1. The RM Newbie
You’ll find the newbie running around the entire conference trying to soak up information. It isn’t actually possible to attend every presentation track and breakout session, but that’s not going to stop him or her from trying. Hopefully they’ll stick around, because someone’s going to have to take care of this stuff in 30 years!
2. The Armchair Philosopher
Forever scratching his or her chin, the Philosopher sees every question in Records Management as a big philosophical one. Asking them a simple question will easily result in a 3-hour thesis about how 19th-century theories of epistemology laid the foundation for modern knowledge management. We have a few of these at Feith Systems. (You all know who you are!)
3. The Physical Records Person
The physical records manager has been doing this since the 80’s. They’ve heard rumors of companies going paperless, and they just don’t buy it. But that’s okay — if most people’s electronic systems were as well cataloged and organized as their boxes, we’d all be in pretty good shape.
4. The Nonchalant Techie
Never doubt that that the Nonchalant Techie can relate every event in life back to a technical problem and solution that they have the answer to. To him or her, all Records Management challenges can ultimately be solved with SharePoint, some SQL triggers, and a C# program they wrote this afternoon. Still — you’ll be happy to have this person on your ERM project team when you need to do a big integration!
5. The Mega-Networker
The Mega-Networker is going to make friends. A lot of them. The more connected, the better. You ‘re going to get a friend request from them on LinkedIn before you even manage to shake their hand. Did you know there was a Twitter hashtag for this GDPR round table? They did! But as silly as it may seem, these people make conferences work! They provide the social glue that builds networks of professionals.
6. The Party Animal
Usually seen the first night of any Records Management conference. Usually strangely missing thereafter. They come to the conference to spend a few nights away from the kids, having as much fun as possible. Drinks all around! Anyone want hit the karaoke bar after this? I am.
7. The Very Private Person
Always seen the second and third day of any given conference. Suspiciously missing from the first. Notable taste for Water and Excedrin. May be wearing sunglasses inside in the middle of the day. Has a strange adverseness to both light and sound. We’ve been there, Very Private Person.
8. The Early Adopter
This person was busy doing ERM back before ERM existed. While many of us were still learning basic computing on Windows 3.1, they were trailblazing the industry. They’re pretty much the Michael Jordan of Records Management, and they aren’t afraid to say it.
9. The Vendors
These guys are PSYCHED about something. It’s not clear what, but they’re ready to talk, that’s for sure! Most likely dressed in matching, immaculate outfits. Interested in some cool schwag? It’s free, all you have to do is give them your phone number, email address and departmental budget.
[Disclaimer: Feith is a vendor of Enterprise Records Management software.]
10. The RM Celebrity
They may have been a bit of a geek growing up, but now the whole RM world knows their name. As the guru of this and the master of that, the RM celebrity is so talented that they’re often paid to be here. They may still be a bit of a geek, but you know you’re going to their presentation later!
11. The Futurist
The futurist is seemingly up to date on virtually every breakthrough in the tech industry. You can usually spot the futurist by their semi-ironic Block Chain T-Shirt. Get ready, because they’re here to tell you how using a hefty helping of Machine Learning can change your life. They may be right, but we think it’s a bit too early to call.
12. The Couple
One of them came for work, the other is a frugal tourist. They both get a nice company-paid hotel room. While one of them is chatting you up about unifying your retention plans, the other is asking around for the best place for Vietnamese Pho. Act fast to catch this pair, because after the second day they’ll be sightseeing! Can you blame them?