My eduWeb (almost) wrap-up

Jul.22, 2009 in Live Blogging Conference Notes

Well, it’s the last day of eduWeb, and this conference has been nothing if not memorable. I’ve been mostly sticking to the Get It Done track, and haven’t been disappointed. My goal with this track was to really give practical, applicable advice that people could take home with them and implement right away, and I think we’ve achieved that goal. The presentations haven’t been about lofty theory. There’s really been a shift the last few years - we’ve gone from having to convince people that doing the web is a good idea, to saying “OK, you understand you NEED to do this….we’ll show you how.” I’m sure that some people need to be convinced, but now I think the majority are there. Now, we can focus on getting better.

I think that one of my favorite sessions was “Twitter Me This” with Robin Smail and Nikki Massaro Kauffman. This two ladies know how to put on a show. It was a very laid back presentation that focused on giving real advice about Twitter in an entertaining way. But it was interesting to hear the reviews afterwards, because it seemed the crowd either loved it or hated it. I simply don’t understand people who expect presenters to start behind a podium in a shirt and tie, acting like they are god’s gift to the crowd.

Tom Williams of Innogage also absolutely KILLED his presentation on user generated content. If you ever need a guy to show you how to create compelling content for next to nothing, Tom is your man.

But all of the other presenters in the track have been great too - Stewart Foss, Aaron Rester, Matt Herzberger, Kyle James and Brad Ward. Thanks to all of you for putting the time and the work in (for free no less). I’ve been to eduWeb three out of the last four years, and this one has been the best yet thanks to all of you.

And, of course, the .eduGuru team took home the eduStyle award for best higher ed blog. Thanks again to everyone who voted! You guys make all this worthwhile.

Today, I’m looking forward to Brian Niles’ keynote, learning about javascript for non coders with Christopher Schmitt and hearing about the practical uses of social media in recruitment with Anrienne Bartlett and Nikki Chun. Then it’s back home to Vermont and the real world I go. Off-topic: Big announcement coming next week. Some of you will be surprised. Some of you, not so much. Stay tuned!

If you missed my presentation, Billy Adams was nice enough to uStream it for me. Here’s the video!

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3 Comments on “My eduWeb (almost) wrap-up”

Robin2go
July 22nd, 2009
Hey, thanks for the props on our presentation. We really appreciated the opportunity to present to this audience and hope to be able to do so again (wink, wink, nudge nudge. I’m just sayin’). It is a rather unorthodox way to present, and some people weren’t comfortable with it. I’m okay with that. We’d rather go big than go mediocre; your mileage may vary. What we were trying to demonstrate was the conversational aspect of twitter; I mean, it’s 140 characters. You really can’t do a lot of slides on 140 characters. But it’s the conversations and interactions you have with those 140 characters that creates the impact. Directing it back into your organization can only benefit the organization. Hopefully some people came away with that message. If so, our shenanigans were not in vain.

As for the reviews, I found it very interesting that less than 20 people submitted written speaker reviews, while there were significantly more people in the audience. Of those, half didn’t like the style; fair enough. I’d be interested to know, however, if these were people who actually used social media. In fact, when you reviewed the twitterstream, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive–and that is actually more validating to me in many ways. What it says to me is that the people who know the power of twitter can appreciate new ways to harness the power of social media. There was a very real reason why I tweeted during Nikki’s bits; there is no more immediate feedback than twitter, and it helps to know if there needs to be a course correction. Of course, you don’t get anywhere preaching to the choir, and it’s good to remember that we don’t want to scare off those who are only at the beginning of the twitter life cycle. Feedback duly noted and processed.

On a broader scale, I love the additional dynamic the backchannel has created at conferences. It really builds the networking on a 24/7 basis, and I think that’s a real asset, both professionally and personally. I think the takeaways from conferences are stronger; when you’re tweeting about it, it’s kind of like the notetaking back in school, and the conversation reinforces it. That’s just a bigger return on investment.

Thanks for playing with us!