Twitter is not for everyone, I won’t argue with that. However, I’m a huge fan and one of the most useful times for me to use Twitter I’ve found is while on the road attending a conference or trade show.
The following are just some of the ways that Twitter helped enhance my Esri User Conference week (see #esriuc on Twitter).
Helping locate a room – I multi-task constantly although I do tend to be a bit forgetful… as a result, I’m often left wondering what room I’m supposed to be in when at the huge SDCC. Several times at the conference, when I was unsure where to go, I’d post a tweet and would almost immediately get a response.
Getting known at the hotel – upon arrival at the Hilton Gaslamp I checked in to foursquare while I was checking in, literally. I included a photo and as a result my tweet was picked up by the hotel crew, re-tweeted, and my photo was even uploaded to their official face book page. From that point on I was connected to their twitter account.. It even helped me to get a cork screw one night!
Getting people to the tweet up – on Sunday night we hosted a small tweet-up at Dicks. Some people were unsure where we were in the place or even what I looked like. I posted tweets with my photo and several people found our party easily as a result.
Free Food – Foursquare checkin and Tweet to my hotel got me a free appetizer with a drink purchase any day I wanted.
Spreading the news – to complement our PR promotion from GISuser we would post tweets to news releases and PR that were being released from the conference. This was a win win for all involved
Attending sessions virtually – the esriuc is huge, as a result you always want to be at 2 or 3 sessions at the same time. Watching comments and discussion from attendees at sessions you miss is a great way to stay in the know.
Reminders – many companies used twitter to announce when something special was about to begin. I hit a couple of sessions / presentations as a result of this.
Sharing my location – sometimes, particularly when at esriuc, I want people to be able to find me or even “stalk” me. Foursquare checkins with a related tweeet is helpful to share when something cool is taking place or if you just want company.
Free stuff – hey, I like swag as much as the other guy. Tweets that promoted contests, free lunch, and even free Starbucks cards were very handy and useful.
Getting local knowledge – there’s nothing more useful than tips from locals and twitter is a great way to get that. When I tweeted I was planning on walking to Balboa Park I wa immediately set straight and hopped into a cab for a mere $9… Problem solved!
Promote when vendors on the floor are doing something cool and fun… like giving away swag like the cool FME data challenge T-shirt I snagged from @BlueMarble and @DaleatSafe
Spreading the word… like when in a session I heard about ArcGIS 10.1 beta coming in 2 weeks, open to all, and would only be in a 64 bit architecture.. This is useful stuff to share!
Helping others “be there” virtually… I know it can be tough watching from afar and there’s always that feeling of envy, but overall people really do dig following the crowd through twitter.
Firming up meetings – I fly by the seat of my pants at events, often setting up meetings on the fly. There’s no better way to get my attention when on the road than with a twitter DM.. I get a txt message and an immediate alert in my mobile twitter client… priceless!
Helping companies be in multiple places. Case in point, snapping and sharing a photo of someone making a presentation enables their company to share that image with colleagues, clients, and potential customers… that’s huge.
Finding Cool Sessions – I actually attended several sessions mainly because people shared tweets about the content and described an awesome presentation taking place. Getting real-time feedback and comments about a speaker is really useful.
Following Me – My family is on vacation for the month so at least they can follow me on twitter and see that I’m ok and doing well… priceless!
Making friends – I can’t tell you how many people came up to me during the week and asked me… “hey, you’re Glenn aren’t you?” This shows you the value of twitter and the importance of posting photos and crucial, having a profile photo / avatar that actually resembles you.
Somewhat Related Articles:
10 Useful Twitter Tools and Third Party Add-ons for the Business User