Tips on Using Twitter for Conferences and Events: Ideas for Organisers and Participants

The Twitter Back Channel

The term “back channel” generally refers to an online conversation about a conference topic or speaker. Twitter is now used extensively by both delegates at a conference and also by those wishing to follow tweets made by those attending, as a means of engaging in conversations relating to conference keynotes, workshops and other activities taking place, and as a way of sharing to their followers snippets of useful information. For many it also serves as a tweet event diary – a means of taking notes on key points throughout a talk or the event as a whole. The audience for conference and event tweets extends beyond those attending and opens up engagement from anyone following the hashtag or even happening upon tweets made by people they follow.

Preparation before an event

Choose a hashtag: You will need to choose a hashtag for your event. This should be short and…