Twitter for Attendees

Here are just some of the things you can do with Twitter at RCM09

1) Schedule meet ups (morning beach run, meet for a beer, birds of a feather, etc…)

2) Tweet the learning from the presentations (disagree is OK however please be respectful and professional)

3) Tweet questions

The more you – the presentation attendees are allowed to interact with the presenter – the more you will learn. While Twitter may seem like a distraction, it can actually increase your engagement with the presentation.

Twitter allows you to add your own perspective – even if no one reads it. You can sometimes get as many take-aways through the twitter backchannel as you can from the formal presentation.

In the past, you might have lent over to you neighbor and said “What did she mean by that?” or you remained confused. Now, audience members don’t have to wait to clarify things they don’t understand. They can tweet their question and another audience member will tweet back with the answer. Audience members who tuned out because they didn’t understand now stay engaged.

The back-channel blurs the line between the presenter and the audience. Now everyone can be an active participant.

Here’s an account from the web we found from Gary Koelling of a twitter-fueled participative meeting:

And what struck me was the dynamic of this meeting. It was participatory. No one was talking out loud except the guy presenting the ppt. But the conversation was roaring through the room via twitter. It was exploding. People were asking questions. Pointing out problems. Replying to each other all while the ppt was progressing along it’s unwaveringly linear path.

As your presentation sparks ideas, audience members can tweet them and build on each others’ thoughts.

Being at a conference where you know no-one or only a few people can be intimidating. People who know each other cluster together and you can feel out of the action. But if you participate in the back channel, you’ll get to know people virtually, and can then introduce yourself physically at the next break.

Liz Lawley states:

But the backchannel doesn’t have a limited number of chairs. Anyone can join— and as the two-day event wore on, more and more people did. It allowed conversations to occur between people who wouldn’t have known to seek each other out otherwise.

Twittering the real-time information and ideas: GOOD

Twittering snide, insulting, remarks about your fellow conference participants, presenters or exhibitors: NOT GOOD

You can also follow Twitter on your mobile phone or through RSS

Official RCM-2009 Twitter Site http://www.twitter.com/rcm09

Resources:

How to Twitter Conferences Like A Rock Star
http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/05/how-to-confernc.html