Summary: Twitter Chats have their regular followers yet even some experienced event planners still don't know about them. Here is a quick primer to get you up to speed on the top 10 Twitter Chats that all event planners should add to their schedules.

Top 10 Twitter Chats for Event Planners & Event Industry Professionals

Twitter Chats have been around for such a long time that I could just hear some Twitter veterans groaning as soon as they saw the title of this blog. After all, it's old news. Everybody knows about Twitter Chat, right? I manage the 30,000+ member Event Planning and Management group on LinkedIn. More often than you would expect, I interact with members who are finding out about Twitter Chats for the first time. They are delighted when they discover what a useful resource Twitter Chats can be. So, we're going to cover the basics. I invite Twitter Chat newbies to post your questions. I invite Twitter Chat veterans to post responses, share tips and list any chats or tools for monitoring them that I haven't included.

Twitter Chats - The Basics

A Twitter Chat is a regularly scheduled interactive event that takes places on Twitter. The format for Twitter Chats (also known as hashtag chats) is:

Hashtag (#) + a keyword. Example: #eventprofs

Every Twitter Chat has it's own schedule, format and etiquette. A number of Twitter Chats have online guides, Wikis or Facebook pages to explain what the focus and structure. For this reason, you may want to observe for a few minutes or review documentation so that you are clear about what is expected before you jump in.

Some Twitter Chats take place only once or or twice a week. When the chat is over, there is little interaction unless it's a follow up that is directly relevant to the topic of the most recent chat. Others encourage the use of the chat hashtag for interaction between scheduled chats. Tweeps share information, tips, blogs, and articles using the hashtag. Some Twitter Chats evolve into communities and establish LinkedIn groups to take the interaction deeper than what is possible in 140 characters. Some chat communities have face-to-face tweet-ups. It's the perfect way to take networking beyond cyberspace and into the real world.

If you miss a chat, there is no need to worry. A transcript of summary is usually shared on Twitter within 24 hours. Some chats even have an archive of chat transcripts.

Benefits of Twitter Chats

Twitter Chats provide an opportunity to engage with other Twitter users and discover new people to follow. They give instant access to information to help you keep abreast of trends within the event planning industry.

Twitter Chats & Hashtags for Event Planners

1. #eventprofs Eventprofs: A thriving community of event planners and other event industry Professionals. This was the first Twitter chat for event planners.
   Tuesdays 9 - 10 PM EST/6 - 7 PM PST & Thursdays 12 - 1PM EST/9 - 10 AM PST
   
   • Eventprofs Chat Schedule
   • Eventprofs on Facebook
   • Eventprofs Wiki

2. #TTOT Travel Tuesday on Twitter: Social media travel event. Five questions, every 10 minutes
   Tuesdays 9:30 AM & 9:30 PM GMT.
3. #engage365 Engage 365: For events professionals interested in social media for events & conferences. Similar to #eventprofs, but discussions focus more on event technology, engaging attendees, and event marketing.
   Fridays 1 PM ET.
4. #assnchat Association Chat: Chat for association professionals discussing current industry trends, technology and strategy
   Tuesdays 2 PM ET

5. #luxchat Luxchat: Excellent and highly relevant to event planners who work in the luxury market sector. Usually features a high profile guest. Representatives of a number of upscale resorts have been featured. Some chats are on location.
   Monthly. 3rd Wednesday of every month at 5:30 PM ET
6. #tourismchat Tourism Chat: Bi-monthly twitter chat focusing on social media in the tourism industry.
   Thursdays 2 PM CT, 3 PM ET
7. #speakchat Speak Chat: Engaging. Event planners, professional speakers, and speakers bureaus discuss a variety of industry related topics and issues.
   Mondays 9 PM ET.
8. #tni Traveller's Night In: Covers a new travel topic each week. 10 questions tweeted by various hosts.
   Thursdays 3:30 - 5:00 PM ET.
9. #weddingmarket Wedding Market Chat: Trends, marketing and information for the wedding and bridal markets.
   Wednesdays 10 AM PT/ 1 PM ET/6 P GmT.
10. #AVchat AV Chat: All you ever wanted to learn about AV, a key ingredient for many successful events.
    Thursdays 4 PM PT/7 PM ET

Bonus:

The following Twitter Chats are not specifically designed for the event industry but Event Planners will find them extremely helpful chat. They are well worth checking out regularly.

• #b2bchat B2B (Business to Business) Chat: A a lively gathering of B2B marketers
  Thursdays 8 PM ET - #b2bchat Linkedin Group
• #linkedinchat LinkedIn Chat: All things LinkedIn – what you like, what you hate, useful strategies, favourite apps
  Tuesdays 7PM CT/ 8 PM ET - LinkChat LinkedIn Group
• #blogchatBlog Chat:A weekly conversation about blogs.
  Sundays 8 PM CT/9 PM ET - Blogchat Linkedin Group.
• #profschat MarketingProfs: Actionable know-how to help you market your products and services
  Fridays Noon ET - MarketingProfs Linkedin Group

Event industry professionals will find useful content by using the following Twitter hashtags:

• linkevents
• #meetingprofs
• #pcma
• #mpi
• #bizbash

How to Participate in Twitter Chats

• In Search, type in the Twitter Chat hashtag and hit "Enter".
• You'll see all of the tweets that have recently been posted using that hashtag.
• To add your content, type your tweet in the "What's Happening Field". Include the hashtag in your tweet. Presto, it will be visible to everyone monitoring that hashtag.

