Thanks for this post. I came across it while putting together my own thoughts on the subject ( http://monicahamburg.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/talk-amongst-yourselves-or-not-so-much/ ) and thought your point about how “The problem with people using Twitter during a presentation is that they are paying more attention to the voice that is in their head than they are to the voice on the stage” was spot on.

I have conflicting thoughts on the subject. Overall, as a speaker, it can be exciting to see the feedback after a session and to learn what resonated most with the audience. On the other hand, it is a huge distraction – and more so than taking notes – because of the truncating to 140 characters. And there is a huge risk that what is said is oversimplified and (in even greater supply) taken out of context.

As a participant, I miss a ton when I tweet. Which is why I (try to) avoid doing so.

Perhaps we should also ban speaker evaluations…wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings after all.

As a conference/tradeshow producer, sponsor, exhibitor, attendee and sometimes speaker I think Twitter is one of the best things to happen to conferences. I like to display the twitter feed during my presentations for real-time feedback.

In the past, yes, people did take and even pass notes during the presentations. Nowadays, however, if you are taking notes on your laptop, you are subject to myriad distractions that don’t exist in a pad of paper and these distractions are amplified if you are simultaneously adding them to Twitter and tracking what others are tweeting.

Ultimately, thought, the main problem is that audiences today are equipped with technology that has emerged fairly recently while the “person standing up and giving a presentation to a relatively passive audience”-thing has been around for centuries. We need to experiment with a presentation format that fits the new world – ad hoc group discussions, “flash” presentation, whatever – rather than ask people to return to the 19th century lecture hall every time someone approaches a podium.

http://johnmccrory.com/2009/12/twitter-at-conferences/

Perhaps your argument would be more persuasive if you could quote some examples of the offensive tweets. Then we might be able to see where you’re coming from a little better.

The role of the community manager would be to monitor Twitter and other social media platforms for all types of feedback and to address any negativity right away. Negative feedback can get out of hand,but is still an important part of business growth for the event and the speaker. The event should have a voice of their own to interject into the conversation and to do crowd control when necessary.

I’ve found Twitter to be very helpful at events and have used it effectively to promote the event and myself with relevant and useful information coming from the keynotes. My followers have appreciated it and have actually made decisions to attend events in the future based on what they learned from following the event hashtag.

Presentations are about learning, and learning comes through many channels, not just a lecture-style “one to many” format. Twitter is an attendee engagement tool that has opened the door for conference attendees to discuss presentations in real-time. Effective learning comes from shared perspectives, disagreement, analysis and collaboration. Twitter is a tool that helps make that possible.

In my own experience, I have found Twitter to be a very effective tool for note-taking. Instead of distracting me from a presentation it forces me to pay attention to all that is being said. While the “eye contact” with the speaker may not be there at times, my mind is always focused on the messaging of their presentation, assuming there is a message. While I may be interested in what the speaker says, I’m also interested in the opinion of my peers.

I am insulted by your statement “there are a lot of important people in the audience, yes. However, the person on stage is the most important one of all.” If it wasn’t for those people in the audience, you would be talking to yourself, Chris. Your audience (a.k.a. your customers) is the reason you are in business as a speaker in the first place!! Without them you would be looking for work elsewhere.

People attend face2face conferences for a variety of reasons. First and foremost they seek networking opportunities. They want opportunities to exchange new ideas and best practices with their peers, make new contacts, meet their customers and yes, get some education.

My guess is you are afraid of Twitter, and of the people using it, because you are nervous about what you might learn about yourself, or the true impact of your presentations. The days of a speaker with an “it’s all about me” attitude standing on a stage preaching to anyone who is willing to listen are rapidly coming to an end. Conference attendees will no longer tolerate this approach to presentations.

In the “new normal” of business today, customers expect to have a voice in what is happening around them. They crave collaboration, and interaction because it enhances their attendee experience. Speakers finding a way to fold in communication tools such as Twitter into their presentations will become popular with attendees because they have listened and responded to customer needs.

@michaelmccurry

Seriously? So, the attendee is not the customer, the speaker is? So the speaker should have to pay a fee to speak then.

Gosh, that’s like saying any business that has services or products is not really for the customer, but for the busienss owner.

You’ve got it backwards from the start. The conference is for the attendee, period. If the audience is not listening, regardless of Twitter, they will check out. Speakers are having to step up the plate and deliver good presentations that engage the entire audience or they should NOT be on stage. It’s the speakers fault if the audience is not listening. The speaker needs to change what they are doing and present differently.

For the first time, speakers are having to deal with real time feedback, instead of the complaints in the hallway after the presentation. Welcome to the 21st century.

Chris. It’s not about you or any of the speakers. If so, why don’t yall just speak to each other and the attendees will stop paying because you’re not meeting their needs.

PS…I’m an event professional who plans conferences for a living and I won’t allow someone on stage that can’t engage an audience. I don’t “ban” real-time feedback. I’ve learned how to use it to our attendee’s benefit.

Unfortunately, Twitter at a conference can give people free reign to be douche bags. Twitter and social media in general has brought a lot of good will, and community-oriented thinking to the world. That should be encouraged. Trolling should be strongly DISCOURAGED.

Perhaps it is the issue that now everyone is broadcasting and not just the few journalists/bloggers with their laptops open?

The most ridiculous thing I’ve seen yet is when they had a large screen behind the speaker at a recent conference that actually showed what the audience was tweeting while the speaker was talking.

As presenters we need to do our best to keep criticism in perspective; as audience members we need to remember that speakers have feelings and deserve to be treated with dignity, whether or not we were enthralled with their presentations.