Webcasting EDUCAUSE 2009: A Look Back via Twitter

2009 December 1

tags: back channel, blended events, brand building, conferences, educational technology, EDUCAUSE, event networking, hashtag, live webcast, marketing tactics, Mediasite in action, on-demand webcast, promoting your work, ROI-TCO-ROV, social media, Sonic Foundry Event Services, trending, Twitter

by Erica St. Angel

Last month Sonic Foundry webcasted keynotes and featured sessions from the EDUCAUSE 2009 Conference: The Best Thinking in Higher Ed IT. The conference organizers did a great job of getting everyone on board with the #EDUCAUSE09 hashtag early, taking Twitter by storm once the conference was underway - actually trending at one point during a session (which happened to be about Twitter, “Disrespectful and Time-Wasting, or Engaged and Transformative? The Mile-High Twitter Debate“).

Meanwhile, I was at home, sick. But I spent my upright-time watching Mediasite and monitoring the conference tweets. And I believe the tweets about webcasting EDUCAUSE offer a revealing lens through which to view this education technology conference.

Here’s a link to the full Twitter transcript for #EDUCAUSE09 by day, from October 1 to November 15. But know people are still tweeting about it.

And here’s my take on why all of this was a good thing (and what any of you conference organizers out there can glean from it).

The Power of Publicly Available

EDUCAUSE decided to make a select number of presentations available publicly via Mediasite. These sessions were what they thought would be their most popular. And while the conference was going on in Denver, they also elected to make some presentations public even though they weren’t on the original docket - to help drive more conversation online and to aid in overflow where they had too many people show and not enough physical seats.

While many people paid to take part in EDUCAUSE Online, their first virtual conference offering, many more people “attended” through the combination of live presentations via Mediasite and Twitter.

@JMarcHopkins: Thank you #Educause09 for streaming several top quality presentations to the public!
@jjjohnson01: Hear, hear!! RT @JMarcHopkins Thank you #Educause09 for streaming several top quality presentations to the public!
@kevinoshea: soon to be watching @lessig at #educause09 and you can too at http://bit.ly/3lLx6G
@UWM_CIO: Missed the Lessig presentation live due to a conflict, but just watched it thanks a twitter post to #EDUCAUSE09. Effective presentation.

And while Lawrence Lessig’s keynote (available here) won the Most-Tweeted Presentation Award hands down (as you’ll see if you read on), the fact that Jim Collins’ presentation was not available also merits mention.

@peatick: Looking for a way to get the Jim Collins #educause09 presentation, so it can be shown to the rest of our IT team.
@kyleejohnson: @peatick I think Jim Collins asked that the presentation not be recorded or available later. Too bad too. #educause09
@ellenelemans: @EDUCAUSEreview Is Jim Collins’s General Opening session streamed / available? Our Dutch participants would be very happy! #educause09
@EDUCAUSEreview: @ellenelemans Unfortunately, Collins did not grant approval for streaming or recording. #educause09

Takeaway: If you want people who aren’t at your conference to talk/blog/tweet about your conference (and maybe attend in the future? read on), give them a taste by making at least one of the big deal presentations available publicly.

The Power of Online

People watching from home were truly thankful for the EDUCAUSE Online option. They watched alone and in groups. From home offices and shared work spaces. And even though you might first consider them a faceless mass, it got personal in a good way - with people sharing where they were watching from, how they felt and how thankful they were.

@StevenLukeSmith: @educause We’re at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY… great conference so far!
@ranti: All I did was just sit down and watch the presentations online. But I feel tired as if I was there in person. #educause09
@jpostonday: Thank you to everyone at #educause09 for tweeting so much! So many great nuggets coming via twitterstream.
@Melissa_Venable: Enjoying access to #educause09 via online sessions and Twitter. Thanks, all!

Takeaway: Taking your on-site conference to an online audience is a meaningful way to build rapport between attendees, speakers, conference organizers and your brand.

The Power of Live

Lessig presenting his keynote live at EDUCAUSE09

What is it about live? We get asked this all the time and we’ve yet to come up with a scientific answer. It just draws people in - maybe it’s that you fear you might miss something. Or something might go wrong. Or you feel more connected to the presenter. Whatever the reason, people dig it.

@mzyw: At general session. Diana Oblinger says that there are over 1000 EDUCAUSE Online participants for this session. #EDUCAUSE09
@griffey: Yay for streaming from #educause09! Go @lessig, go!
@shelton_wes: #educause09 Love that educause is streaming sessions on the web. Listening to Lawrence Lessig’s copywright session: http://bit.ly/1HJXIa
@jjjohnson01: Loving the remote presentation capability of Lawrence Lessig’s Keynote #educause09 @lessig - thanks!

Lessig presenting his keynote live at EDUCAUSE09 Online

Takeaway: Going live inspires people to talk in real-time about what they’re watching, and that helps build community.

The Power of On-Demand

Here are two of the many ways the on-demand EDUCAUSE’s presentations are useful: first off, many people - including presenter Lessig himself - wanted to share them on-demand and that sharing went beyond just retweeting the links.

