13.3. TWITTER AS A BACKCHANNEL

Presentation adventurers are increasingly employing Twitter as a backchannel while delivering their presentations. If you're unfamiliar with how this works, you've probably seen it before since many popular cable news outlets do this, too. The commentator breaks from the show's narrative for a bit to address an ongoing Twitter discussion where users are able to ask questions, make points, or otherwise participate with the programming, as opposed to idle listening.

Whether or not to use Twitter in this manner is a personal decision every presenter needs to make based on the subject matter and the circumstances surrounding the presentation. For complicated subjects or engagements where problem solving is a primary objective, the backchannel is extremely useful for a presenter trying to keep a finger on the audience's pulse. The more questions start popping up in the backchannel, the more you know you need to slow down and provide your points in a more thorough manner. You'll also know when the audience doesn't believe a claim you've made or is skeptical about something. Maybe that's good; maybe that's bad. In the end, it comes down to how important you feel it is to know what audience members are thinking.

I'm an optimist; I tend to believe the best about people. But I'm not so crazy as to assume my audience is going to behave appropriately in the backchannel. If you don't regularly watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report, then you may have missed this trend, but CNN is frequently mocked for the lewd or outrageous comments that sometimes appear on their backchannel discussion boards. When we open up a forum that preserves anonymity, we're bound to get some mischief. Sometimes, the benefits outweigh the risks. Some presenters may not feel confident enough to manage a backchannel like this while trying to deliver meaningful material to the same audience. If you're going to try it, I really recommend doing so in a no-stakes presentation. See how things go before putting something on the line.

You can mitigate many of the risks of using Twitter as a backchannel through preparation. By soliciting input, questions, and concerns from the prospective audience prior to the speaking engagement, you should be able to get a decent idea of what content you need to cover. When audiences feel as though a presentation is heading in a meaningful direction, they're far more likely to participate productively rather than destructively. Prior engagement also lessens the novelty of the exchange, which in turn increases the likelihood that any comments made will be sincere thoughts or questions, rather than idle chatter.

The benefits of this approach should be obvious enough: the audience is engaged in an unprecedented manner. If solving a problem is the presentation's goal, you'll have everyone in the audience working together on that problem. You'll get the credit for having facilitated a powerful brainstorming session on the fly while educating and advancing the discussion with your own expertise.

The risks, however, can be severe as well: If you're not very technologically savvy, it can be quite embarrassing to fumble with the forum on stage before ultimately abandoning the venture. People will feel like you asked for their input but didn't listen to their answers. Your message—the most important element—may become disjointed or confusing if you're unable to focus on both the delivery and the backchannel at the same time. Again, this is an extremely powerful presentation tool, but it is advanced and requires a certain level of proficiency to work just right.

Cliff Atkinson, author of The Backchannel, has written at great length on this subject. If you're really interested in pursuing the opportunities of a truly "live" presentation, I suggest you pick up this book. Employing this tool on stage is for the brave, the well prepared, or the soon-to-be-jobless: Make sure you fall into one of the first two categories.