Another "From Me To We" Panel Tool: Text The Mob

What keeps me excited about social media is the ability to connect with people who you have never met and have a conversation about ideas you care about.  But what happens when you go into the real world and attend conferences?  Does the audience get a chance to have a conversation with you?

And, how can you facilitate that if you're speaking to a large group?  What are some techniques and tools for interactive presenting?

A few months back, Jeremiah Owyang offered this meta synthesis where he raised a few good points about how social media may impact the way we interact in the real world.  He wrote about the shift from Me to We and how conference panels are really important manifestation of this:

Speakers, Panelists, and Moderators must monitor back channel
Recently, I wrote a post that has been passed around many conferences on how to successfully moderate a panel. I’m now adding a section suggesting that the moderator first poll his community using some of these tools, and to also monitor the back channel in real time, while not all conferences will embrace a back channel, it’s safe to assume that Twitter will be found at many tech and marketing conferences

Back in 2005, I got a little obsessed with backchannel - after my experience at the London Global Voices Summit.  Those were the days before twitter and when we used IRC to facilitate a chat discussion with both remote participants and people in the room.   What Global Voices did that was particularly effective was to appoint a "Back Channel Advocate."   I can't remember if it was pre-assigned or whether the moderator asked for a volunteer in the room - but that person monitored the back channel and moderator looped them in read out loud the comments or ask speakers questions.

There are different methods of incorporating audience feedback depending on the format of the panel or session.  What are the best practices for blending face-to-face and online so it adds to the conversation in the room and doesn't cross the line to "rude" or "heckling"?  And, if you want to present something in a instructional way, how can you incorporate interaction without it being a confusing learning experience?

During the NTC social media ROI Case Study Slam I asked the audience to @kanter me with questions.  I had these directed to my cell phone.   I didn't quite manage to juggle it well.

So, now comes this new toy called "Text The Mob" It lets you create a poll or discussion board and project it on the screen and have everyone send their input via their cell phones and see results instantly!

I'm presenting in August at a conference and I'm so going to test it out.

How do you incorporate audience interaction in a large room discussion format?

Comments

[Bill Kennedy, CA]

Brilliant! I knew about rampant Twittering at conferences, but it hadn't occurred to me for the moderator to appoint an Advocate to monitor and comment on the traffic.

One of the things I loved about presentations in Second Life was that participants could text while the presentation was going on live. It enhanced the experience for both the presenter and the audience. I'd love to see this in the real world.

If the backchannel is being displayed for all of the people in the room, I expect that people will be more reserved in their comments (or they will find an alternative backchannel where they can say what they really feel).

Bill

[Stephanie]

Hi, Beth -

I agree - adding the backchannel can make events so much more interesting.

I attended an AMA panel on "Creating Killer Social Media Apps" in Boston this week, and the moderator (Chris Brogan) used his cell phone to ask the Twitter community, in real time, their advice for people entering the social media realm.

He got multiple responses back almost instantaneously, which not only made the panel more interesting but drove home one important piece of advice, which - not surprisingly - was mentioned by almost every Twitter respondent: be transparent.

I've also been to events that used the text-to-screen polling type app and it's wonderfully engaging as well.

Best,

Stephanie