With many health care professionals using twitter to connect, learn and share We thought it about time we created a guide to tweeting from events, with #RCN15 coming up and lots of nurses attending this seemed like a great time to do it!
We've broken the main aspects of event tweeting to 5 essential building blocks, in a nice a simple way, to help you build the foundations for some great event tweeting and each day in the run up to #RCN15 we will be expanding on each building block, to help create some nice bite sized bits of info to help you get to grips with live tweeting:
You can download this as a PDF to share here if you like.
Like most things in life a little preparation can go a long way, tweeting from a conference is no different!
Whether you intend to take to take twitter for the conference for personal learning and connections, or to share your view with your followers, preparation is key, quite simple and not a lot of hard work!
Preparation falls into two categories, either way steps 1&2 are key:
Category 1 – getting info to hand
Step 1 – Make sure you know the # for the event, hopefully it will be blazoned all over any organisers publicity or have a look through the organisers tweets for it.
Step 2 – Make sure you have sourced the speakers twitter names of the sessions you are interested in, maybe add them to a note on your phone or tablet with the session details so they are to hand. This is vital as you don’t want to have to concentrate on finding them during a session, when you would like to share info quickly, then get listening again.
Category 2 – Tweeting in advance of the event
Step 3 – Don’t wait till you get to the event to start tweeting speakers; Engage with speakers and tell them you are coming and looking forward to their content and tell them why you are interested in their session, this may even help them deliver a session based on wider interests and feedback (Especially helping if they’ve not completely finished their presentation yet!).
Step 4 – Get following! Set up a stream of the event # well in advance on your tweeting device, connect and tweet with those of like-minded and differing views in advance, ask if they are attending the event and maybe arrange a tweetmeet with them using the event to make new connections beyond twitter (that’s allowed you know).
Step 5 – Work out the best way to preserve battery life on your tweeting device, you may need it! Some tips here are dimming the screen, switching off Bluetooth, close all the apps that are running that you don’t need, put auto lock on to the shortest time out too and tweet others for tips via the # on the day or prior sharing your device model etc.
Step 6 – Make sure you pack your device charger!
Step 7 - Make sure you pack your device charger!
Whilst there may be some duplication in the # stream don't worry, your followers may be following you but not the # so your tweet will add value to them.
It's also unlikely that your motive for sharing is exactly the same as others, evidenced by your accompanying comment, seeing peoples differing views and ideas around session content helps stimulate discussion.
If you don't send your tweet how will the presenter know their session was valuable to you? How will they respond? How will they follow?
Reviewing tweets you've sent through the day will also help you create a list of follow up research or CPD, so if you don't send the tweet you'll lose this handy use of your own tweets!
Being prepared will help cut down on scrabbling for presenters twitter names and keep you calm when you're keen to share.
Conference tweeting isn't a race, popularity competition or something to worry a lot about, so be calm and don't get stressed!
(Why not tweet and follow the person that shared a similar tweet to you, it's good to make contacts with those passionate enough to share similar content.)
Be Engaging…I thought I had to Be a Reporter? Now I’m confused!
What if you could do both?
Twitter is a great place to share content, like a reporter, but it is in even better place to have conversations with people about likeminded passions and topics; being engaging will help this. There’s a subtle but significant difference between tweeting:
“A @speaker said this this amazing fact 'quote' #RCN15”
And
“A @speaker said this amazing fact 'quote', what do you think?#” or “…, do you agree?#” or “…, would that work for you?#”
What we are looking to achieve here is starting a conversation, bringing the audience in to the event with you. Other ways might be to ask your followers “How important is 'quote' to you? @Speaker says it’s key #RCN15”
Not only will your followers get more out of you tweeting from the event, you may find new followers from the # engaging and following you.
Getting value from the mass of information on offer at events can be tricky, you may find you are helped to reflect and plan actions from the sessions much faster having had a few tweets to share and cement your views, rather than simply quoting tweets out.
Of course you don’t want to spend all your sessions tweeting about the first comment or slide you shared (you'll miss the rest of the session), so maybe respond to your tweets in a quiet period throughout the day, those answering your tweets will be delighted to have the conversation with you, even if it is a later on in the day we are sure.
So, to be a diamond conference tweeter Be Engaging (see what we did there!).
@{{Comment.screenName}}
{{Comment.DateCreated | date:"dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm"}}
|
{{Comment.Comment}} | |
@ross_6479_RNLD
24 September 2015 21:58
|
It's fantastic to see tweets coming from conferences, as a student I am not always able to attend conferences where workload or timetable don't allow, but as an inquisitive learner I am keen to be up to speed on the content and discussions. It is vital in our profession to be up to date with the latest information/research, in fact it is a part of our code of conduct, this is yet another way that Twitter and SoMe can support us in our ever developing profession. Additionally, I love the montage walls , they help bring the conference to life. Thanks for this. |