IGHS46 - RIMPA Recap & InfoCon2024 Preview with Wendy McLain

Jim Merrifield (00:01.117)
Well, hello and welcome to the InfoGov Hot Seat I'm your host Jim Merrifield and with me today is Wendy McLain Welcome, Wendy.

Wendy McLain (00:08.139)
Thanks, Jim. Good to be here.

Jim Merrifield (00:10.077)
Yeah, it's great to have you on the hot seat. So let's get to know you. I mean, I know you, but let's let the audience get to know you a little better. I know you've been doing some innovative things over the last several months. So can you tell us a brief introduction of yourself, your current role, and one fun fact about yourself?

Wendy McLain (00:27.032)
Sure. Well, if you don't know me, I've been around the industry for quite some time. I have worked in a lot of different industries from oil and gas to state government, did a little bit of time in healthcare, which was very interesting. Went back to the energy sector and now I find myself back in state government and I'm actually assistant professor of professional practice at Louisiana State University in their school of information studies program.

And it's a mouthful, right? That's a long title. And most people are like, what the heck is a professor of professional practice? And the simplest way I can put that is I didn't finish my PhD, but I've got more than 30 years of experience on top of a master's degree. And so the value that I bring as faculty is my years of experience. And that professional practice, that's that real world experience that they're trying to inject into the classroom. So it's

It's super awesome for me to be able to do this and kind of come back into this as a non -tenure track faculty member, which means I have a little more flexibility. I don't have to publish. I can if I want to. But it's really kind of a cool job. And I'm excited to be there. Thank you. One fun fact about myself. I recently started describing myself as a serial volunteer.

Jim Merrifield (01:44.922)
Congratulations.

Wendy McLain (01:54.952)
because it's easier to say than professor of professional practice. And what I mean by that is if you ask me to do something, I'm probably going to say yes. And I've probably also just lined myself up to be overloaded with things. But I've been involved in the profession, not just working, but also in the professional associations. As you know, Jim, I've been involved heavily with the ICRM. I'm a past

president of the ICRM. a past president of ARMA International. And right now I serve on the ARMA International Educational Foundation as a board of trustee, as well as a RIMPA global ambassador. And if that wasn't enough, I recently threw my hat in the ring for ICRM president -elect and they picked me. So in January, I'll be back on the ICRM board. And I just...

I don't know how as an introvert I get myself into these things, but I'm having a blast and I'm loving the giving back to the profession. So that's a fun fact.

Jim Merrifield (02:58.419)
Yeah, that's great. Congratulations all around. You've definitely put in your time in the industry and now, you know, giving back to the community is something great. So let's talk about RIMPA. I know you mentioned you're a RIMPA ambassador, global ambassador, and I know you attended RIMPA live in Australia. What were your key takeaways from that event?

Wendy McLain (03:19.318)
I did. And if I can back up just one second for like, I guess we call this on the on the internet, a humble brag. I scheduled myself three days in New Zealand before the RIMPA conference. So one of my key takeaways is very personal. I got to visit New Zealand. I've always wanted to go and I spent some time in Auckland and a few surrounding areas and it's absolutely beautiful. And then I popped over to Adelaide for RIMPA and my gosh, it was an amazing event.

It's hard to boil it down in terms of takeaways to just a few. So bear with me while I gush about how awesome some of these things were. The first thing that I got to do, RIMPA has this event, it was new this year, it's called a hackathon. And a lot of people, when you think of the word hackathon, you think of, I don't know, guys in hoodies at their computers, like trying to break into a computer system somewhere.

But if you broaden that and you think about a hackathon as being a collaborative event, an event that you do within a short amount of time and there's maybe a little bit of pressure to hurry up and finish, that's a more apt description of the hackathon. And I got to be part of that by judging. And so we had groups of people who came together to hack the concept or the question, how might

information managers value information so that it's valued as a strategic asset. And so they had a whole day to kind of brainstorm this and put together a presentation, present that back to the judges and get this, there was a $10 ,000 prize for the winning team. So that's kind of a lot of responsibility as a judge when you're giving away that kind of money. But it was

Jim Merrifield (05:04.264)
Wow.

Wendy McLain (05:11.394)
Fascinating. And so for me, the takeaway from that, there were so many good ideas and RIMPA is going to be publishing some of those. So for your audience, Jim, if they're interested in this, it's on the RIMPA website. They can go out and read more about the hackathon and the winners and some of the ideas that they put forth and the winning idea as well. And so that was a huge takeaway.

I think that's amazing. I don't know if we could do something like that in the US, but man, we've got a great model that we could follow if we decided to do something like that. For me, I guess another really big takeaway, and this is gonna sound like I'm kind of fan -girling a little bit, but I was so fortunate to be able to attend some of the sessions. And there were sessions on

standards and ISO standards in particular and the history of some of the standards and in my career, I can remember thinking the Australians had their act together like they were such leaders, such thought leaders, right in records and information management and information governance and especially in creating standards. And I got to meet some of the ISO heavy hitters like David Moldrich and Michelle Tolliday and Stephen Clarke and

talk with them. And so that is a huge takeaway for me. And because I think I alluded to the fact that I always say yes, if people ask me to do stuff, I might find myself on an ISO subcommittee sometime in the future. So that was a huge takeaway. And I think that was unique to the RIMP event. I haven't had that kind of access to those thought leaders in that space before. So that was pretty big. And then I'll share one more thing.

Okay, just one more. The other thing that I did that I was so excited to do, I participated in the education summit and they had all kinds of folks coming in and talking about some of the challenges to educating students in records and information management. And I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail on that, but I will say that it was for me very eye -opening. It was very reaffirming to hear perspectives

Jim Merrifield (07:04.659)
Sure, go ahead.