If you never participated in a Twitter chat, these videos will demonstrate how you can join in on Twitter or using applications like Tweetdeck or Twitter Chat.

Tweetdeck

Tweet Chat

Hoot Suite

Twitter Chat & Hashtag Definitions

Unfortunately, what the Hashtag (wthashtag.com) is no more but this tool is helpful in identifying what the various Twitter Chat & hashtags mean:

• Tagdef Hashtag Look up
  If you have a new chat or hashtag, you can also add and define it here.

Photo Credit: simonwheatley

Summary: LinkedIn has gradually been improving its group moderation tools and spam control measures. This is an overview of the state-of-the art in LinkedIn Group management. If used effectively, scammers will soon find that LinkedIn is no longer a spammer's paradise. I invite all readers to share how the Linkedin Groups to which they belong are using the new tools.

LinkedIn Introduces New Group Management Tools to Fight Spam

Like all other on-line communities, LinkedIn Groups have faced the challenge of spam control. I wrote an Event Coup feature about a year ago entitled:

• Crowdsourcing in the Management of On-Line Communities

This Event Coup feature advocated "crowdsourcing" as an approach to on-line community management. It also described the tools that would be needed to automate this process. A group for event planners that I manage implemented crowdsourcing before the tools to automate the process were available. It took a while but Linkedin has gradually been introducing new group management tools and spam control measures. This was in response to the flood of complaints it had been receiving about spam from Group Owners, Group Managers, and LinkedIn Members. This week, with the introduction of "Permissions" and "Moderation", LinkedIn took a huge step forward to ensure that groups are spam-free.

LinkedIn - Group Management Toolkit

For some time, LinkedIn Groups have had:

• a system that flags LinkedIn members who are at high risk for spamming....even in groups with open membership, these members must have their application for membership approved by a member of the group management team/li>
• a carousel
  this is where all new discussions and job postings appear until they:
  1. receive comments
  2. get flagged
  3. get deleted
• a flagging system
  (i.e. inappropriate, jobs and promotion flags)
• automatic deletion of content flagged as "inappropriate" by a numer of group members
• a "Promotions" tab
• a "Moderations" queue that allows Group Managers to make decisions based on group member flags

Each LinkedIn Group is different so this toolkit is flexible. Some functions are fixed, others are optional and many can be customized. This week, LinkedIn introduced a new option for group management, "Change Permissions".

Changing Permissions

Hovering over the "Change Permissions" button gives group owners and managers the option of selecting:

• Block and Delete (i.e. the member is removed and blocked from the group and all contributions are deleted)
• Approved to Post
• Requires Moderation

Requires Moderation

"Modertion" was introduced by LinkedIn this week. By default, LinkedIn places certain group members in the "Requires Moderation" category. In addition to this, if a member post spam or promotional content", group managers now have the option of selecting "Requires Moderation". All posts from members who "require moderation" require approval before they appear in any area of the group. Group Managers have the option of deleting promotional material or placing it in the Promotions tab so that Group Members can flag to have it removed if they so desire.

LinkedIn Groups: New Spam Control Measures

Up until this week, group management teams on linkedin had only 3 options for dealing with spam:

• leave it up to members to flag discussions, job postings or individual comments as "inappropriate". After the required number of flags, the system automatically deletes the item
• delete it - really important for scams and pornography for example
• click on the button that directs Linkedin to remove all the contributions of a specific member, remove them from the group and block them from re-applying for membership.

How to Know if you have been flagged for moderation

If there is a lag time between when you start a discussion, post a job or add a comment in a LinkedIn Group and when it appears, then your "permissions" in one or more LinkedIn Groups have been reduced. The new "Requires Moderation" option opens up a much more proactive and powerful approach to managing LinkedIn Groups. If group members actively use flags (particularly "flag as inappropriate") and group management teams avail themselves of the "Requires Moderation" feature, spammers and scammers will quickly find that they are no longer able to roam freely on LinkedIn. Kudos to LinkedIn.

Next Steps

If you're a member of a LinkedIn group the most important things you can do to play a role in providing a meaningful experience for all members are:

1. start meaningful dicussions and post them in the appropriate area of the group and its subgroups
2. when you share an article or content from your blog, include a synopsis of highlighs and key questions to stimulate discussions
3. post jobs an rfps to help your fellow group members in a tough economy
4. refrain from posting promotional material and other spam
5. Use the "Flag as Inappropriate" flag whenever you see promotional material and other spam

If you haven't tried a LinkedIn group yet. I encourage you to try it. LinkedIn groups are instrumental tools in growing your network and getting more power out of Linkedin. 

For more information, you may find the following helpful:

• The LinkedIn Blog LinkedIn Groups Moderation
• Groups - LinkedIn Learning Centre

Upcoming Event Coup Feature: In view of these changes, Event Coup will soon release a LinkedIn Group Management Primer.

Photo Credit: Shekhar_Sahu