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Now Y'all Know Here's Tweeting At You: Using Social Media To Expand The Hit Of Academic Conferences

[Episode 97] Today’s episode of the Social Work Podcast answers that age-old question, how do I alive tweet a conference? In Apr 2014, I recorded a conversation with members of the social media squad that was alive tweeting the 2014 American Association of Suicidology conference: April Foreman, Tony Wood, Quintin Hunt, Dese'Rae Stage, together with Cara Anna. The conversation was recorded at the terminate of 4 intense days. You’ll withdraw heed squad members talking most the personal together with professional person benefits of alive tweeting, how they handled controversial comments, together with what it was similar to live component division of an historic moment. I include a "best practice" guide to aid you lot computer program what to do before, during, together with after a conference or event.


Download MP3 [33:16]


Transcript

Today’s episode of the Social Work Podcast answers that age-old question, how do I alive tweet a conference? Ok, thence it isn’t an quondam enquiry inward 2015… it is a hot topic correct now. But, the enquiry “how do I utilisation technology scientific discipline to spread my message?” is old. Which brings me, of course, to Benjamin Franklin. 

In 1729, a 27-year-old Benjamin Franklin bought the Pennsylvania Gazette. The Gazette was a novel together with financially struggling newspaper, together with Franklin had to figure out how to cook some money. He took a page from the Google trouble organisation model together with decided that he needed to increment circulation thence he could sell to a greater extent than ads to generate to a greater extent than revenue. He had to do something that would cook his paper stand upward out from all the other local newspapers (and all newspapers were local). How did he do it? With pictures. He became the showtime someone to impress cartoons together with maps inward a newspaper. Over the side past times side few decades, these cartoons went from beingness eye-candy to serious political statements.


In 1754, after a near-tragic kite flight incident, Franklin drew together with published a political cartoon called, “Join, or Die.”
You powerfulness recollect this epitome from your chapter on the American Revolutionary War: a ophidian cutting into viii parts representing the fragmented colonies. This cartoon didn’t simply sell newspapers, it became a “symbol of colonial liberty during the American Revolutionary War.” In 1770, Benjamin Franklin realized that inward lodge for the colonies to unite against England, they had to part information. He became the showtime someone to postal service newspapers to other colonies. Remember, newspapers were local. Just 5 years afterward the colonies went to war… together with the balance is history. Literally. (Image: "Benjamin Franklin - Join or Die" past times Benjamin Franklin - This epitome is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints together with Photographs partitioning nether the digital ID cph.3g05315. Licensed nether Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.)

So what does Benjamin Franklin receive got to do with alive tweeting conferences? Everything. It is goodness to recollect that what nosotros think is cook novel is likely not. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 widely cited study from 2013 flora that people were 94% to a greater extent than probable to part tweets with pictures than text-only tweets. They flora out that people liked pictures. Didn’t B-Frank figure that out similar 300 years ago? Franklin flora that getting your message out to a broader audience tin live the best agency to fuel a revolution. In 2012, social media was famously used past times Arab Spring activists. Fawaz Rashed tweeted,
In the lastly few years pocket-size groups of tech saavy conference goers receive got realized that inward lodge to cook broader changes inward the world, academics receive got to receive got all of the potentially life changing information that is published inward journals together with shared inward conferences together with part it exterior of their piffling colonies. There, I balance my case.   

Today’s episode unpacks how together with why you lot tin utilisation social media acquire the message out. In Apr 2014, I recorded a conversation with members of the social media squad that was alive tweeting the 2014 American Association of Suicidology conference. The conversation was recorded at the terminate of 4 intense days. You’ll withdraw heed squad members talking most the personal together with professional person benefits of alive tweeting, how they handled controversial comments, together with what it was similar to live component division of an historic moment. Oh, together with I should say, exclusively i of the squad members was an information technology professional. Social media teams do non receive got to receive got social media professionals, although, if you lot receive got the funds, that would sure help. 

The showtime measurement inward getting your message out is… knowing what that message is. Academics are keen at details, but notoriously bad at sharing their passion.

Sometimes it takes an outsider, looking inward for the showtime time, to consider past times the the conference speak together with realize what that message is. that’s what happened at the American Association of Suicidology conference inward 2013.

