It’s a busy time for conferences over the next couple of months, including Physiotherapy UK, Therapy Expo, Kings Fund event on AHPs and new models of care, and of course the UK political party conference season. So, on Monday 12th October at 8pmBST we’ll be tweetchatting about effective ways to use social media when planning, marketing, delivering, attending and evaluating healthcare conferences and events.
The last 5 years have seen huge developments in the way that social media are used to promote events and engage people on the day itself. By tweeting about conference sessions and speakers the organisers can raise awareness about the event and its purpose, and increase bookings; while tweeting on the day can help to meet and network with other delegates and also connect with people outside of the event and bring the outside in. For those unable to to attend the use of twitter by delegates means than we can follow key themes and commentary from a distance, with platforms such as Symplur and Storify allowing us to pull everything together in one place.
The launch of Periscope and Meerkat this year added the ability for people to live stream conference sessions, with Periscope linked directly to twitter and videos available for up to 24hours afterwards. This can be a useful way to make conference sessions or speakers accessible to people who are not able to attend the event.
During the chat we’d like you to share and discuss your suggestions for what works and what doesn’t, and think about some best practice guidance we will then curate and share for physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals to use over the next few months.
Pre-chat resources
- What is Twitter’s new Periscope app?
- Tweeting from events like #RCN15
- Using Twitter for your conference or event
- 9 Social Media Tips to Promote your Next Event without Spending a Dime
- Infographic: 8 tips for using Twitter around health-related events
- The Net Effect: how social media can be used to understand events
Questions to think about before the chat:
- We’ve seen social media done well and not so well at healthcare conferences – what effective strategies have you seen used for social media for conferences? What common mistakes have you seen made?
- How can you use social media effectively when attending a conference as a delegate? What practical things can help you prepare in advance?
- What good practice considerations do we need to think about, particularly when posting images or videos from events?
- How can we use social media at conferences and events to form networks and communities that carry on after the event?
- How does this all relate to improving services for patients?
Chat support:
- How to tweet chat
- Keeping up with tweet chats: using TweetDeck
- Professionalism and twitter
- #physiotalk flyer to download
Chat transcript
The chat transcript can be found here
