Social Project Management (SWChat)

Thanks to everyone who took part in this weeks Social Workplace Twitter Chat event (#SWChat).

Social Project Management

This weeks #SWChat was a Guest Event with Liz Pearce, COO of Liquid Planner

Liz is COO of Liquid Planner and a keynote speaker at the Social Workplace Conference 2012 in London on May 24th.

Liz shared the correlation between Social Project Management and Enterprise Collaboration and how to make project life more efficient, more effective and more fun - a prelude to her keynote speech at the conference

Social Project Management is the completion of projects through collaborative tools that encourage transparency, autonomy, and connectedness among team members, In Social Project Management, the planning, scheduling and updating of plans and deliverables is often distributed or decentralized, allowing virtual, remote and distributed teams to achieve more efficiency. - Liz Pearce

Event Statistics

• No. of Tweets = 1200
• No. of Contributors = 132
• Reach = 369,000
• No. of impressions = 3,000,000

Summary

Full Transcript Report via @hashtracking

FREE Prize Draw Winner

This weeks event included a FREE Prize Draw where the winner was chosen randomly from those participants who also included #SWConf in their tweets during the 1 hour event by Crexia

I am pleased to announce that Stuart Hyde, Chief Constable of the Cumbria Police was drawn as the winner.

Stuart wins a FREE ticket worth £480 (~770 USD)  to the Social Workplace Conference 2012 in London on May 24th courtesy of Crexia, the organisers of the conference.

Congratulations Stuart!

Questions Asked

Q1) How do you see project management evolving to match the needs of a social business?
Q2) What do you see as the key differentiators between standard and social project management techniques?
Q3) Do you see social project management evolving to require its own certification like Prince2?
Q4) Where do you see the correlation between business collaboration and social project management?
Q5) Social project management promotes transparency and engagement. But who embraces and who resists?
Q6) How has social design pioneers like Facebook and Twitter influenced project management today?
Q7) In 140 characters or less, what sales pitch would you give to a CEO to evolve to social project management?

Shared Reference Material

• Pre game chatter on #SWChat [image] via @MediaLabRat
• "Social Projects could be like the Cathedral & Bazzaar" via @NickKellet
• Project Management Institute (PMI) - US Certification via @LindaChreno
• Open Collaboration via @davidchris
• Social Project Office designed by @davidchris
• Dangers Of Confusing Online Task Mgmt with Online Project Mgmt via @LiquidPlanner
• Scarcity Versus Abundance In Knowledge Management via @sachac
• Social Project Management In Large Projects via @LiquidPlanner
• The Peacemaker - Enneagram Type Nine via The Enneagram Institute
• Social Media: Give More To Get More via @tomspiglanin
• UK Action Fraud - The Devil's In Your Details via CC_StuartHyde
• The 5 Laws Of Social Project Management via @LiquidPlanner

Today's #SWChat was sponsored by:
 

Useful #SWChat Links

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Twitter Chats: What's The REAL Value? (#SWChat)

Thanks to everyone who took part in this weeks Social Workplace Twitter Chat event (#SWChat).

Twitter Chats: What's The REAL Value?

#SWChat has reached 50,000,000 impressions in just 20 events. So in honour of reaching this incredible milestone, this weeks event was looking at the value of Twitter Chats and why they have become so popular.

Event Statistics

• No. of Tweets = 1100
• No. of Contributors = 104
• Reach = 311,000
• No. of impressions = 2,900,000

Summary

Full Transcript Report via @hashtracking

Questions Asked

Q1) Why do you participate in Twitter Chats, what value do you get?

Q2) Apart from #SWChat what other Twitter Chats do you participate in?

Q3) If participating during work time, does your boss see this #SWChat as, educational or play?

Q4) How do you, and your followers, react to the sudden increase in tweets during Twitter Chats?

Q5) Could you see the Twitter Chat concept working inside your company with employees?

Q6) What makes you return regularly to Twitter Chats like #SWChat

Q7) In 140 characters or less, what advice would you give to people just joining their first Twitter Chat?

Shared Reference Material

• 12 Top Tips For Creating A Successful Twitter Chat via @davidchris
• Social Chat - The Modern Day Water Cooler Conversation via @davidchris
• Comprehensive List of Twitter Chats [Google Docs]
• Digital PR: Teasing Out The Potential Of Twitter Chats (Part I) via @jgombita
• Digital PR: Teasing Out The Potential Of Twitter Chats (Part II) via @jgombita
• Twitter Chats For Learning Professionals via @LnDDave
• TEDxUIUC - Alone Together [video] via Sherry Turkle
• What's a Twitter Chat? via @LnDDave
• My Thurs Stream For Awesome Chats & Hashtags [pic] via @socialmediasean
• Using Twitter To Support Learning via Ruth Reynard

Useful #SWChat Links

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#SWChat 50 Million impressions - 12 Top Tips To Creating a Successful Twitter Chat

The Social Workplace Twitter Chat (#SWChat) has reached the milestone of 50,000,000 (yes, 50 million !!!) impressions in only 20 weeks since it's birth.