Tony is an information technology guy. information technology is of import inward suicide prevention. It is the backbone of all those crisis telephone telephone centers, chat lines, texting services. That’s where Tony came in. He showed upward at AAS 2013 together with realized that the entire conference was most saving lives. But nobody was maxim it. It wasn't online. So, he made it his personal mission to modify that. But, you lot can’t live some random information technology guy, fifty-fifty i with a bright insight, together with acquire the word out all past times yourself. You postulate someone on the within who is as passionate. That’s where Apr comes in. Apr Foreman is @docforeman, a psychologist with the VA who is passionate most using social media to amend mental health. She together with Tony co-founded The Suicide Prevention together with Social Media Chat, aka that SPSM chat is a weekly twitter chat sponsored past times the American Association of Suicidology. So, why Twitter? The social network you lot likely pass most of your fourth dimension on is Facebook. And what do you lot do on FB? You ship pictures, similar people’s pictures, part a meme, perchance modify your profile moving-picture demo to a ribbon or equal sign, or whatever is on the slacktivist docket that week… But you lot likely don’t part a bunch of news. That’s where other social media networks come upward in. Right similar a shot Reddit is the front end page of the internet. Tumblr is famous for launching “the dress.” But Twitter is the position to part your headline news. And thence i of the ways that Tony together with Apr decided to spread the tidings most suicide prevention was past times starting the SPSM twitter chat. You tin larn to a greater extent than most twitter chats at SPSMchat.com. The side past times side measurement was to organize a social media squad to alive tweet the annual suicide prevention conference.

Apr invited folks she knew from the SMSP chat, similar Dese’Rae Stage, photographer, founder of the Live Through This project, together with suicide endeavor survivor, together with social media rockstar. Other squad members were Quintin Hunt, position unit of measurement therapist together with doctoral student, together with Cara Anna, journalist, editor of TalkingAboutSuicide.com together with endeavor survivor.

Most suicide prevention folks would similar the full general world to halt maxim that someone committed suicide. People commit murder. They buy the farm past times suicide. But, should alive tweeting focus on the intended content of the presentation? Adam Lankford was talking most suicide bombers, but kept referring to people who "commit suicide." Should the alive tweeting include commentary most this legitimate together with of import number of language? And of course of study we’re talking most the linguistic communication of suicide prevention as an example, but it could live whatever linguistic communication number that is germane to your specialty. Lankford also suggested that,
So, i of the things that happened hither was that Lankford said a dyad of things that were controversial, but they weren’t tweeted as controversies.

According to April, tweeting argument would live a legitimate agency of tweeting the conference. She suggested that targeted tweeting to specific constituencies would amend the accomplish of the conference. After the conference Tony checked the stats together with Apr was correct - at that topographic point was a BIG audience. Eight folks did the bulk of tweeting for a conference of yard people. Those tweets reached 347,000 people, together with had over vii 1000000 timeline impressions.

Now those numbers, together with this number of what do you lot tweet together with why, actually begs the question: if alive tweeting expands the accomplish of the conference, what happens when no i shows upward to a presentation? If it isn’t tweeted, does it count? It is a conference platitude to nowadays to empty room. But what if that happens because everyone, including the social media team, is deal i session? That’s what happened at AAS14, when everyone, myself included, attended a panel give-and-take that introduced the Lived Experience division.

AAS 2014 was the showtime fourth dimension that people with lived sense of suicidal ideation and/or endeavor were recognized with a formal division. Dese'rae Stage, Cara Anna, Craig Miller together with Misha Kessler spoke at a panel most their lived experience. It was an intense together with emotional moment, because of the stories, together with because it felt similar an historic minute inward which the stigma against people with lived sense was beingness replaced with abide by together with recognition.

This is what nosotros can’t tweet out. Not a criticism of twitter, simply a fact. We cook upward for it with evocative photos, emoji, heartfelt quotes… but hearing the emotion inward people's voices can't live replaced.

Which isn’t to say at that topographic point isn’t value to alive tweeting conferences. Indeed, That’s Dr. William Schmitz, Bill to his friends, a self-proclaimed technophobe together with at the fourth dimension of the interview, the president of the American Association of Suicidology said that alive tweeting together with social media was "invaluable, that’s what I’ve learned."