Wendy McLain (07:33.624)
from other countries, other universities, other educational settings. And I guess in a way that's sort of my summary of the whole conference. It was just reaffirming and it was amazing to have this global perspective, to be able to be with people who could bring a global perspective and hopefully bring that back and inject that in to ARMA and ICRM and AIEF

organizations through the volunteer work that I do with those.

Jim Merrifield (08:07.465)
Yeah, that's the plan and you'll have an opportunity to do that. I know you're planning to attend InfoCon 2024 in Houston in just a few weeks. So what are you looking forward to at this year's conference? Anything in particular?

Wendy McLain (08:21.848)
So many things, but my number one is just to see everybody it it for me. It's like a family reunion almost. I've been coming to Arma and the other thing that's really cool. I've been coming to ARMA since the 90s and my first conference was Houston. It was in Houston, so this is going to be like a major.

it coming home kind of thing for me. And also I used to live in Texas and I recently moved to Louisiana. So I'm very much looking forward to the road trip to Houston because I'm going to stop and get some tortillas from H .E .V. My addiction from my San Antonio days. But, you know, it's it's not just seeing the old friends, it's making new ones because one of my goals is to meet new people every year. And I I push myself to do that again as an introvert. That's hard to do, but I push myself to do that. And so

hands down, the people that I'm going to be able to reconnect with and connect with for the first time. That's my number one. Number two, though, is I have been involved in working the conference as a board member for so many years. If this is the first year, I won't be on the ARMA board with a lot of responsibilities. I still have a few, but not a lot of responsibilities. And so it's going to feel like

a major party. Like I'm going to get to go to all the educational sessions and all the parties and I won't have a responsibility as a host to the event. And so that's going to be really fun too. And then I absolutely have to plug my own session on Wednesday at 9:45. I get the fun to be able to join up with two of my former colleagues from Valero.

RJ Mauro and Ashley McKay, and we're gonna talk about building cross -functional relationships to mature your RIM and IG program. And it's gonna be so much fun, because I love presenting with these ladies and it's just gonna be a three -way conversation and maybe four -way conversation with the audience. So I'm looking forward to that. And if I haven't gushed enough about InfoCon, Jim, I would ask you, what's your...

Wendy McLain (10:37.836)
Go to, what are you looking forward to most?

Jim Merrifield (10:40.947)
Well, of course, I'm looking forward to seeing yourself and the other ARMA board members and honestly just seeing different, meeting new individuals as well. I know I haven't been to Houston, I think in a few years. I think since the spring seminar, probably actually it's probably been about five, six years. I know Houston's a bit, when you get up on that stage, you better know what you're talking about because.

Wendy McLain (11:06.197)
Ha

Jim Merrifield (11:07.389)
people in Houston will call you out. now I'm looking forward to just connecting with old friends, making new ones. I'm hoping that the Yankees are playing Houston, you know, in the ALCS while we're down there. That will be really fun. Maybe try to interject that a little bit, you know, on stage for some humor. But there's a lot to look forward to. know this conference is, InfoCon's always a great time for sure.

Wendy McLain (11:19.298)
Ha

Wendy McLain (11:32.866)
Well, and I'm looking forward to seeing you on stage. You're going to do fantastic, I'm sure.

Jim Merrifield (11:38.397)
That would be great. That would be fun. knows what pair of sneakers I'm going to wear on stage. we'll see what happens there. So Wendy, I know we talked about lot, right? RIMPA, InfoCon Looking forward to your session as well on Wednesday. So is there anything else that you wanted to share with the audience before we let you go?

Wendy McLain (11:44.632)
Okay, we gotta watch out for that. All right.

Wendy McLain (11:56.439)
in.

Wendy McLain (12:02.572)
I could probably talk forever, but I won't. The thing I'd like to leave everybody with is honestly, no matter what stage you are in your career, there's a place for you. There's a place for you to get involved. And you don't have to be as crazy of a volunteer as me and be in everything. But I would very much encourage you to pick something, pick one thing, because that's where the enrichment comes in. So you can kind of be a consumer.

of education, you can be a consumer as an ARMA member, or you could be part of the actual doing and being. And that's where the magic happens, really beginning to find your place in a way to get involved in a new way. And there's just tons of opportunities. If you're worried about not finding one, I promise you I can hook you up with an opportunity. So can you, Jim, do that?

And you don't have to be crazy involved, but you really, really deserve to be involved. You deserve that for yourself because it's super enriching. So that's what I would leave everybody with.

Jim Merrifield (13:08.393)
Yeah, for sure. There's something for everyone. And even at the conference, I think the industry groups are always a big hit. You get to meet people in the same industry and have conversations and relaxed settings. So yeah, I I 100 % agree with your statements there. But thank you so much for spending some time here on the hot seat with me. This was fun. I know you're busy. And congratulations on.

Wendy McLain (13:16.533)
Sure.

Wendy McLain (13:28.682)
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Jim Merrifield (13:34.439)
you know, the ICRM and then, you know, really interested in catching up with you on what you're doing with being a professor or what's that new title again?

Wendy McLain (13:44.28)
So I'm an assistant professor of professional practice. And yes, we definitely need to chat a little bit more about that because I really have a lot of ideas to inject into that program as well.

Jim Merrifield (13:54.653)
Yeah, for sure. Well, thanks so much, Wendy, for joining and thank you audience for listening. If you'd like to be a guest on the InfoGov Hot Seat like Wendy here, please submit your information through our website, infogovhotseat .com. And thank you so much and enjoy the rest of your day.

Wendy McLain (14:11.84)
Thanks, Jim. Bye, everybody.

Jim Merrifield (14:13.929)
Thank You