How Do Backchannel Discussions Work at Conferences?

Vanessa Dennen's 2011 article "Conversations on the Hashtag:  Does Conference Twitter Use Promote Professional Discourse" prompted me to look at conferences in a new way.  How do attendees use social media for professional discourse?

Every year, Palm Beach County Schools hosts a Technology Conference.  Although it is not the same scale as ISTE or FETC, it is amazing!  Here is a link to last year's conference if you are interested:  http://techconf.palmbeachschools.org/.

The PBC Tech Conference uses two social media platforms for backchannel discussions:

• Twitter  #pbcsdtechconf
• Edmodo - groups for a Main Wall and groups for each session

So let's look at how the three exchanges compare.  Screen shots are at the bottom.

Twitter - (Image 1) Unlike the article, I did not see any tweets about where to get coffee or making fun of participants.  This is likely due to the fact that we are Palm Beach County teachers and we'd like to keep our jobs.  All tweets were about presentations.  In fact, almost all tweets conveyed a specific tip, linked to a website, or included an picture or video.  Most tweets were retweeted and many included @ for attribution.

Edmodo Main Wall - (Image 2) appears to be used only for administrative questions.  In years past, people would post about their session reflections on Edmodo.  I believe as Twitter has become more common, the professional conversations have moved to that platform.

Edmodo Session Groups - (Image 3) Most sessions simply use Edmodo groups to provide handouts.  However, I specifically include a poll, a thread for questions, and a thread for backchannel discussions.  During the session, I refer back to Edmodo frequently, answering questions and acknowledging group ideas.  Sometimes we view links or documents people have posted.  The image below is from a different conference, but it demonstrates how these threads can be used.

Dennen, V. P. (2011). Conversations on the hashtag: Does conference Twitter use promote professional discourse? Paper presented at International Conference on the e-Society. Berlin: Germany