Next Generation Event

3 Annoying Things About DNC Twittering

I really like Twitter (I first talked about it here) and I love how it can be used during events to create a better experience for people at the event (and for people who wish they could be). Twitter seems to reach its full potential when being used in connection with events.

As a PR friend noted in her company blog yesterday, there is no shortage of twittering about the DNC. I have really enjoyed hearing from everyone and I think Twitter's role in the DNC is a success, but I have run into some things that I think should be improved upon next time around.

1. Companies or media groups (and the occasional individuals) who don't follow others.

It's OK if you don't follow me just because I follow you. I completely understand the drowning sensation that can come from following too many people and you really should just follow those you are interested in. But please--follow someone.

I have noticed that many companies (media or otherwise) have created new Twitter accounts for the DNC. Whoever recommended that these organizations start using Twitter should have explained that Twitter is best used as a conversation--not a megaphone. If you don't follow anyone, you are the equivalent of the loud jerk at the party who won't let anyone else get a word in. You're letting people know that you don't care about what they are saying. And if that is the case, you have no business dabbling in social media. Go back to printed news.

2. Hash tag chaos.

I am as responsible for this as anyone else. Someone--anyone--should have stood up and made the argument for specified, uniform hash tags for an event of this magnitude. For example, I would love to be able to differentiate between people tweeting from the Pepsi Center, people tweeting from Denver, and people tweeting from home. I'm not saying one post is more important than the other, but they do provide very different perspectives and their usefulness is increased if you can easily search based on these parameters.

Are there free drinks in some room at the Pepsi Center? I bet others in the Convention would love to know.

Is James Carville eating at the Wynkoop Brewery? If you're staying in Denver, you might want to try to stop by.

Did the Pennsylvania bar you were watching Hillary's speech in heckle her? That observation has a whole different type of intrigue.

You can still sort through the volumes of tweets with the #DNC08 tag, but it takes some work.

Of course, you can't force people to use hash tags (or to use the correct hash tags) and people can (and have been) abusing hash tags to get their tweets to appear in popular searches. But--if you get enough people to do it right, it will be a more pleasant Twitter experience for all of us.

3. Peripheral events not taking advantage of Twitter.

Yesterday, I attended the Emily's List Gala Reception, where Hillary Clinton, Barbara Mikulski, Michelle Obama, and others spoke. I sent out several tweets from the event, but could not easily find tweets from others there. Both the attendees and the organizers of DNC-related events would benefit from the interaction and publicity afforded by Twitter, but without some organized effort to pull the attendees together on Twitter (like a uniform hash code) you're left searching through the endless sea of #DNC08 tweets.

There are countless DNC-related events that are missing out on Twitter. Maybe I just missed it (if I did, someone please tell me), but I couldn't even identify a hash code for Monday's Rock the Vote event.

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These three items aside, it is exciting to see Twitter playing such a role in the Convention. Even if you're in Denver (and while to those of us here it seems like everyone is, in reality most people aren't), it is impossible to see everything and it is great to get first-hand accounts in real time. Twitter is making that happen.

Want to follow me on Twitter? I'm @gerkmana.

Denver DNC Delegates Taking Home Mac and Cheese

Here's a glimpse at the DNC Delegate schwag bag that was assembled by the good people at Goodwill Industries. I see some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (seems like an odd choice, but it looks like it might be a special edition box), chapstick, and Joint Juice (which I tried while down in the convention area yesterday--not bad if you need a little extra glucosamine).

While not notably green, I do think the tote bag is more likely to be reused than some. If I were a delegate, I'd proudly tote that bag to the grocery store every time.

ASAE Does It Right (Update)

A commenter on my post about the ASAE Annual Meeting directed me to the ASAE YouTube account, which has a discussion of the member directory (and an explanation of why they chose to use that instead of LinkedIn or Facebook), as well as several other videos (including several related to the annual meeting).

What Electronics Do You Carry On?

Me? I carry on two laptops and a projector. So this report from MeetingsNet caught my eye. Some companies have gotten the big idea to develop TSA-approved bags that allow you to just send your bag on through.

Without removing your laptop.

ASAE Does It Right

This morning, I noticed that Sue Pelletier of Face2Face was blogging from the ASAE meeting in San Diego. Her post about a "Bloggercon" session caught my eye and caused me to take a look at the meeting website.

ASAE went way beyond having a few social media sessions. It put social media to work and it's worth a look.

You can start with the ASAE blog, Acronym, which is tracking the event. But they don't stop there. They have a wiki called Associapedia (complete with an entry on Web 2.0 Tools). They're even using Flickr.

For kicks, I also took a look at the chatter on Twitter and people are definitely talking about ASAE (fewer results when I used the hash in my search, #ASAE, which is a common way to identify posts about an event).

They're also doing something fancy with the member directory to facilitate social networking, but it is available only to members/attendees so I wasn't able to check it out.

The online presence of this event has given me just enough to make me wish I was there--and I don't even work with associations. If you're interested in trying some new communication tools at your next event, I recommend taking a look at what ASAE has pulled off this year.

Green Meeting Webcast

Did anyone attend the green meeting webcast earlier this week?

I tried, but the connection was crackly to the point of distraction. If you missed it, too, I just received an email with a link to the recorded session here. If you listen to it before I do, let me know what you think.

NYTimes: Will Americans Accept Greener Hotel Rooms?

Americans can't stand the heat when it comes to greening hotels, or so it seems. According to this article in the New York Times, Americans worry dual flush toilets won't work and express discomfort at the thought of returning to a warm room and having to wait for the air to crank up.

Starwood is now featuring the "green" Element brand, which boasts natural light, in-room recycling and faucet filters, but stops short at installing the handy master switch, which allows a guest to turn everything on when she enters and everything off when she leaves.

Brian McGuinness, a Vice President at Starwood, gives hope that they may try the master switch in future Element hotels.

If we want it, they will build it.