How and why should conference organisers use twitter?
Hi Vicki, this continues your post about how we compare internationally, including using laptops and tweeting at conferences.
The Big Idea first ventured into live conference tweets at X Media Lab ‘commercialising ideas’ in Auckland this year, thanks MsBehaviour, and there were a lot of other people tweeting too. The organisers were set up for it (with power connections, wireless and hash tags etc).
It was a great way to cover an event, have a live presence on twitter and create new followers. However, we received feedback and a question about conference speaker intellectual property. It wasn’t an issue for this event (with international speakers who had approved it), but do you have any advice for NZ speakers and conference organisers?
From my point of view (reporting) - allowing tweeting/micro-blogging at a conference is a great way to market and follow an event online, share knowledge, extend networks and engage the audience by continuing the conversation, co-creating and enhancing learning etc.
Do you have any advice from a web marketing pov for arts conference organisers in New Zealand about including, and preparing for (ie setting hash tags), live tweets and how to make this part of the web marketing. What are the trends internationally and in NZ?
Comments
1 December 2009 - 21:41 PM
You raise a good point about intellectual property, as many speakers save their most juicy stuff for conferences where attendees have paid.
However, it's really the same situation as any creator of content: obscurity is a bigger problem than piracy.
Yes, it's technically correct to get a lot of free content without paying to attend the conference. But following a conference virtually still takes a big time commitment, time that many people don't have. So the tweetstream and video gives people a taste, and maybe some key points, while the real-life event gives people the 3D, immersive experience, complete with Q&A sessions, networking and usually some nice food!
There's another benefit to being live-tweeted at a conference, as I found when I spoke at Marketing Now in Melbourne a few months back.
Days afterwards, I was able to read the tweet stream from the time I was speaking. I felt like the All Blacks watching a play-by-play slo-mo replay of a game. I could see where I was stating the obvious, I could see where I nailed an idea that resonated with people, I could spot the highs and lows, and the points of misunderstanding, and the strong themes. It was a fantastic learning experience for me as a speaker.
Meanwhile, for the event organiser it offered an opportunity to bring others into the room who couldn't make the event. We built a strong sense of temporary community in those two days, and others were able to see and hear just enough (and by just enough I mean a LOT of information) to whet their appetite to be there in person the next time.
Simon Young BLOG: http://madyoungthing.blogspot.com COMPANY: http://www.sy-engage.com SKYPE ME: simonisntsoyoung
Simon, thank you for joining the conversation. (Simon is one of this city's gurus on the use of social media.) You express my thoughts exactly and Cathy, you are spot on about the benefits of using micro-blogging at a conference. As Simon says, from the point of view of the organisers and presenters it's about creating a taster and extending the reach of the event and the nework.
I'm a firm believer in appetites. It's what I believe happens in the arts too. Once they have a taste for something, people generally want more, not less.
I speak at a heck of a lot of conferences and I accept that the material I present will be taken and disseminated in a variety of different forms. You can't stop the spread of knowledge and ideas.
When you asked this question, I had to consider the use of social media in a different sort of context, ie conferences. When it comes down to it, it's the same principle as controlling the use of social media anywhere. Be a facilitator to enable yourself to make the best of it, because the conversation will happen anyway. Better to be part of it.
My advice to conference organisers is to embrace the opportunity for all the reasons Simon outlines. And call in a social media expert beforehand to help you maximise the opportunity and broaden your reach as far as you want it to go.
Vicki Allpress Hill
Connecting audiences to the arts
va@vickiallpress.com
On a slightly different but similar note, I've just been reading about blogger and tweeter nights run by the St Louis Symphony. Non-classical musician/bloggers are invited along (lured with free drinks) to blog or tweet about concerts - very similar to The Edge's Kiss My Arts programme. The debate in the 'Life's a Pitch' blog, is around live-blogging and tweeting during a concert, and whether it would be distracting for the audience. I can see the value of live blogging etc at a conference, and presumably the distraction element would be minimal. It would be really interesting to see how it would work at concerts, and whether it would entice readers to the next concert, or maybe encourage them to rush down after the interval for the second half!
Here's some more feedback on this from Josie Campbell, our Communications Manager at THE EDGE who manages our social media with aplomb and is another guru in this area..
Josie says:
"Like using twitter for engagement and customer service – you are going to be talked about anyway – its up to you whether you become part of the conversation.
#hashtags can be great. If they’re not set early enough from the conference organizers then they’ll happen anyway, and be more difficult to track (eg Semi Permanent had about four tags which made it challenging to follow, even though there was an official one).
They’ll say what they want to say – but if twitter folk feel like you are encouraging their point of view and engaging with them then you can get some great interaction going on – and even profile outside the event. It’s important to have someone on the ground commenting, responding and also explaining what the #hashtag is to people outside and inviting them to follow it."
Vicki Allpress Hill Connecting audiences to the arts va@vickiallpress.com
Flossy - thanks so much for this example - this is great! Yes, it is an interesting debate about the "distraction" element at concerts.
I remember being appalled when I caught my usually-very-socially-adept nephew texting under the table during our post-dinner conversation.
However, soon after that I was listening to Alan S. Brown speak about emerging social trends that are impacting the cultural sector. And he said something about short attention spans that got me really thinking. His point was that younger generations have much shorter attention spans and are very likely to multi-task (e.g. be online, texting and watching TV at the same time) and instead of being indignant about this, maybe we should just accept it. I remember he said something like "Don't put a value judgement on it - it is what it is." Alan, forgive me if I am misquoting you, but this is what hit me during the presentation - "aaaah, maybe we don't have to fight this; maybe it's not signalling the end of the world; maybe it just is as it is".
So, perhaps those organisations who are breaking out of that "people CAN'T possibly text in a concert" mode are the ones who get it? What's wrong, after all, with someone wanting to enthusiastically share their response to a performance with their friends in the heat of the moment?
I certainly believe that the pressure will continue to be on us to address these changing behaviours and adapt accordingly. It's not going to be a comfortable transition!
Vicki Allpress Hill Connecting audiences to the arts va@vickiallpress.com