Making the Case for Twitter
A few weeks ago I was asked to lead a full-day workshop on inquiry as part of an annual retreat for Delta principals and vice-principals. The day before the event one of the event organizers Aaron Akune and I got talking about Twitter backchannels, something I’ve used as a participant, but not as a presenter. We thought we’d give it a go during the event.
Just as the day was getting started and I was introducing the idea of backchannels, one of the participants asked a very honest question wanting to know my thoughts about the possible ‘distraction factor’ that comes from using twitter during professional events like this one. I stumbled through an answer – but didn’t feel like I answered the question very well.
I’ve been thinking about it over the last couple weeks – and if I could go back an answer the question now I’d say two things:
1) Yes there is a distraction factor. Except I wouldn’t call it a distraction – I’d call it an implementation dip. Whenever new tools, ideas, policies, etc are introduced there’s a guaranteed dip in ‘performance’ until a level of comfort is achieved. Of course this applies to using twitter to participate in a back-channel discussion. The first few times I would expect it to be clunky and awkward – and yes – someone might be focusing more on the tool than the presentation. But that dip quickly disappears – and the technology becomes something that enhances rather than reduces the experience.
2) Twitter during presentations is participatory learning. When twitter works well it becomes a wonderful case study of the best of technology-supported learning:
- We are producing in addition to consuming. Effective tweets create, summarize, synthesize and connect ideas.
- We make our learning public. Tweeting takes our private notes and makes them public – for those at the event and those not.
- We are participating in a community of learners. Using Twitter this way allows user to read and respond to others at an event. We are no longer learning isolation but part of a network sharing their thoughts and connections about the event.
- We are engaging productively with content. Having tweeted myself at numerous education events I find myself more connected, more engaged and listening more closely to the message being shared.
Thoughts?
Backchannel image from bobowen
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Neil,
I’m a proponent of using Twitter as a presenter for a number of reasons which you’ve touched on above. (I’ve published a few posts on Twitter as a presenter at http://speakingpractically.com/category/twitter-presenting/ if you’re interested.)
I like your point about the learning curve that happens whenever you take on something new – what you call the implementation dip. I think we can all relate to that adjustment period that happens when we take on a new skill.
From your picture, I’m wondering if you’re supporting the idea of posting the Twitter stream behind presenters while they present. I do not support that idea. When attending a conference as a participant, I tweet and monitor the twitter stream. I’ve learned when that works for me as an attendee and when I’m better off ignoring the twitter stream. But if you post the Twitter stream behind the presenter, the audience doesn’t have a choice. There are plenty of ways that people who want to follow a hashtag can do so. Adding a distraction within the set up of the room doesn’t serve the audience’s best interest.
What do you think? Has yours been a different experience either as a participant or as a speaker? Would like to hear your thoughts!
Kelly
I have used the Twitter backchannel as a presenter to identify what topics my audience connected with – see here http://deltascape.blogspot.com/p/mcata-keynote.html – and to involve participants in the discussion – see here http://deltascape.blogspot.com/2011/11/are-we-first.html
I also like using it in my class as a discussion. More than one person can talk at a time and I have a record for later assessment – see here http://deltascape.blogspot.com/p/how-am-i-using-ipad2-with-stem-fellows.html
I might be distracted and miss something because I was sending a tweet, but that is always the case. Twitter provides me a way to share my notes with the world. And by checking a hashtag I can see what I missed.
Great post and I couldn’t agree more! I LOVE using Twitter as a participant in a session – it helps me to connect with others in the room and in most situations I find it has added to the presentation. At the last conference I was at, during a keynote presentation, people were tweeting links to resources being referenced in the presentation, videos the presenter was using, further questions for each other to consider. I have always felt way more engaged as a learner when using and interacting via a backchannel and it becomes a great “refer-back” resource following the presentation.
As a presenter, I have used a backchannel (both Twitter and Todaysmeet) for a number of past sessions and I find that a large majority of people are not using it…yet. I think that points to the implementation dip element, as people come to view it as a valuable part of learning in a professional session. I did find that displaying the Twitter feed was a way to engage those in that “other” conversation, even if they didn’t have the technology. I think this is also a powerful way to demonstrate to those not engaging through a backchannel the value that it has for those utilizing it. Again, I think the more we use and promote the backchannels (particularly Twitter), we are going to see its effectiveness grow.
Thanks for sharing and starting a great conversation Neil! Hope the move has been a good one!
I agree completely, and as others have also stated, if we embrace this for adult participants then should we not also embrace this for students in our classes(who are actually using these communication platforms pretty seamlessly already)?
Thanks for sharing this–it is more useful information to back up my push for Twitter at my school.