has a clever method to ensure the speakers didn’t overrun with 5 minute warning, 2 minute warning and End Now signs!!
The first speaker was Marianne Armitage, from Watson Farley Williams and a UKDEG committee member. Marianne gave us a thought-provoking insight into problems faced by law firms with regards to formatting problems with documents, particularly when collaborating on legal agreements using Microsoft Word. She also confirmed why the UK Document Excellence Group originally formed to face these issues by showcasing their solution of a Standard Styles Naming Convention and more effective style structure.
Next on was Sarah Chipping (Clyde & Co and ILTA) who gave an interesting presentation on ILTA in the UK - another great organisation for law firms to use to share experiences, gain useful knowledge and attend workshops and user groups.
Just before the coffee break, Levente Nagy from Microsoft gave us a fascinating insight into what’s new in Office 2016 and blew everyone’s mind when he demoed the new 3D images and animation in PowerPoint!
After a well-earned coffee break – back to the next speakers. Annette Brown (Milbank) and Jayne Smith (Bluebird Services) gave us a humorous and informative presentation on Agile working which certainly does seem to be the way forward.
To finish the morning sessions, Ryan Soosayraj (Workshare), otherwise known as Mr Meerkat, presented us with an insight into The Unknown Unknown – or the information we pass over every time we use email, maps, social media. When Ryan started, I was reminded myself to close down all social media. But when Mr Meerkat related a story about Mama Meerkat, I realised simply pulling the plug will not remove the information I have already provided unknowingly. Parts of this was really spooky as Ryan displayed how using a search engine in Google, searching on Facebook or Instagram opens you up to a whole host of risk and information. Although there were undertones of seriousness, Ryan's presentation was delivered with great humour and ease of style. He finished off his presentation with what previous attendees of the Document Excellence Day have come to expect from Ryan - and that’s his humorous animals!
A great lunch presented by BT and then back to it…During the lunch break I managed to chat to several attendees who were all enjoying the day so far and expressed how much they look forward to attending this event.
The Afternoon session kicked off with an interactive panel discussion about how Document Automation is changing the way we work and what impact this will have on a law firm in the future. Congratulations to BLP for acknowledging that technology plays a huge part in pitching/maintaining clients. The discussion was useful in reminding us that automation/robots will not be replacing lawyers.
Mark Garnish of Tikit then gave a very comprehensive presentation into Office 365 and what it means to your firm. I didn’t realise how many different licences of Office 365 could be bought!
After another break with the best scones I have tasted in a long while! We then had a very interesting presentation from Iwona Dudek (CMS) - smart quotes, curly quotes, straight quotes. It's the devil in the detail. An eye-opener. Cannot wait until I am the one to solve this problem when it turns up and be the star of the stage like Iwona was in her presentation.
Last but not least Paul Walker of iManage gave a great, informative talk around best practices in Document Control. A copy of the slides would be most useful for this one.
The day finished off with drinks and canapes at the Bread Street Kitchen where we got to discuss the day’s events and swap stories whilst eating good food and drinking! Perfect and thanks to Microsystems, Tikit and Workshare for providing this! Everyone enjoyed themselves – here’s just a couple of things people said to me.
Karen Wilkinson (Addleshaw Goddard)
"Another fantastic event with some interesting and varied topics, overall a great opportunity to network and link-up with like-minded people."
Yvette de Hoop (Forsters)
"I can relate to Sarah Chipping's story about how she contacted the ILTA forum and sought advice as to the issue of whether to roll back or not to roll back. I have sought feedback myself on ILTA albeit on simpler queries but having garnered knowledge and recommendation from the members, it has provided me with not only answers but confidence to then advise my colleagues and managers to make informed choices.
