twitter your event to life

• Trust and confidence in large corporations is at an all time low.
  
• Big business is seen as insular and focused on the short term.
  
• Rapidly shifting demographics reflect an expectation of instantaneous input and response in corporate and customer relations.
  
• Technological developments ensure that the “push” messaging typical of traditional marketing communications channels will continue to be ignored.

Now more than ever, it’s time to open communication channels between organizations, employees and customers that offer a new promise. It’s time for an ongoing dialogue that will allow people to feel as though they’re being heard, that someone is responding to their needs, and that they belong to a community that will support those needs.

As the most engaging and interactive of communications channels, live events are expected to offer this same promise of community dialogue and support.

It is time for Social Media to respond by fully supporting Live Events. It's time for event-based Twitter micro-blogging to support Live Events.

Twitter is a highly interactive tool that allows users to share information, answer or have questions answered and above all, become part of an online community.

Used effectively at events, Twitter engages the audience ensuring they get involved while discovering that the conference planners are listening and tailoring activities and content around their needs, requests and comments. It positions the host organization as an attendee-centric organization that is accountable for it’s services, and sees value in understanding the mindset and needs of it’s audience. Forward thinking organizations using such tools are considered thought-leaders in their industry; creating community to foster mindshare, and thereby turning prospects into customers, customers into loyal fans, and loyal fans into active advocates.

How then to best integrate this free tool into an event? Below are some thoughts, starting with some logistics concerning how to get the word out and have people follow the event.

integrating twitter into an event

During online registration, ask registrants for their Twitter name (not their password) and offer them the option to “follow” the event’s Twitter account. They may choose to ‘opt-out’ at any time by “unfollowing” the event account.

Events become viral when people talk about them. Figure out what makes your event unique, how it will provide value to attendees, and what will get people talking about it.

Pre-event, the Twitter monitor/facilitator heavily promotes “Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NAMEOFEVENT”. They send out updates; "Welcoming (X) Group", “ (X) has been added to speak”, “special discounts (or giveaways) for the first 100 people to Tweet us with [message]”, “only 5 rooms left at the event price of [$XX] at the [hotel]”, and reminders such as “be sure to sign up for (X) sessions”.

Spread your message – your event may have 100 event followers, but those followers each have their own followers (and so on). Identify potential influencers and ask them to talk about your event. Have them tweet about your event leading up to the big day by providing them with glimpses of 'behind the scenes' info. And get them to tweet about the event while they're in attendance. Remind users to ‘retweet’ valuable messages they feel will be of interest to their own followers. This helps to spread the word about your event and also helps to create engagement with those who cannot attend.

It is of paramount importance that the event Twitter stream content is continuously monitored. Any comments/questions that come in from followers should be immediately responded to, and followed up on. The goal of this service is to incite communication either by pushing and circulating information, or offering solutions, all in a timely manner.

Once onsite, the “follow us on Twitter” message should be everywhere; on the check-in kiosk screens, on the schedule section of every name badge, on the event staff shirts, the ‘swag bags’, and signage.

All sessions should have their own #tag (hashtag) that is monitored by a moderator. This is the best way to direct the conversation while allowing attendees to quickly search message content by using a Twitter tag to find out what’s going on in that session.

NOTE: Post a list of Twitter tags for all attendees before the event so they know which tags to search for.

How Twitter adds value to an event

Twitter allows attendees to schedule meet-ups with like-minded people before the event, thereby creating a community of users before arriving at the conference.

It alerts attendees to agenda changes in real-time. By tweeting things like “check-in on Level 3 is still open”, “open bar from 7-8pm sponsored by [name of sponsor]”, or “keynote by [speaker] is starting in the Grand Ballroom”, event managers are able to effectively and quickly communicate with every participant in a way that improves the overall event experience, in real-time.

It engages the audience by asking them what they would like to hear about during the next General Session. This allows the conference to gain a new level of responsiveness, as the audience shares a more customized experience catering toward what they NEED rather than what an organization is trying to SELL.

It allows attendees to let other attendees know about impromptu parties and get-togethers.

It provides tracking of what is going on at an event. Used in breakout sessions, the Twitter monitor creates a room tag (#roomname) and instantly creates a channel for attendees to discuss what they hear in that breakout. Dialogue occurs between audience members, including virtual participants. If an attendee is in a breakout that isn’t relevant to them, they can scan the tweets from other presentations to discover where a more appropriate conversation is available.

It engages audiences in a presentation. Ask attendees to tweet questions for panel discussions, or for Question & Answer periods. This allows the audience to offer real-time comments and ask questions of the panel, ensuring they become an active part of the experience and have a say in it's content.

It represents your brand as innovative and progressive to others tracking your conference through twitter streams.

It offers real-time event performance reviews and feedback, using less paper and faster response times. For events that have a unique web page that houses an online survey, use Twitter to send an update with a link to the survey itself. By using this real-time feedback, it's possible to incorporate content changes on the fly when organizing a multi-day conference.

It helps to coordinate giveaways – ask attendees to answer a question or complete a task via Twitter “clues”. The first to answer/complete the task receives a give-away or reserved seats in the General Session room, or a '1 on 1' with a senior Executive.

For those attending who prefer to participate in a casual way, integrate Twitter as a Digital Signage System via plasma screens, or by projecting twitter messages and conversations broadly for attendees to view. Go one step further and offer a “Twitter Tutorial” to help get people comfortable and connected with your community.

Once the event concludes, to extend the effectiveness of the event into an attendee's “ongoing life”, tweets can be sent to remind participants to visit websites where they can download presentations, facilitate conversations or questions that came up in Question & Answer sessions, and to proactively provide real-time assistance.

Over time, messaging from the facilitator will naturally diminish in frequency as they spin up their event for the following year. By keeping track of current followers, including those within your community-based web presence, a database of users is maintained for future events.

 
what to expect from twitter during an event

Promoted properly, with onsite encouragement to join the community, expect a 15% new user adoption rate.

Expect to hear both positive and negative comments, and know how to deal with each. Not EVERY tweet should be commented on. Learn how to subtly manage the conversation stream and avoid confrontation.

Expect suggestions and thoughts on how to improve the event. Attendees know and will share what they like and dislike in terms of their onsite experience. Listen to their feedback, share it with those able to make a difference, and thank attendees for their contribution.

Expect requests for specific information and know how to direct people to the right answer. Every conference using Twitter should have a support team that the moderator can go to in order to facilitate timely responses.

Expect people to have fun. Not all tweets will be business focused. Not all will deal with the conference content. Keep in mind that your overall intent is to build a community around your brand.

Expect photos of your event to be posted to the web. This is an important point for those dealing with confidentiality issues. However, keep in mind that these photos may be shared. The difference is that you will now have a more complete awareness of what is being posted and by whom. Oftentimes, this can be made to work to your advantage by simple recommendations and commentary offered from the stage by facilitators.

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