Encourage Tweeting to Enhance Your Presentation
February 3, 2010 by Jenni
A recent study found that 80% of “tweeting” is done outside of Twitter.com. People update anywhere, anytime, about anything. Given the popularity of Twitter, you might want to consider using it to your advantage by encouraging it during a presentation.
In a recent BusinessWeek article, Carmine Gallo spotlights Cliff Atkinson’s new book, The Backchannel, in which he shares five simple steps for incorporating Twitter into your presentation.
1. Accept it. – Gone are the days of the “please turn off your cell phone” disclaimer. Encourage your audience to use social media while listening to you and increase your brand awareness, without any additional effort.
2. Show that you understand how Twitter works. – Include your Twitter name and an event #hash tag on your title slide. By providing your username, audience members can quickly connect with you after the presentation. The event #hash tag gives people who didn’t attend your presentation the ability to view tweets in a stream as they happen. And as an added bonus, it will be easy for you to look back over the conversation and assess reactions.
3. Create Twitter-friendly messages. – PowerPoint presentations are usually crafted to include small bits of information, so when you’re putting it together, be sure to consider Twitter’s 140-character limit. Your audience will be more likely to share the information if they don’t have to rewrite it.
4. Take breaks. – Atkinson suggests taking a break and showing the event hash tag Twitter stream and addressing any questions that might have been tweeted.
5. Extend the conversation. – Social media can extend the impact of your presentation long after it’s over. Post the slides to SlideShare, link to the Twitter stream or provide a YouTube video of the presentation.
As an audience member, do you think you would be more prone to share information with others if the presenter encouraged you to participate via Twitter?
Photo credit: scobleizer
Tags: public speaking, Twitter