Reflections on backchanneling

Posted by: Dr Ashley Tan on: September 20, 2012

In: Uncategorized
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I tried encouraging audiences to backchannel or ‘live’ tweet at my last three talks (Google Apps for Ed, Indonesia; Google Apps for Ed Summit, Singapore; 10′CMT).

I had different degrees of success, so that got me thinking about what helped and what did not.

I started off each time by wanting the “talk” to be a “chat”. I set that as an expectation with every audience. But I have come to realize that there are three other important things to consider.

The first is how well you know your audience. It helps immensely if your audience is acculturated to tweeting ‘live’ or backchanneling.

If not, you might have to resort to “planting” tweeters who can model the process so that others decide to join in.

Finally, it helps to have some control of the arrangement of your computer. In all three of my presentations, the physical setup of the venues prevented me from having my computer in my immediate line of sight. This prevented me from seeing my slides and the tweet stream simultaneously.

You cannot always know your audience in advance but you can plant tweeters. You can use something like Reflection or AirServer with an iPad, control the presentation with the iPad, and monitor the tweet stream at one go.

Maybe I will try that at the MobiLearnAsia conference next month!