I used Twitter to report from 2 conferences and was relatively happy with the results. See the summaries for yourself -- the oldest post is at the bottom and the newest at the top (reverse chronological order, same as blogs):- NEJM Horizons Conference
- ACAAI 2008 Annual Meeting
Consequently, I was happy to respond to the question below:
@dreamingspires: this weekend is an experiment in live tweeting. any tips/advice for doing this at conferences.... #NEJM this is not.
Tips for live tweeting from a science conference
- Take your time, don't feel pressure to post. Think before your hit "update"
- If you are in the middle of a lively conversation, posting on Twitter is counterproductive, wait.
- Twitter works great to summarize your thoughts after the conference - in the evening or at the airport.
- Tell other conference attendees you are tweeting, they will be more engaged and provide feedback about your posts and whether you are "doing it right." I live tweeted from NEJM, ACAAI and multiple lectures. Enjoyed it every time and my colleagues were fascinated and encouraging.
- Don't forget to enjoy the conference and your live tweeting from it. Otherwise, it's worthless.
- Ask your Twitter followers what they think of your updates & what they want to know from the conference.
- "Live tweeting can be 'non-live' in the evening too = better quality" - Yes.
- Summarize all of your live tweets from the conference in a blog post. It is helpful for later reference.
References:
Science Conference Coverage with Twitter
NEJM Horizons Conference to Push Boundaries of Traditional Medical Publishing, Day 1
Twitter Updates from the Severe Asthma Workshop at the 2008 Annual Meeting of American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI)
Twitter Dispatches from the New England Journal of Medicine's Horizons Conference. The Efficient MD.
I will be attending NEJM Horizons Conference to push the boundaries of traditional medical publishing, suggestions welcomed
Allergists Can Use Twitter Microblogging Service to Send Patient Reminders
Using Twitter to Microblog a CME Meeting
A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter
27 Things To Do Before a Conference, chrisbrogan.com.
Image source: Twitter.com.
Related reading:
8 things I learnt about using twitter as a participation tool. Olivia Mitchell, 2009.
How to Attend a Conference as Yourself - and make the best out of it - Harvard Business Review http://goo.gl/OsyxO