News from Educational Conference

After a long day of travel on Tuesday that allowed me to miss the snow in Denver as well as possibly a night at DIA, I arrived in Pittsburgh around 10:30 PM and spent a quiet night at the Sheraton 4 Points near the airport here.  On Wednesday I changed hotels and was able to attend the Leadership Session that afternoon.  There were many great ideas exchanged and some ideas shared about reaching out to potential new members.
On Thursday, the day started at 8:30 AM with the opening keynote address offered by Dr. Judith Wright who spoke about 'the One Decision: Maximizing Your Potential and Living a Life of More'.  Her talk was very inspiring as well as motivating and pointed out how we can and do get stuck in ruts of working hard and then using 'soft addictions' instead of energizing breaks to relieve the fatigue only to find that the real result is that instead of being refreshed, we're anesthetized into inertia.
I attended sessions about the use of technology in the courtroom, growing networks, mediation as an alternate form of dispute resolution, changes being made to Joint Commission regulations and a look at how criminal law can be viewed as job security in America for the LNC.  The annual business meeting completed the work for the day and it was time to relax and have some fun.  We boarded busses and visited the Duquesne Incline (much like the cog railroad in Manitou Springs) and then had a wonderful dinner at Station Square, the former terminal of the railroad station.  It's a gorgeous building and the views of the surrounding area were breathtaking as it's located near the shores of the Monongahela River so there was unobstructed sight lines of the skyline at night.

Tomorrow is another full day, beginning at 8 so it's time to call it a night and get some rest. There will be more news of conference events tomorrow night.

Lin