14 Jan
The transformational power of Twitter
I’m at the BETT Show in London this week and something strange has happened to me. I’ve started acting out of character. I tend to be quite a shy person, prefering to watch from the sidelines rather than get involved with people but my use of Twitter at the show this year has been transformational.
THE FAMOUS WI-FI T-SHIRT
Even before I arrived at BETT, @ProperCoffee, @phillhowson, @architela and @peter_s_clarke had convinced me to wear my geek Wi-Fi T-shirt in my breaks from stand duty. I think without their encouragement I probably wouldn’t have bothered. So here’s the proof:
Wi-Fi T-shirt
Transformational? Well if you know me, you’d probably agree this is a bit of a departure. It’s a bit of fun but not the kind of fun I usually take part in…
So, spurred on by my new-found confidence, I started to take part in #BETTtig on Twitter. This meant I got to meet both @dughall and @deerwood who both turned up at the National College stand at the same time. I BETTtigged @deerwood and so the game continued.
TEDx AND THE ‘I CAN’ BUG
After a torrent of tweeting during the day, I decided to see if I could get into the TEDx Orenda event, despite not having a ticket – again, this is out of character for me! It turned out to be very straightforward to get into and I settled down with the trusty mobile to check the tweets via the official tag #TEDx.
An inspirational video from Kiran Bir Sethi set the tone for the evening as we heard the story of how Indian children have been empowered through what she calls the ‘I can’ bug. In this spirit, I sought out various Twitter contacts including @DawnHallybone, @TerryFreedman and someone I have wanted to meet for a very long time, @Alfie, who was one of the presenters. It was a fantastic event with a wide variety of quality speakers.
@Alfie at TEDx
I could have sloped away after the event and in previous years I think I would have done but the momentum built up by my Twitter activities and TEDx led me to introduce myself to people who were, without exception, warm, friendly and keen to talk.
TWITTER AT BETT – GET INVOLVED!
So, without wishing to labour the point, I have had an incredible first day at BETT this year and it was all thanks to Twitter and the fantastic folk in my Personal Learning Network. What will day 2 bring? See you on Twitter… #BETT2010
Posted by Johnny Laird on 14.01.10 at 9:09 am
Glad you enjoyed TEDx..I thought it was excellent.
J
Posted by Tweets that mention Mulryne.com » Blog Archive » The transformational power of Twitter -- Topsy.com on 14.01.10 at 9:09 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kevin Mulryne, dughall. dughall said: RT @kevinmulryne: Read how Twitter transformed my #BETT2010 http://bit.ly/8iiCfa [...]
Posted by Doug Woods on 14.01.10 at 9:09 am
Hi Kevin, glad you liked BETT. For me. too, Twitter is a great tool. I use it a great deal at conferences and exhibitions. I find that there are often so many things going on at such events that it is rarely possible to visit or participate in all of them. With other people using twitter we can share what we find and our thoughts and views about them. For me, a key moment was at last year’s Handheld Learning conference where I thought one of the speakers was dull and boring but the tweets from a couple of other people who thought the speaker was excellent helped me not only to stay awake but also to understand the point the speaker was getting across.
BTW I’ll get you back for the tig next time, @deerwood
Posted by Kevin on 14.01.10 at 9:09 am
Thanks for the comment! Yes the back channel is very powerful. We did a bit of research on how a back channel can aid learning in web conferencing – highly effective for a lot of people!
I’ll be watching out for the attempted re-tig!
Posted by Johnny Laird on 14.01.10 at 9:09 am
Hi Kevin
I made a few notes about TEDx which you might find interesting….or not!
J
http://johnnylaird.blogspot.com/2010/01/tedx-orenda.html