A Newbie’s Guide to Relativity Fest

Everything I wish someone had told me before my first Fest

The first time I went to Relativity Fest, I went as a Relativity Scholar. I was relatively new to the eDiscovery world, surrounded by people who seemed to know everyone, understand every acronym, and have very strong opinions about things I had only recently learned existed. Fast forward a few years, and I’m heading back to Fest as a Project Manager, a Scholars mentor, and, somehow, a panelist.

Which is both incredibly exciting and slightly surreal.

So, if this is your first Relativity Fest and you're currently staring at the agenda wondering what exactly you've gotten yourself into, this is for you.

Here is my unofficial, absolutely-not-sponsored, learned-through-experience guide to surviving and actually enjoying Relativity Fest.

My first fest in 2023!

1. You Do Not Need to Know Everything

This is probably the biggest thing I wish I understood my first year.

You are going to hear people casually discussing things you have never heard of.

There will be acronyms.

There will be very technical conversations.

There will inevitably be someone who has been working in Relativity since approximately the dawn of time.

You are not supposed to know everything.

Fest is literally where you go to learn.

Sit in the sessions that sound slightly above your head. Ask questions. Write down terms you don't recognize. Find the person who said something interesting afterward and introduce yourself.

Some of the best things I've learned at Fest started with me thinking:

I have absolutely no idea what they're talking about, but I'm going to sit here anyway.

2. Actually Talk to People

I know. Groundbreaking networking advice.

But seriously.

The people are arguably the best part of Relativity Fest.

eDiscovery is a surprisingly small industry, and the person sitting next to you at breakfast could eventually become your coworker, mentor, client, referral, or the person you frantically message two years from now asking, “Have you ever seen Relativity do THIS?”

You also don't need some perfectly rehearsed elevator pitch.

Try:

“Hi, I'm Jade. What do you do?”

Congratulations. You're networking.

Ask people what sessions they've liked. Ask what brought them to Fest. Ask what they're working on. Ask how they ended up in eDiscovery.

People in this industry have some of the strangest career paths imaginable, which makes that last question particularly fun.

And if you recognize someone from LinkedIn, say hi.

I promise it is significantly less weird than silently staring at them from across the room thinking, I KNOW THAT PERSON FROM THE INTERNET.

3. Don't Spend the Entire Conference With Your Coworkers

I love my coworkers.

But if your company sends ten people to Chicago and all ten of you spend four days exclusively talking to each other, you have missed a huge part of Fest.

Split up.

Go to different sessions.

Sit with someone you don't know.

Introduce yourself to people from other organizations.

Then regroup later and compare notes.

You already have Teams to talk to your coworkers every day. You do not need to fly to Chicago to accomplish that.

4. You Cannot Attend Everything

The Fest agenda can be overwhelming.

There will inevitably be multiple sessions happening at the same time that you want to attend.

Accept this now.

My strategy is to pick a mix of sessions:

• Something directly relevant to what I do today

• Something technical that stretches me a little

• Something about where the industry is heading

• Something focused on professional development

• Something I know absolutely nothing about but sounds interesting

Also, give yourself permission to change your plans.

If you meet someone who tells you a session was incredible and they're doing another one later, go.

If you're exhausted and need 30 minutes to sit somewhere with coffee and process everything you've learned, do that.

Conference brain is real.

5. Take Notes, but Not Like You're in Class

I say this as someone with a master's degree who is extremely capable of turning absolutely anything into a school assignment:

You do not need to transcribe every slide.

Instead, write down:

What can I actually use when I get home?

Maybe it's a workflow you want to test.

Maybe it's a Relativity feature you didn't know existed.

Maybe it's an AI use case you want to research.

Maybe it's someone's name because they said something brilliant and you want to follow them on LinkedIn.

I like leaving conferences with a list of actual things I want to explore rather than 37 pages of notes I will never open again.

6. Wear Comfortable Shoes

I am so serious.

This is not the moment to discover that your adorable new shoes become medieval torture devices after 7,000 steps.

You will walk.

You will stand.

You will walk some more.

You will somehow end up walking across the entire venue because the next session you want to attend is approximately seventeen miles away.

Plan accordingly.

That being said, Fest is also one of my favorite excuses to have fun with outfits, particularly the evening events.

Which brings me to...

7. Go to the Events

Even if you're tired.

Even if you're introverted.

Even if you tell yourself you're just going upstairs for twenty minutes before deciding whether you want to go back out.

Go.

You don't have to stay until the very end, but some of the best conversations happen outside of formal sessions.

The pressure is lower. Everyone relaxes. You actually get to know people.

And yes, if there is karaoke, you may eventually find yourself singing in front of a concerning number of eDiscovery professionals.

I'm not saying this from personal experience.

Except I absolutely am.

8. LinkedIn Is Your Friend

Fest is one of the rare occasions where exchanging LinkedIn information feels completely natural.

Use it.

If you have a great conversation with someone, connect with them while you're standing there or shortly afterward.

And please add a tiny note if you can:

“Great meeting you at Fest! Loved our conversation about AI workflows.”

Because three days later, both of you will have met approximately 900 people and everyone's face will start blending together.

Also, post while you're there.

Share what you're learning. Tag speakers whose sessions you enjoyed. Celebrate people. Comment on other attendees' posts.

You don't need to become an eDiscovery influencer overnight. You're just participating in the community.

9. Ask the “Stupid” Question

One of my favorite things about eDiscovery is that almost everyone fell into it somehow.

Very few children are sitting around saying, “When I grow up, I want to manage complex electronically stored information.”

We came from litigation support, paralegal work, law firms, IT, project management, data science, consulting, and about a million other directions.

Everyone had a first day.

Everyone once didn't know what a load file was.

Everyone has Googled an acronym immediately after pretending they understood it in a meeting.

Ask the question.

Someone else in the room probably wants to know too.

10. If You're a Scholar: Take Advantage of EVERYTHING

I have a particular soft spot for the Relativity Scholars attending Fest because I was you.

Please understand what an incredible opportunity you have.

Meet people.

Ask for advice.

Introduce yourself to speakers.

Talk to people doing jobs you think you might want someday.

Ask them how they got there.

And stay in touch with the other Scholars.

Some of the people you meet at the beginning of your career may grow through this industry right alongside you.

A few years can change a lot.

I went from attending Fest as a Scholar trying to absorb absolutely everything I could to returning as a mentor for another Scholar and speaking on a panel myself.

I don't say that as some sort of inspirational LinkedIn humblebrag.

I say it because you genuinely have no idea where the relationships you're building right now might take you.

Finally, Don't Forget to Enjoy It

This industry moves incredibly fast.

There is always another deadline, production, certification, client request, new technology, AI announcement, or workflow we're supposed to figure out.

Fest is one of the few opportunities we get to collectively step outside of the daily chaos and remember that there is an entire community of people doing this work alongside us.

So learn everything you can.

Ask questions.

Meet people.

Take the LinkedIn connection.

Go to the party.

Wear the outfit.

Sing the karaoke song.

And if you're attending your first Relativity Fest this year and you happen to see me wandering around Chicago, please come say hi.

Seriously.

I was the nervous Scholar once too.

And now apparently they let me have a microphone.

Growth is weird.

Welcome to Fest. You're going to be just fine.