Conference Tweeting

As I write this, nothing can really hold a candle to the significance of online social media influencing the events in Iran.  But then most of us are observers, not participants, in this particular social media event. Every day, however, some of us are either traveling to industry conferences. Or, as the case may be in today’s business environment, we aren’t funded for that trip out of town or even out of the office.

In the last several months I’ve attended two conferences in which Twitter factored in as revolutionary in the conference experience. In each case, a hash tag (#) preceded a few characters to help me hone in on Tweets from each particular event. For example,

our Web Content Conference last week was Tweeted with #wc09. Instantly a community of publishers sprouted to both report the very uttering of the conference session presenters as well as to editorialize contemporaneously with great zeal like kids in the back of a classroom exchanging notes.

It may sound chaotic – some might even say idiotic. But the impact of all this chatter is jaw-dropping. Here are just some of the immediate impacts of this behavior.

• Content is memorialized – Dozens of note takers stream their 140 character thought nuggets onto Twitter where they are easily corralled for re-assembly and review.  All those interesting links and references are captured for post event recall.
• Content is shared among non-attendees – Can’t make the conference? That doesn’t mean you can’t be involved by reading the published stream. And don’t stop there. Add your own comments or questions back to the attendees or other non-attendees.  In essence, be part of the conference community really or virtually.
• Content is shared among attendees in different breakout sessions – Torn between two simultaneous breakout sessions? Attend one in person and the other virtually by following the Twitter feeds from the other session(s). Why wait to find out the other session was great. Some have been known to get up and move to the other breakout session based on the Twitter feeds.
• Content is shared among attendees at other similar-topic conferences – You’re at the marketing conference in DC but the Tech show is happening in Chicago at the same time. Now you can go to one and tune in to the other.
• Attention level & interest is apparent from Tweet activity – Was the Tweet stream active during your presentation? If not, perhaps its time to revisit your material.

I have experienced all of the above during my conference participation as attendee, presenter and long distance lurker. The impact is electric and riveting.  The engagement level is intense and, in the end, you make contact with a lot more people than you might without the tool. Only one admonition to meeting planners: Your conference venue better have wireless connectivity. Or we’ll Tweet about you.