@lessig: Posted ‘It is About Time: Getting Our Values Around Copyright’ to blip.tv: http://blip.tv/file/2827842
@Alan_Wolf: @educause #educause09 @lessig Will we be able to remix this keynote?

Second, from the moment the presentations ended to right now, a month after the conference, the conference organizers and their followers are still sharing - and learning from - the content.

@deburca: Impressed that @lessig talk on “Getting Our Values Around Copyright Right” is available for replay already http://bit.ly/1TS10O #educause09
@lpt21: just rewatched lessig keynote from #educause09 some things are worth a second helping: engaging, inspiring, challenging http://bit.ly/26Dino
@GardnerCampbell: RT @cljennings: Finally listening 2 Twitter Point-Counterpt frm #EDUCAUSE09; http://bit.ly/2n8JwX Open web citizenship a critical life skill
@friszb: RT @mediasite: Just got my @educause newsletter. So cool to see the #educause09 on-demand sessions in 1st story. http://bit.ly/v08zZ
@educause: @friszb @mediasite Glad you liked the #educause09 newsletter! http://bit.ly/v08zZ Thx for the tweets!

Takeaway: Conference webcasts will yield value long after the conference is over.

The Power of Technology

As you well know, people can be super loyal to their particular technology favorites. So we weren’t surprised when there were a couple tweets like this:

@Fishbreakfast: Educause uses Silverlight. Grumble::grumble.

But tweet for tweet, the majority of people watching online were overtly happy - sometimes even giddy - about the Mediasite player. And in the meeting world, first impressions count.

@EDUCAUSE_Vic: #educause09 sonic foundry is sponsoring the video stream, so it’s over silverlight vs. adobe connect - more reliable too!
@griffey: Watching the Educause livestream makes me deeply, deeply embarrassed for LITA and ALA. Wow, that’s some production value.
@carrie_at_umass: #educause09 Lessig remotely via Mediasite/Silverlight. Lessig session was great!!!
@robchlucas: Waiting for Educause 09 online session, “Print”, to begin. OMG the silverlight media player is beautiful! http://bit.ly/3gpVXn
@kathycannon: Participating online in the #Educause09 conference. Very well orchestrated by Educause and robust connectivity and interface via MediaSite
@rashford: @mediasite Thanks! Must say I’m impressed by sonicfoundry-best live stream I’ve seen-awesome look http://tinyurl.com/lvw24l (GFU-check this)

Takeaway: As deep as we are in it, it’s still early days for webcasting, virtual or blended conferences. Growing pains are normal but with the right partner, trying new things for your conference - like live streaming - can pay off in a big way.

The Power of the Back Channel

For many the jury is still out on the usefulness of Twitter, particularly in the academic context. But for a highly biased sample, those tweeting about EDUCAUSE were happy campers, even when they weren’t happy campers.

@barrydahl: Nice. The main reason I wanted to be at #educause09 was to see Lessig. Now I can do that online. Get on with it Diana. http://bit.ly/1HJXIa
@jparryhill: @bidentity More importantly, why am I participating online rather than coming to #educause09? Does conversation need a locus of place? (no)
@qubriq: Coffee definitely more often than not burnt at Denver Convention center. #educause09
@educause: @qubriq We agree about the coffee and will pass it along! #EDUCAUSE09
@lukelibrarian: unexpected benefits of attending #educause09 online: no shortage of power outlets or wi-fi connectivity
@educause: @rivenhomewood Apologize for the lack of outlets in mtg rooms. Pls do make use of our Power Bars-across from EDUCAUSE Central. #EDUCAUSE09
@JMarcHopkins: Thank you #Educause09 tweeps for great connections and back-channel for those of us who could not be there.
@bkiggins: @amcollier I was attending Educause on-line, so Twitter was great to following the “happenings” #educause09
@tabounds: Really didn’t see this at #educause09. Thought the back channel was quite productive and sometimes entertaining. http://bit.ly/1wKscS

Takeaway: Whether you currently tweet or not, chances are someone in your audience will. EDUCAUSE got out in front by defining the hashtag, engaging people early and responding to concerns. As a result, they became a part of the back channel vs. trying to control it.

The Power of Brand Building

EDUCAUSE got major props for both a) offering an online pass and b) streaming many of the most popular presentation publicly. For many conference organizers, it’s a tough pill to swallow. If I webcast it, why would anyone come? But again and again, people tweeted (and retweeted) that they wished they were there and how thankful they were for the online option.

@ctuckness: reading all the fantastic tweets about #educause09; wish i was there now!
LDinSTL_Chimera: @rrodrigo So jealous! Wish I could be there this year! #EDUCAUSE09
@BeccaDavies: RT @brendanguenther: For the far-away … #educause09 streams & recordings: http://bit.ly/2lVRpA great to follow via twitter & online
@DIHarrison: @educause Thanks for letting me participate from afar. The public streaming presentations were very good #educause09

And ultimately, I believe streaming online plus Twitter created such an alluring environment that many people were taken in.