Why Twitter Is a Must if You Attend Blog Conferences
We’re smack in the middle of blog conference season. Last month, I attended my first blogging conference and nothing struck me more than the fact that Twitter was my lifeline to the conference. When I wanted to find out something, I went straight to my phone to find the answer.
The hashtag for the conference updated like wildfire so I know I wasn’t the only one.
If you’re heading to a blog conference this season and my posts on making sense of Twitter and what to tweet about haven’t made you jump into Twitter yet, then this is my last shot to convince you. It’s gonna work, right?
First things first: to get the most out of Twitter at a conference, you’ve got to follow the conference’s hashtag (if they don’t have one, get a refund cause it isn’t a blog conference worth attending). And sure it helps (majorly helps) to have a smart phone too but you can still benefit from Twitter with just your laptop or tablet and an Internet connection.
So Why is Twitter a Must at a Conference?
People WILL Ask Your Twitter Name
In fact, some people might look at you as if you time-warped from the 17th century if you DON’T have a Twitter name. As I mentioned on my post about things I learned outside the sessions at Type A, your Twitter name might as well be on your birth certificate. Some bloggers will want to follow you right then or they may just be trying to place exactly who you are (don’t be offended: first and last names are second-tier names in the land of blogging).
Catch Tweets from Sessions You Missed
There you are, sifting through a kick butt conference schedule and wishing there weren’t so many great sessions at the same time. Or maybe you’re sitting IN a session but it wasn’t quite what you were expecting. Following the conference’s hashtag will get you tidbits of info from the sessions you WISH you were in.
Catch Missed Info from the Session You’re Sitting In
On the flip side, you can use Twitter if you happened to miss important info at session you’re in. Things like applications the presenter mentions, a cool trick or tip or an important statistic that you missed because you were (ahem) chatting on Twitter.
Have Your Own Virtual Concierge
Looking for the best Mexican food in town? Wondering why there’s a crowd about a vendor booth? Need to find someone to carpool with to the airport? Twitter can help with all of this. Tweeting pictures of food must work wonders for bringing in business for some of these killer restaurants.
Use It Just Like Text Messaging
Find people for meals, sessions and parties by @ mentioning people you’re looking for. I used this a lot to let certain people know what time we’d meet in the lobby. It’s much easier than text messaging because most times, I didn’t have phone numbers for people, just Twitter names. (See below for how NOT to be annoying when doing this.)
Win Stuff
For example, at Type A back in June, we could tweet to win an Ubisoft prize pack, blue bunny ice cream and other stuff. Who doesn’t want to win stuff, especially if all it takes is a 140 character tweet?
How to Follow a Hashtag?
So, now that you know WHY you should be on Twitter at a conference, how to you keep up with the hashtag? Just do a search for it with your fave Twitter phone app and then save the search so you can reference it later. If you use Tweetdeck or Hootsuite on your laptop or tablet, add the hashtag as a column. If you use Twitter.com to tweet, then you need to watch this video and grab Hootsuite. You’ll seriously question why didn’t do it ages ago.
Will You Annoy Your Followers?
It depends on your followers BUT in general, I’d say people just know to ignore the tweets that are conference-based, unless you’re tweeting good tips from the sessions, in which case they’ll LOVE you for it.
To minimize your annoying factor, try these tips:
- Warn Them: You’ll be tweeting a lot over the next few days so show a little courtesy and give your followers a heads-up.
- Provide Juicy Info: Give your followers some of your new-found knowledge. Share valuable tweets like sound bites, tips, resources and other good stuff from the sessions you attend.
- Use @ Mentions When Possible: If you’re going to ask someone at the conference a question, don’t say,“hey @TWITTERFRIEND…” Just start your tweet with @ so ALL your followers don’t have to see it (only those who follow you and that person will see it).
