EMCVenues really wants to get more involved with Live Tweets at our 4 MEET Conferneces this year (educational conferences for meeting planners)...we think it will spark discussion & learning; however, we think we might need a "help desk" of sorts, to help folks get involved...an IT savy person to answer questions & help planners that are "new" to social networking get involved. Thoughts? Do you think this would help us or is not necessary? If helpful, any advice on finding that "help desk" person? Thanks!

I think there are really two questions here. One question is whether to live tweet at events. I think the answer is simple: YES! It's another level of connection for both attendees and virtual attendees/tweeps. In terms of the second question (twitter wall behind the presenter) that totally depends on the session format and the speaker. Some (formats/speakers) thrive while others are driven to distraction. The key is to (1) Know thy audience and (2) know thy speaker

Nancy, I think you have a great idea and have heard of other events setting up social media stations to help attendees join in the online conversations. You would definitely need a hands on person to be available throughout the sessions. Hiring or appointing someone from your organization to man the station would allow you to focus on your other event priorities.

You're right, Kevin, there are two separate questions at hand. There are definitely many positives to live tweeting events.

By integrating social media and live tweets into event strategies, brands are allowing their audiences to pre-promote the event to their friends, share the event experience via images and conversations, evaluate the event in real-time and maintain the longevity of the post-event experience.

I like your response to part two: know thy audience and know thy speaker. In my opinion, if attendees are distracted by the Twitter wall either a) the subject matter is beyond their level of understanding at that point & the Twitter feed provides a more comfortable focus point, b) the presentation is just not up to par, or c) it's time for a session break. If the presenter is engaging the audience the wall is not a distraction.

Thanks for this post Coree. I am 100% in line with thinking that it is a tool to support the event. I recently returned from a conference where I attended a few sessions, one of which strictly displayed the 'no cell phone' sign. Because the event did not provide wireless, this was pretty much the only option to communicate for most (sidenote, the irony was that the discussion was about virtual events, which puzzled me further...but I digress). I've crossed to the point now that I am somewhat turned off by the presenters who adamantly discourage tweeting during an event.

To your point about missing content by tweeting, I liken it to simple note taking. When you multitask, you run the risk of damaging content absorption. But what you also lose by not allowing tweeting, is the chance to extend messages to audiences that 1) could not be at your event, though wanted to 2) had not heard of your event, but are now saturated by its content and 3) allowing and encouraging an efficient source of physical audience communication with each other and the speaker; especially in larger groups.

My thought is, if fear of attention is forcing you to restrict tweeting, your audience will find other distractions if they are truly disinterested. But taking away tools that can be used for enhancing engagement is frowned on by me.

If you have the resources to devote to a special "social desk" and staff with an "expert” then more power to you.

But, my feeling is that we all need to move into the social world as part of doing business...or planning an event. I'd invest time/training in your planners, organizer, volunteers, and speakers to learn these tools for two reasons 1) it should help them do their job better and increase engagement maybe with people they never could have helped (i.e engage) before 2) you create many more mini-experts ready to help others - this technology doesn't require an IT Degree...keep that limited resource where they are most needed and train your social team (which is almost everyone else) to know these social tools.

I’d also suggest approaching it from this way will make the “technology’ less of the issue (users talking to users)…and give your team another opportunity to talk to your attendees…that human connection is still priceless.

At your information booth and name tags... hang a sign/button..."Ask me about Tweeting"...."Social Enabled Staff Here" or ???? your marketing staff I'm sure would love to run with that one.

Wednesday, March 17 at 01:02PM

My two cents....Yes it can be a distraction (note the"can" be) and Yes it is a tool. But we aren't going to stop it unless speakers/organizers demand phones/computers to be turned off...but "can" we really demand attention? Sort of like saying "stop thinking about last nights party and concentrate on what I'm going to say"..if there is value in what is being presented...they will.

So...I'd suggest we focus on the tools part and find ways to integrate..or engage.

Displaying the chat channel next to the presentation is like putting a microphone next to every chair or table...i don't want to hear everyone's whispers to each other. Instead assign someone as a twitter monitor and they can share questions/comments at points in the presentation that the speaker facilitates. That nice person that greets us at the door and hands us a survey when we leave? The seminar/session host?

It all relates to my thought above....bring social tools into your event using the same great people you rely on now...then no one needs to feel overwhelmed and it all flows.

A response about staffing a help desk:

At our annual member event last September, we decided to offer a help desk which dealt with questions about membership as well as twitter. We advertised this in our program, and offered an incentive for attendees to stop by (bpa-free water bottles). We created a "twitter 101" handout, with basic steps...look, listen, engage...so attendees were aware that they could just follow the conversations if they prefer, and join the conversation on twitter when they were comfortable. We educated them about hashtags, offered to assist setting up a twitter account if they chose, and talked about tool options such as tweetdeck and hoot suite. We displayed all tweets with our conference hashtag (using twitterfall, I believe) on a plasma tv just outside of this help desk/registration area, to make the conversation accessible to all attendees. The staff that ran the help desk (during breaks and receptions) included those proficient on twitter, as well as many who were fairly new to it. All staff on twitter wore a sticker with a twitter bird/their twitter handle on it and we encouraged attendees on twitter to wear these as well. I think our attendees appreciated it, and went away from the conference with a little more understanding of how to use twitter. Additionally, we had a few sessions about social media, and encouraged those who stopped by the help desk to attend these sessions to learn about how others in our industry are leveraging social media.

Eric -- Wow... no cell phones in a session about virtual events... LMAO. What is this high school? The fact is, we as humans are always multi-tasking and everyone is different, everyone learns different. As professionals people can make decisions to tweet on a iphone during a session just as they need to make decisions about what to eat, what to wear, etc.

I just returned from an Andy Steggles session at Wisconsin Society of Assn Exec on social media. We talked about this topic "live tweeting at events."

Andy stated speakers need to think "presentation 2.0" and encourage twittering, laptops, etc., just be respectful to cell phones ringing and loud keyboards. It provides a dynamic way to share ideas and reach a larger audience.

If someone is tweeting during a session:

1. someone else might be reading that tweet which increases event/session awareness. Someone outside the session can be learning.

2. that person is probably not checking email or doing something non-session related, hence, they are engaged in the session.

3. that person might be using twitter as a dual purpose to take mental notes... they can always go back and review their sent tweets for their takeaways or tag favorite hashtag tweets with links to other relevant content.

Conference organizers have already taken away hard copy handouts from sessions, are they going to take away technology too?