And Clare Waller – on fine and friendly form as always –instantly makes everyone feel welcome and sets the atmosphere to relaxed yet structured. Even as Madam Timekeeper, her handling of the speakers kept the day on course. Also important, Clare also knows when to end the day! Cheers Clare"
Julie McCarthy
Lead Consultant
Tikit Ltd
About Julie
Julie McCarthy is a Product Specialist in Business & Document Productivity at BigHand, building interactive templates in the legal sector. She previously worked for Advanced/Tikit and specialised in template design and training. She has over 20 years’ experience working in a variety of sectors ranging from legal, wealth management and media. Julie is passionate about creating an interactive and enjoyable environment that supports learning.
Committee Roles
Treasurer
Committee member since December 2016
Planning the Document Excellence Day
Event write up by Clare Waller, committee member and event chair
As each year goes by and the event grows, the Document Excellence Day takes just that little bit more effort to organise. On the up side, every year we learn how to do things better and I hope that shows.
Directly after the event there’s a period of mop up. There are lots of thank you emails to speakers, sponsors and all those who have helped to make the day a success. Feedback is read and collated and a report produced for the Committee Members. Slides and information are uploaded to the website.
And then – we start all over again! Planning for next year’s event has already begun. So, where do we start. First the venue and then the date – that’s the easy bit.
Then, our first port of call is the feedback forms that we receive (thanks to everyone who completed one). We look at all the comments, what worked (and what didn’t), which sessions people liked. In particular we like the ideas for sessions for next year – always a good starting point. As I said on the day, we do read all comments and listen to any suggestions, although it’s not always possible to act on all of them but they do give us a great starting point.
From there we sketch out sessions and pitch the ideas to the full committee. These are discussed, expanded and then adopted (or discarded). We contact possible speakers and get a firm commitment from them. From there we can get the draft agenda together. Nearer the time we put firm timings around the agenda.
The most time-consuming thing is normally chasing speakers for information and we end up bombarding them with questions. That’s something we’ve learnt this year and are putting a full list of questions that we need to ask them in one document – that way we only need to chase them for the answers and not send them hundreds of individual emails with separate questions.
Managing the attendee list is quite a task with people thinking they’ve registered when they haven’t. Again, we’ve learnt this year and have a plan in place to deal with this. It will mean a little more work but should ensure that the list is properly up to date. We’ll send a “warning” email to all members that you’re going to receive the invite. Some firm’s block EventBrite invites so we’ll be asking you to check your spam or to let us know if you don’t receive it. EventBrite tells us the status of the invite (opened, ordered, etc) so we’ll follow up on those who haven’t ordered just to make sure. If this year’s event is anything to go by we’ll be oversubscribed again so please make sure you get your order in early.
Somehow or other everything normally falls into place. We always have to remind ourselves that we are all volunteers and, while we want the event to be fully professional, informative and even slick, none of us are Events Organisers.
I’ve been involved in organising the event for the last few years and have chaired the last two. It’s always brilliant to hear the amazing feedback we get. While we occasionally get constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement (which we welcome), the overall reaction is one of positivity. My two favourite questions on the feedback survey are:
- Would you attend this event in the future and:
- Would you recommend this event to a colleague?
The answer to these is always overwhelming YES!
I love the fact that people feel they take away something new from the day; I love the fact that people feel it was well organised and professional; I love the fact that the vendor community have given us such support and adopted the no selling rule happily but most of all I love the fact that people say they really enjoyed it. That’s satisfaction enough!
Roll on next year!
Clare Waller
Independent Consultant
Document Excellence Day (formerly Word Excellence Day) – still lived up to its name
Event write up by Teresa Vincent, regular attendee
This year’s Document Excellence Day was as great as ever. I came away with some useful tips and lots of food for thought. I imagine most of the attendees like me are trying to find meaningful ways of including a 3D Hubble space telescope in our future PowerPoint presentations!
Standard Style Naming Convention
The holy grail in document production and support. We enjoyed a great discussion on how ideal life would be with Standard Style Naming. Imagine, all our long, complicated, documents could be edited regardless of a particular firm’s house style and still retain our own brand identity.
ILTA
There was an interesting personal journey provided on becoming an ILTA member and the benefits that have been gained from ILTA’s vast network both of knowledge and people. Next London ILTA is on November 16 in case you missed the email.
