Anyone that's ever heard me speak about social media and new methods of communication will know that I often express an irony that in order to speak to (with) audiences at events about social media, you typically end up standing in at the front of the room speaking out at the audience. But social media isn't about a single person on a platform talking out, it's about multiple voices crossing each other, conversing, engaging, sharing and interacting. Above all, it's about harnessing the power of a community of voices to bring value to each other.Now, the use of technology amongst audience members during the conferences that I often speak at is typically fairly quite low at the moment. You'll still hear requests for mobiles to be turned off, and coffee breaks are often used to check voicemail and email (I get asked to speak to PR people a lot so they're always checking for those all important messages from journalists). I tell people to turn or keep their mobiles and laptops on, and to share with each other and with me. This is because I know that multiple voices have far more value and knowledge to bring than just one. I can present my opinion from the front of the room, but everyone in that room will also have experiences and knowledge to share, so technology offers us the means with which to capture and share that knowledge.
This week I'm at the South by South West (SXSW) Interactive conference in Austin, Texas. Here, as you might expect, the use of handheld devices during workshops and sessions is universal. And every workshop has it's own hash tag meaning that audience members can tweet to participate throughout and see what others are saying, thinking and sharing. Anyway, the purpose for this blog is really to tease myself a little with the question of whether this adds value to a session or detracts from the session. My attention span for what the people at the front of the room are saying is certainly compromised but is this because what they're saying just isn't hitting the mark for me, or is it because the twitter buzz and the multiple voices from the audience are providing me with a richer experience so it no longer purely matters what the headline speakers are actually saying (they're now just prompting)? Either way, what I am clear about is that as an audience member you can enrich the experience of others in the room (and importantly those not in the room) by sharing links and additional information above and beyond what the panellists or speakers are offering. This might be in the form of links to relevant case studies, resources or articles that tap in to the subject matter being discussed. So, now when I'm attending a panel discussion, it isn't just the voices of those on the panel that are important, but the views of everyone in the room also pitching in on that conversation. Yes, it causes a lot of chatter and buzz to cut through, but I think the key challenge for all of us is just to develop new filtering mechanisms, to be able to listen out or watch out for the 'keywords' relevant and interesting to us and, importantly, as audience member to share and not just receive. That's the spirit that social technologies helps us to foster.
