A few weeks ago, Brad wrote about the power of conferences combined with Twitter hashtags and the ability to connect with other conference attendees. While it’s true that this can be a valuable tool to connect with others while at a conference, you also have the ability to connect and utilize information from conferences that you DID NOT attend due to lack of budget, scheduling conflicts or some other reason. In these situations, social media becomes your best friend.
Over the past few years, conferences have changed the way they operate. While most still charge for registration, the content they produce and distribute is no longer restricted solely to those who register. The content is distributed everywhere. It just becomes a matter of where to look.
This is where the Twitter hashtags Brad referenced come in to play. Prior to a conference, the hashtag and Twitter stream are usually available on the conference site, publicly broadcasting updates about the conference as well as providing you insight as to who’s attending and where to look for further information. This allows you to follow the accounts of people who are at the conference. This is valuable information because most people utilizing the hashtag will send out links to the content being presented and sometimes even links to live feeds of the conference.
A #nacce7 hashtag Twitter update
WorkSmart recently attended the 7th Annual NACCE Conference in Chicago. They used the hashtag #nacce7 throughout the conference. This allowed people at the conference and not at the conference to stay up-to-date with what was going on there.
Another tool at your disposal is Scribd, a document and presentation storage site that allows individuals and companies to post content. Following many conference sessions, the speaker will post that presentation onto Scribd, making it accessible to anyone and everyone — perfect for those who were unable to attend. To find this info, you can either search Scribd or get a link to the presentation from the speaker or listeners’ Twitter feed.
So the next time you are unable to attend a conference, connect with it on your own schedule. Use the conference site as a starting page and, through simple searches on Twitter and Scribd, you can find most of the information at your fingertips.