Getting the most out of Twitter at professional conferences

While most of us use Twitter primarily as a social media tool, it is also an excellent tool for professional development (please check out @BreakDrink’s Twitter guide for student affairs professionals for a comprehensive how-to, including how to set up your own account). With conference season well under way for many of us, and NASPA about a month away, this is a good time to discuss how to use Twitter at conferences.

The first step is to begin following your professional organizations on Twitter if you’re not doing so already (ahem, @NASPAtweets). Note that several organizations host separate Twitter accounts for the organization itself and for their annual conferences, so check to see if this is the case (NASPA does not). If you plan to attend The Placement Exchange, I strongly suggest following their account at @TPEcanserv. Begin following these separate accounts right around conference time. Chances are that the individual updating the account will provide you with the most up-to-date information on happenings at the conference.

Consider setting up text notifications for the conference/organization account, especially if you do not anticipate logging onto Twitter or if you do not have a smart phone (you are not alone). This will ensure that if there is a last-minute room change or session cancellation for example, you will know about it immediately.

Sometimes, organizations will tweet about secret events or giveaways only available to Twitter followers. I remember receiving a tweet about free t-shirts and bouncy balls from @HigherEdJobs at last year’s TPE. Look out tweet-ups (Twitter-talk for a meet-up or meet-and-greet) at the conference. Attending tweet-ups is a great way to connect and network with other tech-savvy professionals and of course, to find new followers.

Finally, make note of hashtags that are created especially for that particular conference (#naspa11 is the 2011 NASPA Annual Conference hashtag). Save that hashtag as a search item on your Twitter app, or create a separate stream for the hashtag if possible to do so on your particular app (available on HootSuite, for example). Monitoring the conference hashtag will let you see what public users are saying about the conference. Most importantly, contribute to the conversation and use the hashtag when applicable (here is a warning from @StacyLOliver about hashtag abuse).

Do you have any other tips to share? Feel free to comment below. Remember to follow us at @tweetinglavoz. See you at NASPA 2011!