In preparation for the MCN/MCF Joint Annual Conference, Christine Durand and I have been brainstorming ways of using twitter as a tool to engage our attendees during the conference. Here’s a list of some ways that you might consider using twitter at your next conference or large event. If you’re attending the conference, you’ll see some of these ideas in action on November 5 and 6.
For the sake of brevity, I’m going to assume that you already have a twitter account and a healthy list of followers, which admittedly is no mean feat. But I could devote a whole blog to the art of building a robust list of followers. So, let’s fast forward to a week or two before your event.
A Month Before Your Event:
Help your attendees identify themselves to you in advance by including your own twitter handle in your event communications. You may also consider having an option on your registration form for twitter handles.
It’s easy for chatter about your event to get lost in the endless churn of messages going out over the wire. The best way to ensure that you can find the conversations that are relevant to you is to ask your attendees to use a specific keyword or hashtag in their tweets and in their photos. Use a hashtag that is short, memorable and specific to your event.
At the Event:
Remind your users about your hashtag! Then watch the conversation unfold. You can use your account to tweet about event happenings that everyone should know about, and respond to direct user questions and concerns. Some event organizers invite people to ask questions via twitter to event speakers during Q&A sessions, in addition to the usual “walking” mic.
If you have a projector and an extra laptop, you might consider projecting a live stream of user tweets based on your event hashtag outside the event hall. I recommend using a service like twitterfountain or wiffiti to do this. Some event organizers use this method to allow audience members to ask questions of event speakers directly.
After the Event:
Communicate with attendees about event follow-ups like downloadable presentation slides or other goodies via your account. If you’re using a different account than your typical organizational twitter account use this opportunity to invite people to follow your primary account.
Finally use the hashtag, your account name and any other relevant keywords to search for and collect feedback that you received during and after the event so that you can report back to your programming folks about the success of your event logistics and speakers.
Continue the Conversation:
Have you used twitter as an engagement tool at an event, or have you been at an event where it’s been used successfully? What recommendations do you have to share for effectively leveraging twitter as an engagement tool? You can post your suggestions here, or you can send us a message @MCNandMCF.
-Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate
