Excerpted from the Backchannel: How Audiences Are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever by Cliff Atkinson
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Excerpted from The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever by Cliff Atkinson. Copyright © 2010. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and New Riders. iv Contents Introduction . x [ 1 ] Why Are You Calling Me a #@*% on Twitter? 1 A Whole New Audience . 3 The Seeds of Confl ict . 9 Introducing the Backchannel . 16 Back from the Brink . 19 A New View from the Podium . 24 [ 2 ] How to Join a Twitter Backchannel . 29 The Backchannel and the Rise of Twitter . 30 Choosing Twitter as a Backchannel Tool . 33 Step 1: Open Up a Twitter Account . 36 Step 2: Preview a Backchannel Twitterstream . 40 Step 3: Begin Growing a Twitter Community . 44 The Rewards and Risks of the Backchannel . 47 [ 3 ] The Rewards of the Backchannel . 49 A Cure for Hiccups, or a Presentation Revolution? . 50 How a Backchannel Changes Presentations . 51 The Reward of Engaging Information More Fully . 57 The Reward of Engaging One Another . 59 The Reward of More Feedback . 62 The Reward of Reading the Minds of Audiences . 63 Diving In to the Backchannel Controversies . 65 [ 4 ] The Risks of the Backchannel . 67 The Keyboard vs. the Microphone . 68 The Risk of Incivility . 68 The Risk of Distraction and Confusion . 71 --Backchannel_book.indbBackchannel_book.indb iivv 110/30/090/30/09 33:51:47:51:47 PPMM Excerpted from The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever by Cliff Atkinson. Copyright © 2010. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and New Riders. CONTENTS v The Risk of Unfairness . 72 The Risk of Chaos . 74 Understanding Backchannel Blowups . 76 Audiences Are Changing in Fundamental Ways . 76 Opening Up to Change in Presentation Approaches 80 Maximizing the Rewards, Minimizing the Risks . 85 [ 5 ] Preparing for the Backchannel . 89 Affi rming What Doesn’t Change . 90 Surveying the New Landscape of the Backchannel . 91 Starting an Even Bigger Conversation . 94 Creating a Presentation Home Page . 99 Setting Up a Presentation Wiki as a Simple Start . 101 Adding More Material to Your Presentation Home Page . 103 Facilitating a Backchannel in the Room . 108 Working with the Host on the Fundamentals . 111 Getting Ready To Get Your Content Ready . 113 [ 6 ] Making Your Ideas Twitter-Friendly . 115 Becoming a Filter for Your Audiences . 116 Defi ning Your Most Important Points . 118 The Rule of Four Tweets . 120 Breaking Up Your Ideas into Twitter-sized Chunks . 121 Putting Your Four Tweets in the Context of a Story . 124 Beginning the Process of Distilling Your Ideas . 126 Writing Your Four Tweets on Four Slides . 134 Building Sections Around Your Tweets . 140 Preparing Your Slides for Camera Phones and Handheld Video Cameras . 141 Getting Ready To Start the Conversation . 143 --Backchannel_book.indbBackchannel_book.indb v 110/30/090/30/09 33:51:47:51:47 PPMM Excerpted from The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever by Cliff Atkinson. Copyright © 2010. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and New Riders. vi CONTENTS [ 7 ] Joining the Backchannel in Conversation . 145 Creating a Hybrid of Presentation and Conversation . 146 Adjusting to a More Conversational Presentation . 149 Starting the Backchannel Conversation Early . 151 Setting Up for the Backchannel . 154 Welcoming the Backchannel as You Begin . 156 Starting Strong . 158 Taking at Least Three Twitter breaks . 161 Automating Your Involvement in the Backchannel . 165 Involving Your Audience Using Twitter and the Web . 166 Focusing the Attention of the Backchannel . 168 Wrapping Up . 172 Checking Your Results in the Twitterstream . 173 Continuing the Backchannel Conversation . 174 [ 8 ] Handling Instant Feedback from the Backchannel . 177 The Power of Negative Backchannel Feedback . 178 Neutralizing Negativity and Snowballing Positivity . 179 Preparing Yourself for Negative Backchannel Feedback . 181 Should You Ignore or Call Out Negative Comments? . 182 Practicing Backchannel Feedback Scenarios . 186 Keeping the Presentation on Track . 190 --Backchannel_book.indbBackchannel_book.indb vvii 110/30/090/30/09 33:51:47:51:47 PPMM Excerpted from The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever by Cliff Atkinson. Copyright © 2010. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and New Riders. CONTENTS vii [ 9 ] Holding Together the Backchannel Experience . 193 Turning Around an Unruly Backchannel . 194 Establish a Reputation . 198 Listen and Collect Stories . 199 Dispense with Pretense . 200 Talk to the Elephant in the Room (If There Is One) . 200 Make It You, You, You Instead of Me, Me, Me . 201 Check In with the Audience Early and Often . 202 Improvise . 203 Stay Grounded . 205 Ignore the Small Stuff . 206 Keep Things in Perspective . 206 Backchannel to the Future . 207 Appendix A: The Four Tweets Worksheet . 210 Appendix B: The Ten Tweets Worksheet . 211 Index . 