Event Position - Backchannel Management

Kin Lane
Written by
· 2 min read
I am doing a lot of research around using social tools in event and conference planning right now. I am researching usage of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social tools in event presentation and speaking at the moment.

Planning, preparation and then ultimately presenting a session or keynote at a conference is hard enough. With all the new social tools being used by conference attendees in real-time at sessions, a presenter can hardly ignore this, and should be integrating into their planning and operations.

Conference planners should provide tools to assist speakers and presenters to help them be as successful as possible, however as a presenter you can't depend on this. You should consider building into your operations a new assistant position.

I am predicting we will see a growth in need for "back channel" assistance for speakers and presenters. This is someone who will help you manage the real-time social footprint of your presentation. Assist you in managing:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
Depending on your target audience, much of your audience may be actively on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and talking about presentation or session, either to share with their audience, take notes, ask questions, or providing feedback.

Speakers and presenters should not only monitor and interact with this, they should be owning, directing and engaging this "back channel" and use it to their benefit.

As I am continuing research in this area I will provide more information.

Related Posts