On Friday afternoon, I gave a presentation to the Association of Missouri Mediators (AMM) about AI and RPS Coach. I zipped through my powerpoint to make time for a live demo of RPS Coach. I developed these follow-up materials you might want to check out, including links to:
- The slides and chat transcript from the program
- The user guide for RPS Coach
- Articles to help address anxiety about AI
- Suggestions for writing effective prompts
- Reflections about how AI will be used in the future
- An annotated bibliography of my publications about AI
Evolution of Professional Gatherings
This post is not about AI but rather how we present and show up for professional events – and how that’s changed because use of Zoom has become normalized since the pandemic.
On Friday morning, I participated in a Connecticut Bar Foundation program. That afternoon, I gave a presentation to AMM – attending both events without leaving my home. A few weeks ago, I gave a presentation to the Idaho Mediation Association. Mediators attended from across a large rural state, many of whom could not have attended a traditional in-person conference.
The routine use of video platforms has reshaped our continuing professional education events. It’s dramatically more convenient and affordable to attend – and deliver – these programs. A decade ago, scheduling two events on the same day in different time zones would have seemed absurd. Now it just means switching Zoom links and refilling my tea cup.
Engagement can feel different as people often attend alone from their home or office. Everyone is in a separate physical space, appearing on screen in little rectangles.
I was intrigued by AMM’s hybrid approach to this event. The speakers all presented on Zoom, and AMM set up group viewing sites around the state so that people could get together or watch individually. In some locations, that enabled real F2F conversations before, during, and after the presentations – maybe even with food to share! Some of the best parts of in-person events are the chats in the hall between programs. (Or playing hooky and skipping some sessions entirely.)
Cardozo is hosting a hybrid event on a much larger scale in connection with the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution events in April. Here’s Andrea’s announcement:
Please save the date for April 16-17, 2026, for three wonderful events at Cardozo Law School in New York City. On Thursday, April 16th, there will be an ABA DR Skills Summit Watch Party followed by the ABA DR Section Regional Meetup Cocktail Reception. On Friday, April 17th there will be a Dispute Resolution Educators Colloquium hosted in partnership with the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution, the Mitchell Hamline DRI Skills Lab, the ABA DR Section, AALS Clinical ADR Committee, and the Legal Educators in Dispute Resolution Committee.
The watch party will be live streamed, so people can attend remotely.
Technologies are evolving rapidly. So are the ways we incorporate them into our lives individually and collectively. We can look back at the changes in the last five years – and imagine what our world will be like in the next five years.
