Comments on: Speakers – Be Aware, Twitter is Coming

By: mike McAllen

mike McAllen — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:44:19 +0000

Hi Indra-
I was at that same session at Blogworld and I have to say I felt it was way more engaging. I am on the fence about giving a presentation with the twitter stream being projected. Seems distracting to all the points Bert discussed. I do really like it for panel board discussions. If someone is assigned (volunteer) this is a great way to keep folks on track.
I am afraid we will not be able to stop folks from using twitter.
Great post Bert!
Mike

By: Bert Decker

Bert Decker — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:08:42 +0000

Good points Lindsey, and I’m going to add my recent experience that reflects much of what you say. But what’s the “backtory angle?”
Bert

By: Lindsey OConnor

Lindsey OConnor — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 09:00:18 +0000

I think the best way for a speaker to combat the fear or unease of presenting to an audience that tweets is to go to an event and tweet it yourself. I’m a speaker and journalist. As journos we are trained to listen and write at the same time. It’s a skill we work on. The best tweeters are doing this too, getting more out of the event, not less. I recently got back from an event where I live tweeted a couple of sessions. Why? Because I was so engaged. It was like taking short notes on the most important things the speaker said that resonated with me, I just got to share them in a public forum. I didn’t read the tweet stream or follow a powerpoint or large screen of tweets. It was just the speaker and those of us taking notes. My notes were occasional tweets. Someone else has said that as speakers we can write into our presentations a few tweetable lines. Thoughts that are 140 character consise, that make for a good tweet, and that we repeat, so they can tweet. I see this as a positive for a speaker. And I haven’t even addressed the backtory angle.

By: Bert Decker

Bert Decker — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:43:08 +0000

Thanks Jenn. Great perspective and experience.
I’m looking forward to SXSW this week to observe and experiment with Twitter’s impact on the speaking experience.
Bert

By: JennKim

JennKim — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:35:28 +0000

I’m on the same camp as Dahle, I see your POV but also agree with some of Jeff’s points (without the sarcasm). There’s no way to stop your audience from Twittering – it’s ‘note-taking 2.0′
Having just returned from a social media conference (#digiday), I Twittered as it allowed me to add my perspective to what is being presented (regardless of anyone reading it or not as I’ll use it as my reference points later on). This in return kept me more interested and engaged than just listening.
I was at a conference a while back and there was a heavy amount of back-room twittering. To alleviate the noise, the conference started live-streaming their conference # on a large screen. Quickly the back-room noise died down and tweets turned into a flow of highlighted take-a-ways and feedbacks/questions for the panel.

By: Ali Akbar - Pakar SEO Indonesia

Ali Akbar - Pakar SEO Indonesia — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:33:58 +0000

Wewww…
As a Speaker am ‘afraid’ ;p
Great Posting.
THX

By: Bert Decker

Bert Decker — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:12:45 +0000

Thanks Travis. It would be good to get feedback, and the best ways to do that with Twitter will evolve. Right now I think the “Twitter Break” idea is worth pursuing, but I’m sure others will come to the fore.
Bert