Comments on: How should we use Twitter at tech events?

By: nothingGrinder

nothingGrinder — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:07:46 +0000

I have put together a tutorial on how to log tweets after or during events to create an archive of event activity for later viewing. Check it out: http://ngn.bz/log

By: seo napoli

seo napoli — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:12:21 +0000

interesting way to spend time talking to a camera in your car. I wonder what police would have to say about it.

By: Dave McDermid

Dave McDermid — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:31:31 +0000

A live twitter stream is great for Q&A, but totally distracting for a talk. I can’t help but read everything, and can’t possibly listen at the same time. If people need a distraction, they can use their laptops / phones to follow a stream. I have a lot of sympathy for danah boyd.

By: Keir Whitaker

Keir Whitaker — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:58:47 +0000

Hey Joel, I like the idea of a “setting the tone of the hashtag” at the beginning of the session. I think that could work well. The other way is moderation but there’s the overhead of managing it although there are tools that can help.

By: João Pescada

João Pescada — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:44:47 +0000

I have been at Twitter-stream-enabled-conferences before, and I can only agree with the general opinion expressed on this post.

Although it can bring value to the keynotes — being hypertext and all — it can also easily distract not only the speaker but most of the audience. Having the stream only available on the web, not on stage, makes it an opt-in to get distracted from the keynote.

When it comes to panels / questions time, then I totally agree on having the stream on stage. As Joel Hughes said speaking into a mic can be intimidating.

By: Matt Lacey

Matt Lacey — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:44:22 +0000

Twitter is great for back channel but it needs to stay in the back channel. See Scott Berkuns post also on the Web 2.0 Expo issue also http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/2009/the-challenge-of-visible-twitter-at-conferences/

If a twitter stream is going to be put on the main screen at a conference, do it in the breaks between speakers – like the way it was done at StackOverflow DevDays.

By: Dan Millar

Dan Millar — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:18:48 +0000

I do agree with you.

I was at FOWA in London and the Twitter stream behind Kevin and Gary was amusing and almost shaped the direction of the show. It was the end of the conference and the show was a bit of light relief.

However, if the stream had been present throughout all the talks I believe it would have been distracting and possibly inappropriate. People are paying a fair amount of money to attend the events, and some people potentially taking the tweets off topic could disrupt the talks and therefore their value.

If the stream was available on the web, rather than behind the talker, then this could add value. People who wanted to participate and read it could without disrupting others or the talker…a win win!

By: Joel Hughes

Joel Hughes — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:10:00 +0000

Hi,
I think we’ve just go to do a better job of integrating Twitter into these events.

It’s a poor show when people are basically rude to people speaking – perhaps there should be a “set the tone of the #hashtag” speach at the beginning – i.e. what is and what is not acceptable.

Going back to the great FoWD/A events i’ve been to (and I have mentioned this before http://www.joelhughes.com/twitter-and-fowa-2009-conference) we need to do better on getting questions from the audience – that whole speaking-into-mikes thing is pretty off putting.

At the end of the day Twitter is fairly new and Twitter+Conferences is by definition newer. It’s like inviting a nutter to your party – you really need to think long and hard about how you’re going to handle him!

Joel