Live-Tweet

Southern Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference

Hosted by North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center

Tara Connolly, Live tweet organizer

Summary | #SEACon2012 Live tweet

With a modest effort initiated two weeks before the Southern Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference, Live tweet organizer Tara Connolly, in collaboration with NCEC staff, set up a live tweet, meeting NCEC’s objectives (see objectives slide) and resulting in 350+ #SEACon2012 tweets as well as participation from non-attending Twitter users across the U.S. and as far away as Australia. The live tweet also received a positive response from conference attendees who participated.

About | #SEACon2012

About #SEACon2012: The Third Annual Southern Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference, hosted by NC Entrepreneurship Center (NCEC), was held Saturday, February 11 at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. More than 350 people from 5 states and students from 18 universities attended. Most live tweet and Facebook coverage was posted to live tweet organizer Tara’s personal Twitter account (650+ arts and entrepreneurship oriented followers) and Facebook account (400+ fans). Most data in this report refers to coverage and statistics gathered from live tweet organizer’s personal accounts.

Results | #SEACon2012 Live tweet

Though we did not have access to advanced metrics, below are some summary figures from the live tweet as of February 26, 2012:

→ 350+ #SEACon2012 tweets

→ 50+ Retweets

→ 25+ Participants (RTs, mentions, responses)

Initial Goals | #SEACon2012 Live tweet

• Generate more buzz before conference • Promote brand and encourage more attendance at future conferences among non-attendees • Publish a record of conference sessions • Encourage engagement with conference content and interaction among attendees

Process | Live tweet organizer’s steps

1. Pitched idea, captured hosting organization’s objectives in holding a live tweet

2. Created hashtag in collaboration with NCEC staff 3. Before conference, conducted outreach to interested parties

and partner groups (art and entrepreneurship groups, speaker networks) and live tweet organizer’s personal network to encourage participation in the live tweet

4. Before conference, compiled a spreadsheet of relevant multi-media links, quotes and information about each speaker, activity and session for use as content during live tweet

5. Tweeted key points from conference sessions, multi-media links, pictures and posted media to Facebook throughout conference

6. Published conference recap blog posts and sent them to live tweet participants and partner groups after the conference

Pre-conference Engagement

Pre-conference partner group engagement

Pre-conference promotion

Pre-conference RT by @jmknc, Raleigh, NC – 1,111 followers

Non-attendee engagement | State-wide

RT by @NickDiCo, Raleigh, NC - 1,118 followers

RT by @jmknc, Raleigh, NC - 1,111 followers

Non-attendee engagement | Nation-wide

RT by @coolmcjazz, D.C. – 2,458 followers

RTs by University of Miami Masters Program in Community and Social Change

Non-attendee engagement | International

5 RTs in Sydney, Australia by @PaperCatTales

Attendee engagement

Post-Conference Engagement

10 RTs to reach 14,900+ followers

RT by @AfricanAmArt in NYC

Facebook Activity

Facebook post - #SEACon2012 Iron Pour

Most Popular Tweets

@taralconnolly: Here's my recap of Beverly McIver's keynote at #SEACon2012 this weekend. Enjoy! ow.ly/9348f

@ksvintagegarden: No idea is sacred and every idea is

sacred- J. Gallucci #SEACon2012 @taralconnolly: #SEACon2012 is hosted by @UNCGStartup,

Entrepreneurship Center at UNCG, which helps students in non-business areas apply business practices

@ksvintagegarden: Glad we are tweeting...cause I missed

this. Funny!“@bryantoney: An entrepreneur feels like a swiss army knife - Joe Soler #seacon2012”

@taralconnolly: Young entrepreneur @mlrollings suggests

other performance artists check out YAP Tracker for resources + audition notifications #SEACon2012

Evaluation | Areas for improvement

• Publicize hashtag to attendees in advance at conference registration and preconference email reminders. Publicize hashtag around the facilities during conference. Consider projecting live Twitter stream in lobby at conference to encourage more participation among attendees • Link organization social media accounts to live tweet organizer’s social media management account for maximum posting to both personal and organizational accounts • Utilize advanced data collection through social media management tool such as Hootsuite for analysis of live tweet results

Takeaways | Successes

• Before the conference, identified partner groups with an interest in the content or an affiliation with one of the speakers and encouraged them to participate in live tweet and share content with their network, resulting in more RTs during conference and sharing of recap material after conference • Utilized live tweet organizer’s existing social media network including many contacts with interests in conference content (most non-attendee participation was on part of members of live tweet organizer’s personal network), resulting in more RTs and participation among non-attendees • Utilized conference recap blog posts as mechanism to reach out to live tweet participants and partner groups after conference, resulting in more sharing of at #SEACon2012 content during weeks after the conference

Resources

A Basic Guide - How to Live Tweet an Event

http://www.movements.org/how-to/entry/how-to-live tweet-an-event/

Case study - Results from live tweet (tweet up) event in Boston:

http://bostontweetup.com/2011-masschallenge-awards-bostontweetup-review/

Case study - Live tweet increased event sponsor promotion

http://bostontweetup.com/boston-fashion-week-social-media-review-swap-case-study/

About the Live tweet organizer | @taralconnolly

Tara Connolly I’m a freelancer and communications contractor based in Raleigh, NC. I’ve worked with more than 15 nonprofit organizations to craft compelling communications, strategy and development initiatives. In January 2011, I was featured on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s website as one of “Ten New Nonprofit Voices.” I’m an avid tweeter, reader and life-liver. My love for arts, culture and travel has taken me to 16 countries. Learn more about my work at www.taralconnolly.com. Contact me at @taralconnolly or taralconnolly@gmail.com.