Thursday, March 14, 2013

Live-tweeting best practices

Live-tweeting a conference or a keynote is a great way to share the knowledge and value that a conference can offer. It's worth the time of encouraging attendees to share the information they're gaining from the event. We've gathered some tips on live-tweeting that will boost the experience for both ends of the communication.
(Photo via)

Take notes
Live-tweeting doesn't mean just parroting back whatever's said during a speech or a seminar. It also means distilling commentary down to its essence, so that you convey more than just a soundbyte. Taking notes will help you to do that.  And anyway, when's the last time you were able to type on your smartphone as fast as someone was talking, and with any accuracy?

Add your own impressions
Something as simple as tacking on an "agreed" or a "true, but..." clause echoes the tried-and-true Twitter edict of engagement: It's nice to hear what's happening at a conference, and even better to know that the person passing on the information is...well, human.

Pace yourself
Fifteen tweets an hour is exhausting for everyone. Tweet when you hear something that inspires you, or when a slide comes up that has blinking stars on it. But you don't have to tweet everything.

Check your replies
If you're live-tweeting, chances are, someone's replying to you. So be sure to hit refresh every once in awhile and make sure you're paying attention to folks who are paying attention to you. A little "thank you" makes for a nice break in live-tweeting, too.

What are your best practices for live-tweeting?