ARMA InfoCon 2022 Recap

I had the opportunity to attend the ARMA InfoCon 2022 confererence last week in Nashville, TN. This was my first in-person ARMA conference in years, but it felt just like old times. This was a very expensive conference, at $1,699 member / $1,999 non-member for in-person early bird registrations and $749 / $1,049 for early bird virtual registrations. The hotel price was not super-terrible given that it was at the Gaylord Opryland. 

Venue. The conference was held at the Nashville Gaylord Opryland, which is a MASSIVE hotel complex. I easily hit my 10,000 steps goal every day - in fact it was about 1500 steps from my room to the main conference area (each way). I really don't like the Gaylords - they are big, they are somewhat isolated from the surrounding area, and frankly they don't have enough restaurants, coffee places, etc. I can't wait for ARMA's contract with them to be over. 

The expo floor was actually in three separate spaces - one up near the breakout sessions, one in a sort of foyer area, and one in a portion of the ballroom that was also used for the keynotes. It made it a challenge to navigate the floor and talk to the vendors. The booths were also very spread out in each location, so when the prospectus said that the expo floor was sold out, it wasn't for filling the space. I counted just shy of 60 sponsors including about 45 booths and the remainder "business partners" without. 

Website and app. I cannot say enough bad things about the very sorry excuse for an app. There was almost no interactivity at all - you could pick an individual and send them a message, but that's it - no photo stream, no wall, no other interaction was possible. It was good that it allowed you to add sessions to your schedule and then get email reminders about each session. But one of the things I've appreciated in conference apps past was the ability to, I dunno, take pictures and then post them to the app, or scout what everyone is doing for dinner, etc. Yes, Twitter is a thing. No, it's not sufficient. 

The conference website included the usual nod to gamification and scavenger hunting, and like most conference apps, was trivial to game the scores. But the rest of the website was generally pretty good. 

Attendance. According to ARMA's official end-of-conference email, there were 850+ end user and 250+ exhibitors. I tried to count what was listed in the app, but as I mentioned earlier, it's a terrible app and there was bad data quality, with more than a dozen duplicates (including me!) and more than a few that were listed 3x. One attendee was even listed alphabetically by her last name, as most were, and separately by her middle initial.... That said, my total count in the app was around 1,025, which included about 835 in-person and about 190 virtual. I would be curious to see a count of paid attendees but guessing around 550-600 given the number of speakers (~140) - and even the list of speakers had some data quality issues. I'd also note that the sponsor prospectus suggested that there would be 1,500+ attendees:

ARMA InfoCon offers more than 1,500 reasons why your organization may want to hold a user conference or large meeting at this industry-leading event.

ARMA has limited opportunities available for companies that want to hold an event at the ARMA InfoCon location in Nashville, giving you access to our more than 1,500 information professionals and key solutions providers.

Whether you read that 1,500 as just info pros, or including the key solutions providers, it's clear that they didn't get anywhere near that. 

Content. I didn't get to see many of the sessions, but I'm looking forward to reviewing the recordings when they become available. The ones I attended were good and not at all sales-y, even one that was led by a vendor. The panel I moderated on certifications was almost full and I thought it went very well. Thanks again to my fellow panelists Jason Stearn, Michael Quartararo, Melonie Jones, and Andrew Ysasi. 

I heard generally good things about the other sessions - lots of complaints about how many good sessions were scheduled against each other, which is exactly the problem you want to have at a conference! 

Other highlights. Congratulations to ARMA's newest Fellows, Ryan Zilm, FAI, and Rae Lynn Haliday, FAI. 

I stopped by the ARMA Houston suite one night, and I'm happy to say that tradition has continued. Great talking to some folks I knew - and some I didn't! Likewise, the annual gathering of the Clancy Clan took place this year at that famous Irish bar, Kid Rock's Big Ass Honkey Tonk & Rock "N" Roll Steakhouse. 

The social events were generally good, though I still miss the ARMA Canada party. Related: While the ARMA regions have been disbanded, ARMA Canada apparently has not, and they had a plaque at the ARMA booth noting that ARMA Canada 2023 will be held July 16-19, 2023 in Toronto, ON. 

Overall, I thought the educational content was excellent, the other conference-related events were good, the food was pretty good for a conference, attendance was not what it should have been, and the app was atrocious. 

Next year's ARMA InfoCon is scheduled for October 9-11, 2023 in Detroit, MI. I hope to be able to make it again next year.