So what does it receive got to acquire the message out broader? You’ll withdraw heed from the social media squad what they thought made a divergence inward alive tweeting. And thence I’m going to part some additional recommendations that I’ve seen inward the twelvemonth since I recorded this interview. These recommendations come upward from hubspot.com, profhacker, together with the SPSMchat folks whom you lot receive got been hearing from today. The links to all of those are on the Social Work Podcast website.

Download MP3 [33:16]



Tips for Live Tweeting a Conference or Event


Before the event

  1. The lawsuit sponsors should figure out the official hashtag. Otherwise everyone volition cook upward their own. Since hashtags are the main agency to apace detect relevant tweets, at that topographic point is a huge divergence betwixt CSWE2015 together with CSWE15. And it goes without maxim – the hashtag should live short.
  2. Have a social media team. These are folks whose main role is to tweet the events. They postulate to know what the hashtags are, which sessions to attend, how to acquire meshwork access inward the basement of the conference pump (an expensive nightmare), alongside other things. Someone should live inward accuse of the social media team. Just similar whatever other team. If you lot tin acquire an information technology someone similar Tony together with a content proficient together with all-around mischief maker similar Apr to co-chair, you’ve got yourself a overnice social media team. 
  3. Figure out who volition live tweeting / retweeting from the organization’s official account. If I were at a conference sponsored past times NASW together with I saw that NASW was retweeting together with replying to my tweets, I’d live pretty stoked. Yes, I know that the someone inward accuse of the NASW twitter trouble organisation human relationship powerfulness live twenty years old, but the of import affair is that past times retweeting, NASW has given my tweet the postage stamp of approval.
  4. Schedule of import tweets / posts. If you lot desire to remind people to attend a mass signing Fri at noon, at that topographic point is no argue to hold off until Fri at 11:30 to manually ship it out – you’re going to live busy together with forget to tweet it out. I similar to utilisation HooteSuite. I log in, schedule tweets over several days. If I’m organizing a encounter up, I tin schedule a tweet per hateful solar daytime most the encounter upward together with utilisation the replies to position to a greater extent than folks who volition live joining me.
  5. Find someone or some organisation that has a huge twitter next together with receive got them tweet a PSA most your conference with the dates together with official hashtag. Imagine Oprah tweeting out to her 27 1000000 followers, “I’m going to live next #AAS15 this twelvemonth to larn how to relieve lives. You should to.” 
  6. Create epitome templates. These are photos or graphics that you lot tin add together text to. Share them with your SoMe team. Remember that 2013 study of 400,000 tweets? Photo tweets are 94% to a greater extent than probable to live shared than text-based ones (http://danzarrella.com/use-images-on-twitter-to-get-more-retweets.html). 
  7. Use an analytic tool to figure out the touching on of your social media presence. Typically these are commercial sites similar hashtracking.com that require you lot to register the hashtag or hashtags inward advance. They runway the number of tweets, who tweets, how many retweets, together with the accomplish of the tweets. This is where it gets interesting. As I mentioned earlier, at that topographic point were most yard people at the 2014 suicidology conference, but the tweets were seen past times almost 350,000 people. That’s a huge reach. (https://www.hashtracking.com/reports/spsm/AAS14/LAconf2014). The link to the AAS2014 hashtracker study tin live flora on the SWP website. Update Apr 19, 2015: The social media squad alive tweeted #AAS2015. The accomplish increased to 2,266,514. Those stats tin live flora here: https://www.hashtracking.com/reports/spsm/aas15/AAS15 
  8. Last, but should live showtime on your listing is to acquire buy-in from the lawsuit sponsors. That affair you lot heard Bill Schmitz say most how the organisation had to do it? That’s precisely the variety of affair you lot desire to withdraw heed from the leadership. But it likely won’t live easy.   

