Live Blogging Events

Discussions
#1

Some of you probably know that UserScape helps support the Laravel PHP framework. We’ve got the conference we run coming up next week and we’re trying something new, live blogging.

With both Laracon and other conferences we’ve struggled to really make the $$$ investment in sponsoring them pay off. There’s a little bit of branding upside in general, but very hard to convert your name on a screen in the lobby to sales.

I’m hoping by live blogging we’re able to provide a nice service for the folks who couldn’t be there as well as we a lot more direct engagement with potential customers.

If any of you have live blogged an event before I’d love to hear any tips or tricks you might have.

I’ll also report back on how it goes.

If you want to check it out it’s setup at the link below and the conference is May 15th and 16th.

http://live.besnappy.com/

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#2

No tips or tricks, but wanted to say thank you for doing it. Much appreciated!

#3

No problem!

Yeah, probably not something many people have tried. We’ll get @alyssamazzina to write up the experience when it’s done and tell everyone where we screwed up :slight_smile:

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#4

Thanks, Ian. I’ll definitely be blogging the experience afterwards. But first, everybody tune in to watch me screw up, LIVE! :smiley:

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#5

I’ve done both live-blogging and live tweeting for conferences and events. Whatever your’e doing the conference #hasthag is your friend. I always try to listen for the key ideas or thoughts that are the most quotable and tweetable.

If you’re live-tweeting, I would typically have the speakers @handle and conference #hashtag copy + pasted and ready to rock at all times to get your tweets as much as in real-time as possible. However, if you miss a few words or a point, searching the #hashtag can help you fill in any blanks you missed.

If you’re live blogging, much like above, I like giving people the main points and key thoughts communicated in bulleted fashion. There are great live blogging plugins, but I typically like to do a post at the end of each session and include the speaker bio, links to their online presence, books, resources, etc.

Another great thing to do is to take all of your blog posts or tweets and make them into a downloadable PDF. You can always set it up as a download in exchange for a follow or subscription to an email list. And if you’re representing a business or organization, you can embed an ad or two in the PDF.

Just a few thoughts.

The main idea, though, is to capture the quotable and sharable content. The things that people will want to remember and go back to.

#6

Wow, spectacular feedback. Thanks! This is great.

I hadn’t considered the follow on PDF’s and such, we’ll definitely do that. Great stuff.

#7

@ian - I’ve benefitted from some of the resources/live blogs @TimSchraeder has done. The #hashtag suggestion is great. I’ve also seen the PDF idea implemented well, too. I didn’t have any issue giving my contact info in exchange for the resource. Definitely a great additional touchpoint for you to gain value in your sponsorship.

I’m bummed I’ll miss Laracon (I was able to attend in DC) but am really glad to hear you’re offering a live blog. Can’t wait for Taylor’s big reveals!

#8

Yeah, really excited about trying it. I think it’s going to turn out well.

Awe man we’ll there’s always Laracon EU!