How to use Twitter to engage participants before / during / after your chapter event

Transcription

1 How to use Twitter to engage participants before / during / after your chapter event Step 1: Consider following these groups on Twitter - Universities & colleges in your chapter &/or ones closest to your chapter (usually each school will have multiple accounts, start by following the general News account and the Faculty of Engineering, Science) - Engineers Without Borders, student engineering societies, ESSCO and OACETT chapters near you - NEM Ontario (especially Jan-Apr) Why? - You may get new followers who may start attending your events - They re usually a good source for content that you can retweet and build on. For instance, for the tweet below, you could reply with the date of your next girls in STEM event, or you could invite the tweeter to your next planning meeting on girls in STEM, or you could consider planning an event with the group, etc. - You can see what others are talking about/ events coming up/ etc. and you may be able to build on these relationships by attending in person or even just liking their tweets (when applicable), like this one:

2 - You may even find a speaker for your next event. Schools are very proud to feature new ideas/ research/ products of its faculty or students, something may come across your feed that has potential to be a great chapter event:

3 Step 2: Promoting your event - Start with a standard event announcement, try to include a relevant hashtag (if a big event like a symposium, create a hashtag for it, if a small event, use a topic/subject hashtag. For instance, an event on drones might just be #drones, a full day symposium on drones put on by PEO may be #PEOdrones16) and suggest it to a friendly ally that is likely to retweet/reply/or like your tweet, like these: - Don t forget to include the twitter handles of your event s speakers, chances are they will retweet it and in doing so, grow your event s reach:

4 - Within 24hrs of your event s start tweet out a pic of your preparations (if applicable) or just show how excited you are for the event:

5 Step 3: During the event - There are two main paths you can take sending out a few tweets or live tweeting the event. Sending out a few tweets works well for events that aren t based around lectures (such as a tour, a social event, sporting event, an event where students spend time building/ working on projects such as mathletics, design challenges, bridge building, etc.). The goal is to show your event is successful and people are engaged:

6 - Reminder: refrain from posting photos that are blurry, show people who are bored, or show half empty rooms

7 Live tweeting events works well at events that include a lecture/talk/seminar. - Think of yourself as being a somewhat attentive student taking notes in class: jot down just the major key points and don t worry about the rest of it. For instance, the following could be tweeted: - a profound statement can be quoted or paraphrased - a major stat - a pic of what is being displayed on the screen (if it s relevant and self-explanatory, remember your followers who aren t at the event won t have the background info) - questions asked out loud (and answers if given by the speaker) - questions of your own - photos from the event - retweeting event speakers, presenters, participants - There are a few key reasons to tweet live from an event: - it helps you to engage with those who are present by retweeting/liking their tweets and also to ask questions, make plans to continue the conversation with them after the - it also provides value to your Twitter followers who aren t at the event similar to the way taking and sharing notes with a peer who missed class is useful - its an avenue to share content and engage with your followers, even attract new ones - it helps you to connect with influencers: tweeting out key points of the speaker s message (who will later find your tweets) deepens the relationship you have with them and goes beyond the one event - just make sure to quote/paraphrase them correctly! Here are some basic steps for live tweeting (adapted from refer to the article for full description of each step): 1. Before the event think of one appropriate event name hashtag. For example, the recent CLC 2016 was live tweeted with the hashtag #PEOCLC2016, PEO s AGM used #PEOAGM. PEO Niagara, at its annual events with the NY State Society of Professional Engineers, uses #PEONYSSPE. Use a short hashtag that makes sense. Also, use only 1 hashtag to refer to your event, otherwise it gets confusing an you may lose touch with participants following you (for example, in the case of the CLC, there is a difference between using #PEOCLC2016 or #PEOCLC16, using both is a hassle for all involved). Now that you have an event hashtag, think of subject hashtags that you may want to also use in the body of your tweets to broaden your reach. For instance, at #PEOCLC2016, several times the topics of #CPD and #branding were used. Here are some other common ones: #PEO, #engineering, #renewableenergy, #climatechange, #manufacturing, #mentoring, #licencing, #PEOPeak, #CPD 2. Let your followers know you ll be live tweeting and will have a higher volume of tweets than usual. Give your followers some warning, some of them might want to tune you out, or in, depending on whether they are interested in the event.

8 3. Share relevant content. Avoid tweeting that you re listening to someone speak, or that the speaker is awesome or interesting. Those are suitable for before and after the event, but at the event, provide tweets with substance, such as quotes/stats/questions/answers/screen shots. Make sure your photos are not blurry and can be read.

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10 4. Retweet and try to interact with other at the event. Here s a great example of 2 chapters interacting at the CLC: 5. Don t hijack the conversation. People often take to Twitter to discuss an event while it is going on, or shortly after. Don t jump in with off-topic tweets unless you truly believe they will add value to the conversation. If you re thinking of using live events for self-promotion, think twice. 6. Follow other tweeters at your discretion. This includes event promoters and organizers, speakers, and regular participants. You can get some great networking done after the event is over if you take the time to connect. For a look at how 2 chapters live tweeted the 2016 CLC, click here (THANK YOU PEO LAKEHEAD & GRAND RIVER!!!!!) :

11 Step 4: After the event Just after the event and/or after each speaker if you have an opportunity: send tweets to thank your presenters/ partnering groups/ sponsors/ venue/ attendees / and of course your event volunteers! Don t forget to use twitter handles and still use the event hashtag. The next few days after the event: check the event hashtag for any new tweets, questions that weren t answered, any tweets you may want to retweet. Consider the following: - post a tweet asking followers to visit your event hashtag to catch up on yesterday s event - provide a short recap of key points or memorable moments - post relevant and timely content, maybe a new article was published within the least week that touched on topics covered at your event - retweet feedback from your participants - post your own follow-up questions (again still use event hashtag)

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13 Final notes 1. Just like with all your other forms of communication, your Twitter account is a reflection of PEO. It is ok to have fun, just maintain your professionalism. Your tweets should remain neutral and not reflect political or personal opinions/ feelings/ biases. Some event topics could be controversial, show both sides of the argument without taking sides if you do decide to tweet about it. 2. Work at your own pace, don t feel pressured to try everything at once. 3. It s OK to lose a few followers as you gain familiarity with Twitter, social media is fickle. Over time you ll begin to understand how your followers react to the type and the frequency of your tweets, and you can adjust accordingly. 4. Don t engage with Internet trolls. Block them. If you are being harassed by any member of PEO, contact Fern Goncalves (Director, People Development) at fgoncalves@peo.on.ca or Gerard McDonald (Registrar) at gmcdonald@peo.on.ca and refer to the PEO Anti-Workplace Violence and Harassment Policy: