NEW YORK -- Web 2.0 Expo -- Here at the Javits Center in New York City, several industry innovators have come out to take the stage at the Web 2.0 Expo. But some are having a hard time keeping the audience's attention. The culprit? What else? Twitter.
Oh, wait. That's right. I'm sorry. This isn't the "Audience Conference," so there is no audience here. Rather a roomful of content co-creators who, along with their status as members of the audience, have also shed their human decency.
I've been to tradeshows and conferences before where a giant Twitter screen has managed to upstage the person with the prepared slides and speech -- the invited guest who has likely flown some distance to give a talk about his or her area of expertise. Take Sawhorse Media's "Shorty Panel" last year, for example, where four panelists sat dumbfounded during their presentation while the Twitter board behind them lit up with snarky comments, prompting laughter from the audience.
A similar situation just occurred here at the Web 2.0 Expo during a keynote given by Microsoft researcher danah boyd, who was apparently speaking too fast for the Twitterati -- how ironic. Throughout her entire presentation -- entitled "Streams of Content, Limited Attention" (also ironic) -- boyd stood in front of a giant screen of Tweets, most of which were attacking her presentation skills:
@billyger: danah boyd from microsoft is talking way too fast. It's hard to follow and I have no idea what she is talking about. #w2e
@dandam: Danah Boyd loves coffee. #w2e
@andybudd: Wow, people are bleeding out of danah boyd's somewhat dry and accademic lecture.
And so on.
The relentless Tweets prompted the crowd to start laughing. And laughing. And after struggling through her presentation, boyd posted on her blog:
Unfortunately, my presentation at Web2.0 Expo sucked. The physical setup was hard and there was a live stream behind me. I knew something was wrong because folks started laughing in the audience. Unable to see anything (the audience, the stream), I found myself closing down.
This is why I take issue with the need for a live Twitter feed at tech conferences. Not only is it distracting, but the self-absorbed crowd never fails to feed off of its ability to upstage the speaker and often -- as it was today -- to the point where it's detrimental to the presentation and beyond rude.
Was boyd delivering her presentation fast? Yes, she was. But it would have been a lot easier to digest if the crowd wasn't too busy composing snarky Tweets and tried to actually pay attention.
The Twitter board was taken down a couple of times when the stream of insults started getting out of hand, but it was put back up again. My vote would be to take the toy away from the kids until they can act old enough to use it.
Looking at the comments on this post, I can't help thinking that many people haven't fully digested that there's no real choice here: we can't turn back the tide, we can only learn how to take it into account.
The conversation is happening, no matter what you do, so attempting to hide or moderate offensive tweets is just sticking our heads in the sand -- do we really want the presenter to be the only person who's not getting the full picture?
Likewise, it's pointless telling people to behave better -- the trend towards adolescent snarkiness might improve as use of the system becomes more widespread, but it's never going to go away.
I believe the ONLY way to deal with this phenomenon is to get ahead of it, by controlling and using the twitter conversation as part of the standard presentation experience -- for example, by including tweets in the presentation itself, and engaging the audience, through questions or votes (disclaimer: I wrote a set of "PowerPoint Twitter Tools" that are available on my web site: http://www.sapweb20.com/blog/powerpoint-twitter-tools)
In the meantime, yes, there will be painful experiences, but frankly, if it leads to fewer bad presentations, I can't help thinking it's a great thing...
Presenters need to add new skills to their arsenals, and potentially develop skills that only stand-up comedians have needed until now, but that’s the new world, like it or not....
Sounds like several things went wrong if I am reading all this correctly. I don't think the main issue about twittering, but there should have been some moderation in order for tweets to stay on topic.
If this is the first time she made this particular presentation in the environment with a live twitter feed that would not be easy and require some practice. I have given presentations with live questions from floor and they keep you on your toes. I can’t imagine jumping in to do this without preparation in the specific environment.
What was the actual value added of having live tweets and was it really relevant to the topic? It seemed like it was more of a distraction than an enhancement to the topic.We may sometime use a technology because it is there without realizing the full impact.
why is it that when it comes to digital things, we have this amazing propensity for amnesia? so much of what is debated about the intermet has been covered for decades, if not hundreds of years. what if NY Times journalists used "screen names", and television advertisers used "witty" handles like "beerlover69", when in fact they were Budweiser? isn't this the problem with Twitter? or any other variety of digital communication where the users identity is masked by a layer of abstraction from their true identity? in almost all cases, a little forensics will yield the actual name of the publisher, but come on, unless its criminal, this just isn't going to happen. would we expect the nature of Public Tweets to change if tweets required the use of your real name, or your real name plus a coda of some sort of get uniqueness? obviously there is an impact. look at what happened when myspace allowed "fakesters", aprt from teila Tecquila, that was their magic bullet. would the reigning in of screen names on twitter be their death? what happens in real life to people who run around in costumes disrupting the public? why do we forget every iteration of social construct as soon as we go digital? sure its "liberating", and if you want that, don't pretend to be shocked and appalled when things don't go so smoothly. Hmm, didn't T Hobbs cover this off quite a long time ago? reminds me of the guy who spent $2.5m in WoW to buy a virtual sword. imagine the power of that virtual economy to create a virtual "thing" with that kind of real value? wouldn't it be so unfair if suddenly the game designer created 10 more identical swords the next day? "unfair"? by who's rules? but I digress. well actually I don't. you cannot cherry pick the social protocols you would prefer to have online. without enforcement,a nd/or consequence, you have no control. even worse, you have masked identity which is in almost all cases the grease to social chaos. Outside Las Vegas, people almost always remain true to their character in real life, because.......fear, shame, shyness, etc. Twitter is a digital intoxicant. inhibition be gone. might as well hand out halloween masks at the next conference if you are going to create a twitter billboard. real-time social-media driven graffiti . nothing more than spray painted text-bites lobbed on top of structure. to the artists, their work is "self expression", to admirers, their work is pop art. to the guy who has to clean it up, its vandalism. so I am presenting at a conference, and someone sprays graffiti all over my public appearance(where of course I am true to my real identity), how should I feel about the "artists"?
Here is my suggestion to you Bauerb, turn the computer off, don't have that eleventh cup of coffee go outside for at least and hour get some exercise and fresh air...you are frightening me.
I was at Web 2.0 Expo today in New York City and attended the keynote discussions. Before they started, the conference organizers addressed yesterday's "tweets-gone-wild" situation and apologized.
During today's keynotes the live tweet display on stage was real-time but "curated."
Interestingly enough, the lineup of speakers were very good and based on the vibe of today's audience, would not have drawn much negative feedback (if any).
Baratunde Thurston kicked it off with a hilarious presentation, "There's a #Hashtag for That," which was equally educational and entertaining.
Is Danah Boyd even noteworthy enough to garner her wishes to be referenced as "danah boyd"?? I don't think so... Don't feed this ego-silliness Nicole!!
I'll more likely reference Chad "OchoCinco" as Chad "Azz Weepay" Johnson and don't even get me started on "the Performer formerly known as Prince"... Please!!
Anyhow, I'm surprised that Ms. Boyd didn't use her significant MS clout to bring the shennanigan's to a halt until the screen was darkened and the spot lights lowered... Oh, did I mention she must not be that noteworthy?? My bad...
while i feel sorry for her having to endure what was obviously a horrible public speaking experience my sympathy is considerably reduced by her name affectation
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