Tweetwall: tools for animating events, connect your audience!
A tweetwall enables event organisers to communicate and interact with their audience. One of the best practices in event organisation is now to adopt this interactive mode of communication.
The world of events and the world of digital communication are now one and the same: internet users can be found both at the event venue (conference, seminar, etc.) and on social networks.
Using social networks to promote your event? This is now commonplace, thanks in particular to Twitter, the ideal network for encouraging dialogue, and tweetwall solutions.
To ensure maximum visibility, livetweeting is becoming a must. Here's how.
What is a tweetwall?
The term tweetwall, also known as Twitter wall or livetweet, refers to a giant screen, connected to an application, on which Twitter publications mentioning the same hashtag appear.
This innovative tool is based on the broadcasting of messages, posted by participants, live from an event they are attending. By contributing to the communication themselves, the audience becomes a player rather than just a spectator.
Whether you're organising a conference, a trade fair or a training course, the tweetwall is the trendy, fun solution for hosting and communicating effectively.
Connect a livetweet to boost your professional event
There are three main reasons:
- It's a vehicle for engagement: by giving your guests a voice, you encourage their involvement and interaction. People who aren't present will also be able to follow your conference, seminar or other event, by reacting and asking their questions to the speakers directly via Twitter.
- The tweetwall enhances the experience for participants: interactive and participative, it energises your operation and creates a buzz. People want to appear on it and react on Twitter to that effect.
- A livetweet helps to raise the profile of your event: the more people tweet about it, the more buzz you'll create on social networks. The viral effect will have a positive influence on the reach and popularity of the event... and on your number of followers!
Events and Twitter: instructions for use
It' s quick and easy to set up, and all you need is :
- A computer to access the web platform and for moderation work
- Free wifi access or a good internet connection so that the audience can tweet without difficulty
- A large TV screen or video projector to broadcast the live tweet
- A livetweet software or application
If you can't handle the community management and moderation of the discussion yourself, you'll need to enlist the help of a member of the organisation. Having a community manager run the tweetwall is crucial to the success of the operation.
Before the event:
1. Choose a hashtag
Relevant and representative of the event, it should above all be short, to leave room for the rest of the text in the tweet, and easy to remember. It can be :
- The name of the event: #EventPro
- The name + the year in the case of an annual event: #EventPro17 or #EventPro2017
- The initials of the event: #EP
- The initials + the year: #EP17 or #EP2017
To ensure that you generate enough traffic on the big day, it is essential that you communicate and disseminate your message to your audience before and during the event via :
- The event web page,
- E-mails sent to guests,
- Communication media (posters, flyers, goodies, etc.),
- Social networks, etc.
Important information Remember to create a Twitter account for your company and/or your event if you haven't already done so!
Below is a hashtag that has been set up on stage, so you can't miss it:
.@pierreAlzingre from @VISIONARI_Lab at #Shake16: "Le oui-we business: Positif & Collaboratif" #socialbusiness pic.twitter.com/b1bPsiuc3s
- Chloé (@chloepindeler) 17 May 2016
2. Creating and customising your tweetwall
Most livetweet applications are white-labelled and allow you to customise your tweet wall to match the colours of your company or event (logo, graphic charter, typography).
It's also an excellent way of promoting your partners by displaying their logo.
The big day :
3. Participants tweet from their smartphone, tablet or computer
Everyone who mentions the hashtag associated with the event takes part in the livetweet and their message is displayed on the tweetwall (subject to moderation).
Post a message or photo, react to someone else's post... anyone can get involved!
4. The moderator validates the tweets
To keep control of what's being circulated and avoid any excesses, moderation of contributions is essential and is made possible :
- through the use of automatic filters and the detection of inappropriate keywords defined in advance,
- manually, by checking each message in real time before it is displayed on the screen.
5. The stream of tweets is broadcast on the tweetwall.
The speakers can react live and reply to the messages posted, and so can the audience!
Below is a photo of a tweetwall at an event, integrated into a tweet (the loop is complete):
Express yourself on #Twitter with the htag #BGF and go to the #TweetWall! 😎 pic.twitter.com/DMC3cFSJAP
- Geek Festival (@Geek_Festival) 25 May 2017
Which tools should you use?
There are a number of web applications that enable event organisers to set up such a system. You'll find some that are more or less intuitive and dynamic, and some that are free and some that you have to pay for. It all depends on your needs, particularly in terms of customisation and moderation, and the way you want to use the system.
Be wary of free solutions because, although they may seem sufficient at first glance, they don't automatically offer a moderation and support service in the event of a technical problem. What's more, when you use a free platform, you run the risk of seeing the words "demo version" appear on the screen, or even an ad scrolling past every 10 minutes... not very professional, is it?
However, some animation tools stand out by offering additional services and functions.
This is the case with Prezevent, which goes further by helping you organise your event right through to tracking statistics and measuring its impact. Managing registrations, welcoming guests (check-in), analysing the commitment rate... all the stages before, during and after the big day are centralised and can be managed from a single application.
On the entertainment side, exchanges are made easier and richer. As well as interacting via Twitter, Prezevent lets participants who don't have an account ask their questions via SMS or via the dedicated web page and their private space. The messages posted on the wall therefore come from these 3 channels. For some companies that don't want to communicate their event publicly, the web page is also a very good alternative, more intimate than Twitter!
To make your conference, congress or seminar even more dynamic, and to get feedback from your audience, it is also possible to create and submit surveys, quizzes and satisfaction questionnaires to your audience.
Conclusion
Using a tweetwall is an excellent way of connecting and boosting your offline events while involving your audience. By appealing to the collective intelligence of your audience, they will feel all the more valued if you take the trouble to listen to them and react accordingly.
The ease with which it can be installed and customised makes it a formidable tool for your event communications.
Be careful, however, with the choice of software, which can be a determining factor in the success of such an operation. We have seen the advantages of real-time broadcasting, but the instantaneous nature on which the tweetwall is based can also have negative consequences for your image and professionalism, in the event of technical problems or poor moderation of intrusive messages.
Article translated from French