Journalism Ethics Conference UW-Madison. New Media Academic Summit 10. Who can attend?
While registration is limited, we welcome academics in the fields of communications, business, public relations and journalism. Attendance is by invitation only. Invitations are not transferrable. The 2009 Summit was attended by more than 100 academics. 5 Ways to Use Twitter to Avoid a Backchannel Disaster. Cliff Atkinson is author of The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever (New Riders, 2009).
What do you do when you’re giving a presentation, and notice that your audience is looking down, busily typing on their laptops and smartphones? And what about when you get the sense that they are turning against you? When audiences use Twitter and other tools to communicate with one another during live presentations, they create a new “backchannel” where they share comments, questions and sometimes criticisms about the person speaking. This new dynamic has led to high-profile blowups between presenters and audiences, which makes it more important than ever for presenters to do the right things to avoid similar disasters. To short-circuit a possible disaster, keep in mind these five things you can do to prepare and engage the backchannel.