213 Bonus content at www.backchannelbook.com: Web Appendix C: Negotiating a Backchannel Agreement Web Appendix D: How Open Space Transforms Meetings --Backchannel_book.indbBackchannel_book.indb vviiii 110/30/090/30/09 33:51:47:51:47 PPMM Excerpted from The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever by Cliff Atkinson. Copyright © 2010. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and New Riders. viii Acknowledgements Thanks to… Jared Goralnick, who persuaded me to join him at a panel discussion at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin in 2009, and… Dave Gray, who welcomed me to the world of Twitter while I was there, and… Hugh Forrest and the team at SXSW, for creating a hotbed of social innovation where I could experience the backchannel for myself, and… Michael Nolan, who happened to be at SXSW and asked me if I had anything interest- ing I wanted to write about, and… New Riders for approving my book proposal in a week and publishing my book in months, and… Jeff Riley for masterful editing, Charlene Will for creative designing, and Hilal Sala for effi cient producing, and the rest of the New Riders team for your help… Olivia Mitchell and Tony Ramos for reviewing the fi rst draft and offering insightful advice, and… Chris Brogan, Brad Templeton, Craig Ball, Bert Decker, Todd Satterstein, Jaine Fraser, Jen McClure, Jared Spool, David Meerman Scott, Hugh Forrest, Nancy White, Brian Ott, Karen Lawson, Dan Gillmor, Pam Slim, Whitney Hess, Guy Kawasaki, Harrison Owen, Lisa Heft, Kaliya Hamlin, and Donella Evoniuk for graciously offering time for their background interviews, and… The thousands of people in the backchannel who are pioneering new relationships between audiences and presenters and setting the stage for a much more conversa- tional and effective way of communication; and… Andrew and my extended family, including Reuben, Hilda, Reuben Jr., Vicki, Steve, and Barb. --Backchannel_book.indbBackchannel_book.indb vviiiiii 110/30/090/30/09 33:51:47:51:47 PPMM Excerpted from The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever by Cliff Atkinson. Copyright © 2010. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and New Riders. ix About the Author Cliff Atkinson is an acclaimed writer, popular keynote speaker, and an independent consultant to leading attorneys and Fortune 500 companies. He designed the pre- sentations that helped persuade a jury to award a $253 million verdict to the plaintiff in the nation’s fi rst Vioxx trial in 2005, presentations which Fortune magazine called “frighteningly powerful.” Cliff’s best-selling book Beyond Bullet Points (Microsoft Press, 2007) was named a Best Book of 2007 by the editors of Amazon.com, and it expands on a communications approach he has taught at many of the country’s top law fi rms, government agencies, business schools, and corporations, including Sony, Toyota, Nestlé, Nokia, Nationwide, Deloitte, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Intel, Microsoft, and the United Nations Inter- national Criminal Tribunal. --Backchannel_book.indbBackchannel_book.indb iixx 110/30/090/30/09 33:51:47:51:47 PPMM Excerpted from The Backchannel: How Audiences are Using Twitter and Social Media and Changing Presentations Forever by Cliff Atkinson. Copyright © 2010. Used with permission of Pearson Education, Inc. and New Riders. x Introduction Back in the good old days of presentations, a speaker could count on audience mem- bers to sit quietly in their chairs until they were given permission to ask questions. Those days are rapidly drawing to a close. More and more audience members are now bringing their laptops and smartphones into meeting rooms and using them to connect with one another and start their own conversations—while the presenter is speaking. Sometimes these conversations are confi ned only to the audience members attending the presentation. But when audiences use a micro blogging tool called Twitter, every- thing they say is published instantly and available for the world to see. This new conversation that audiences create during a presentation is called a back- channel—and like any change, the backchannel can be a double-edged sword. On one side, when audiences fi nd a presentation interesting and useful, they use the backchannel to enhance the information they are hearing and to broadcast good ideas to people both inside and outside the room. When presenters learn about the back- channel and tap into its potential, they fi nd it a valuable way to know their audiences better, and to fi nd out what’s really on their minds. On the other side, when audiences fi nd a presentation boring, not relevant, or out of date, they don’t hesitate to speak their minds and publish their comments to the world. When presenters aren’t aware of the backchannel or read critical comments from audi- ence members, it can lead to public confl ict that disrupts or even derails presentations. Whichever way the sword swings, there’s no doubt the backchannel is here to stay, and that it will change presentations forever.