Microsoft Word and Office
We were ‘wowed’ by some of the features in newer versions of Office365 – both in the translation tools and the 3D graphics that can now be inserted. There were probably some work-related new features too, but after seeing the 3D Hubble space telescope in minute detail via a PowerPoint presentation, I forgot about the rest.
Agile Working
We enjoyed hearing how a London law firm has already issued all its lawyers with the capability for agile working, this includes new laptops, smartphones and soft phones. It’s brilliant to think that this is actually happening right now. It was interesting to hear how this may change the way people work but in a very positive way. It was especially exciting to hear that in the not too distant future, possibly PAs and Documentation staff may also be able to work in this new agile manner. Definitely could help with to have a great work/life balance if done correctly.
Mr Meerkat
As ever we had an amazing presentation on security awareness and how pervasive information gathering has become in our daily lives (both personal and work). At times, scary and definitely makes you consider how much information is “out there” about you. What has this to do with Meerkats? Well, you’ll have to attend next year’s Document Excellence Day to find out – but you won’t be disappointed.
Is Automation Changing our Roles and Business?
After listening to the panel discussion – oh yes, in ways I wasn’t aware of. This was an excellent panel from both a law firm and a law firm provider on how they are implementing automation in their business to facilitate client requirements and needs. Will a law firm work differently in 10 years time? After listening to this discussion I think so and probably way before 10 years.
Office365
Well, to quote the singer Pink, “who knew?” – maybe I’m just not keeping up with the times but I thought Office365 was ‘just another’ version of Office. How wrong was I? There are a myriad of versions depending on your requirements. It was such an eye-opener to hear them explained and how important it will be to choose the right version to support your agile working (when it happens). Just make sure you get the one that includes the 3D images.
Legal Housestyle in a Global Environment
This session was excellent especially for anyone who works with/supports documents. We were treated to a summary of the 3 most likely “gotchas” when working in non-UK/US environments. The one I found best was “Why do some Tables of Contents not work once they come back from some destinations” – well now I know to check the TOC field code for commas or semi-colons! Easy when you know how and this presenter definitely knew how!
Best Practices in Document Control
You have to feel sorry for whoever gets the last slot of the day, but this was definitely a last but by no means least session. We were given some excellent tips on ensuring document control and security. Yes there are tools out there to facilitate this but it’s still a learning process for everyone involved to ensure that the tool is used correctly to make full use of the security and integrity that can be provided to our documents.
The Day
The day was excellent, well planned and covered a wide range of topics that must have provided something for everyone who attended. The facilities and personnel who staffed it were brilliant, everything ran smoothly, food was amazing, whoever made the afternoon scones deserves a medal – they were delicious. I’m already saving the date for next year. If you want to be there, join DEG, it’s free (www.docexcellence.com). Massive thanks to everyone involved in arranging it and sponsoring it, it really did deserve the word “Excellence” in its name.
Teresa Vincent
IT Trainer
Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP
Word Excellence Day – 12 October 2016 (BT Centre)
Thanks
We wish to thank our Word Excellence Day partner and sponsor (Tikit), and our evening drinks reception sponsors (Microsystems, Workshare), along with our Top Tip Competition sponsors (Kutana) and entrants, our hosts (BT Centre), the event chair (Clare Waller) and all of our speakers and guests for helping to make the day such a success.
Membership Survey 2016
Results from the 2016 UKDEG survey can be viewed here
Top Tip Competition
Congratulations to our winners of the Top Tip Competition: Kyle Monahan (Allen & Overy LLP) and George Trehan (Stephenson Harwood LLP), Lisa Freeman (Trethowans LLP), Alison Hattingh (Cripps LLP).
All entries and results can be viewed here.
Photos
It was fun, it was interesting. It gave me more than I hoped for.
It is always useful and a pleasure to meet up with the peer groups of different firms and exchange ideas and experiences.
It was a great event, with great people all energetic about the topic and our professions so it was refreshing to see and a broad spectrum of attendees.
