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Live Tweeting Tips and Tricks

 

Bianchi PR recently helped sponsor Wayne State University PR student Catia Sabak’s trip to the 2015 Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) National Conference in Atlanta. After her trip she wrote up a blog post to share some tips and tricks she’s learned when it comes to tackling live tweeting. Take a look at her advice.

 

By: Catia Sabak

I recently attended the 2015 Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) National Conference in Atlanta. With several days of guest speakers, breakout sessions and panel discussions, there was plenty of knowledge to capture. While pen-and-paper note taking is a standby, in today’s highly-connected society, I’ve found that at conferences and speaking engagements I want to share what I’m learning and interact with others during presentations. In light of that desire, Twitter has become my notebook, where I jot down the highlights of what I hear. With plenty of practice, live tweeting has become second nature to me, and I’d like to share some live tweeting tips and tricks with you.

1. Prepare

Most events provide a list of speakers and programs in advance. Do your homework, and look up the speakers’ Twitter handles. This way, you’ll be able to attribute any quotes, sentiments or questions to the correct people without missing a second of the action. Mentioning the speaker will often catch their attention and initiate conversations that may yield even more information than the initial presentation would have offered.

2. Use the Event/Presentation Hashtags

This tip ties into preparation as well. By making note of an event or presentation hashtag, and including it in all of your tweets, you are able to join a larger conversation and track what else is being said in response to a certain speaker or program. Hashtags also make it easier to archive and locate tweets related to a common subject even after the presentation has ended.

3. Look and Listen

It can be difficult to keep up with a speaker’s presentation while trying to type up flawless tweets before the next great quote comes along. To make sure that you capture every important point, carefully follow the speaker’s verbal and visual cues. Be aware of pauses and repeated phrases. These often indicate that the speaker is saying—or about to say—something important. So, if they repeat it, tweet it. Also, you can almost always count on a speaker to use some type of visual aid. These visuals can help you follow the presentation and identify key points to share. Not to mention, snapping a photo of an informative slide can do the work of a long-winded tweet.

4. Share Others’ Content

Live tweeting is an exercise in endurance and focus, and it’s inevitable that a few tweets will fall through the cracks. Fortunately, you followed the presentation hashtag (hint, hint) and have access to what everyone else is saying. Reference what others have tweeted and feel free to interact. Like, retweet and respond to others’ tweets. Chances are if you missed something, someone else caught it.

5. Don’t Forget to Take It All In

While capturing information is important, don’t let yourself get so engrossed in live tweeting that you lose sight of what is happening around you. Appreciate the speaker and the excitement of the presentation. Even if you lose track of tweeting, there are a number of follow up measures to stay in the loop on any presentation.

What’s your favorite way to capture information during a presentation? Live tweeting, blogging, traditional note taking?