During the event

  1. Set upward displays at registration together with the antechamber that randomly display recent conference tweets. I similar visibletweets.com. It is a visualisation tool that is designed to display Twitter messages inward world spaces. The animations are real plough of the century, but totally effective. 
  2. Use the lawsuit hashtag inward every tweet. You tin sign inward to websites similar tchat.io to automatically add together the hashtag to your tweets. Or you lot tin tweet straight from the some of the conference apps that receive got that built in.
  3. If you lot are a presenter together with you’re on Twitter or Instagram, include your Twitter / Instagram handles on your showtime together with lastly slide together with handouts together with allow your audience know if they tin or cannot tweet out your materials / ship photos of your slides.
  4. If you’re alive tweeting, tweet responsibly. If presenters said, “please don’t tweet this or receive got pictures,” thence don’t. If the presenter gave explicit or tacit permission, given them credit inward your posts. Use their twitter handles. If they don’t receive got a Twitter handle, utilisation their lastly name. An slowly format is to pose the person’s hollo first, followed past times a colon, followed past times the quote, followed past times the conference hashtag, thence the session hashtag. Brian Croxall from ProfHacker suggests using a text expansion tool to automatically format your tweet. Type inward a few words together with bam, it is expanded into the speaker’s hollo together with the conference hashtag.
  5. Interact with folks who retweet or comment. Reply. Follow them. Engage. Social media is… social.
  6. Take pictures of folks deal the conference. This isn’t 21st century selfie narcissism. Remember the Yalta Conference, Feb 1945 – the i where Churchill, Roosevelt, together with Stalin met to beak most ship WWII reconstruction? No. But you lot recollect the photograph of Churchill, Roosevelt, together with Stalin sitting side past times side to each other. And that happened at the Yalta Conference.
  7. Listen for the soundbites. The showtime someone to tweet a hot quote volition acquire the most RTs. Take it a measurement farther past times adding the quote to your epitome templates. Tweets with images tend to acquire to a greater extent than RTs.
  8. Archive your tweets. This comes straight from @docforeman, a pioneer inward archiving tweets. If you’ve tweeted with a session hashtag, archive the session using Storify. Storify enables you lot to search past times hashtag across several social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. It pulls upward all of the tweets, photos, posts associated with that hashtag. You tin add together all of the content to your story, or you lot tin select commutation tweets, photos, etc. You tin add together a narrative to the content. Once you’re done you lot part the archive to your network, together with warning everyone who has been “quoted” inward your story. @docforeman has a keen turorial on using Storify at SPSMchat.com.

After the event

  1. Host a tweetchat or alive Google Hangout to debrief the event.
  2. Look at those analytics you lot fix before the event. Find out which tweets were most widely RT’d. Who was your most prolific tweeter? Who had the biggest reach? Did moving-picture demo tweets dominion the day? Are Ben Franklin together with the researchers who did that 2013 study right? Or are they wrong? 
  3. Do i lastly endure archive the social media with Storify.
  4. Meet with the conference organizers. Present them with the archived tweets, the analytics, together with the recommendations for what worked together with what didn’t work. Ride the moving ridge of excitement together with acquire some buy-in for side past times side year’s conference before everyone goes dorsum to their every hateful solar daytime lives. 
Thank you lot to April, Tony, Dese'Rae, Cara Anna, together with Bill for lending their thoughts together with reflections on the podcast today.

References together with Resources

Music of the Revolutionary War (Public Domain Mark 1.0). 
  • Masterpiece Medley - Fifes together with Drums of the Old Barracks
  • Yankee Doodle - Village Volunteers Fife & Drum Corps
Tech resources for Twitter Chats
Live Tweeting Events:
Kolowich, L. (2014, July 3). Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Live-Tweet Your Event. Hubspot.com.  Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/live-tweet-events
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/ten-tips-for-tweeting-at-conferences/54281



APA (6th ed) citation for this podcast:

Singer, J. B. (Producer). (2015, Apr 15). #97 - Here's tweeting at you: Using social media to expand the accomplish of academic conferences. [Audio podcast]. Social Work Podcast. Retrieved from http://spsmchat.com/2015/04/10/aas15-hashtagging-and-spsm-strategies-for-large-conferences-language-warning/
  • Storify: https://storify.com/
    • Live Tweeting Events:
    Kolowich, L. (2014, July 3). Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Live-Tweet Your Event. Hubspot.com.  Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/live-tweet-events
    http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/ten-tips-for-tweeting-at-conferences/54281



    /search?q=10/aas15-hashtagging-and-spsm-strategies-for-large-conferences-language-warning/">http://spsmchat.com/2015/04/10/aas15-hashtagging-and-spsm-strategies-for-large-conferences-language-warning/
  • Storify: https://storify.com/
    • Live Tweeting Events:
    Kolowich, L. (2014, July 3). Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Live-Tweet Your Event. Hubspot.com.  Retrieved from http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/live-tweet-events
    http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/ten-tips-for-tweeting-at-conferences/54281



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