I started #SWChat back in November 2011 after attending a number of other Twitter Chats, particularly #LeadershipChat hosted by Lisa Petrilli and Steve Woodruff. Both Lisa and Steve inspired me to do something that I was passionate about just as they had, and creating The Social Workplace (i.e. creating the next generation workplace for businesses where communication and collaboration become truly social) is my passion.

With my subject matter now defined, I set some clear goals of what I wanted to achieve:

• to encourage thought provoking discussions
• to be informative & educational
• to allow passionate people to engage and build new social relationships

The first #SWChat I hosted was titled The Barriers Of The Social Workplace and I can honestly say that the 30 mins before the event started was the most nervous I have ever been in my life. The thought of no-one turning up and just talking to myself was very very scary. But a few people did, and it was an engaging discussion. An encouraging start.

Since then each week #SWChat it has grown from strength to strength where now, from the beginning of February 2011, we achieve an average of 114 people per event providing 1000+ tweets with over 3.5 million impressions.

This has exceeded even my expectations.

Some BIG Thank You's

Creating a Twitter Chat from scratch is definitely not easy. An incredible amount of time and effort goes into planning each chat every week to try to provide interesting and engaging topics, supported by thought provoking questions. You also need to have a good marketing strategy to attract the right audience.

But most of all you need the right people behind you providing direction and support and I am so grateful to have met and worked with some of the most amazing people on #SWChat (...apologies if this sounds like a BAFTA acceptance speech):

• Lisa Petrilli (@lisapetrilli) and Steve Woodruff (@swoodruff) for their continual support and inspiration
• Christy Confetti Higgins (@confetti) and Brandie McCallum (@lttlewys) who have been amazing co-hosts and so supportive week after week
• The #SWChat advisors whom have been great sounding boards when I needed it - Brandie McCallum (@lttlewys); Steve Cassady (@SteveCassady); David A Lee (@DavidALee); Warren Wooden (@PLRNetMarketing); and Meghan M Biro (@MeghanMBiro)
• #TChat and #bizforum for the marketing partnership we seemed to have stumbled into but very glad we did
• Liz Christopher (@LizCpher) for help with the topics and questions
• and finally a big thank you to all the 467 participants who have made the discussions to-date so interesting and engaging

20 weeks is not very long to be thinking if sharing next practices, but I have picked up some good advice and made some mistakes, which i hope others can benefit from who are thinking of starting their own Twitter Chat.

12 Top Tips to Creating a Successful Twitter Chat

1. Select A Subject Matter You Are Passionate About

If you are going to be hosting a Twitter Chat every week, you'd better choose a subject matter that really interests you and are knowledgeable about. Coming up with great topics and questions week after week is a challenge in itself without the burden of disliking the subject.

Your audience will begin to drop off very quickly and never to return, if they sense you are not interested in the subject matter.

2. Participate In Other Twitter Chats

There is no substitution for experience. Therefore take part in a number of different Twitter Chats to get a flavour of what's involved and how the participants respond. Utilise that knowledge and experience to develop your own style.

Don't be afraid to try something different to see how your own audience responds.

3. Build A Knowledge Base

Having a knowledge base or reference point, is essential for informing people what your Twitter Chat is all about, which will help generate a buzz (see example).

It's also important to have a group of people you can turn to as a sounding board to help provide direction.

4. Send In The Co-hosts

This is one of the first (and best) pieces of advice i was ever given.

Having co-hosts allows you to share the responsibilities of hosting thereby relieving some of the pressure off your own shoulders. They can also be great support aids if you run into technical difficulties and are unable to host.

5. Advance Planning

"He who fails to plan, is planning to fail...." - never a truer word spoken when it comes to Twitter Chats.

Some specific areas you need to plan for:

• Define your topics and questions as early as possible and avoid last minute panics
• Prepare your introductory tweets in advance
• Have between 6-8 questions readily available
• Make all your questions available from in the cloud so your co-host(s) can take over if you run into difficulties (I use www.springpad.com) 
• Schedule tweets throughout the week to generate awareness and interest (I use Hootsuite)

6. Define Your Marketing Strategy

Sending out a tweet or two is not going to generate that much buzz about your event. Instead, engage in conversation with the people in your stream and ask them to help you raise awareness.

Joint marketing strategies with other related Twitter Chats can be mutually beneficial.

7. Stay On Topic & Keep It Interesting

If your Twitter Chat is about cars, then don't choose a topic about boats. Choosing topics each week that are not related to your subject matter is going to confuse and lose your audience.

The topics also need to be interesting and the questions thought-provoking, to challenge people's perspectives and encourage discussion.

8. Always Welcome Newcomers

I have in the past attended a few Twitter Chats where I said "Hi" and introduced myself and nobody responded. I shortly left never to return.

For this reason I make it a point of saying hi to newcomers and encourage others participating to do the same.

9. React To The Conversation

If the discussion seems to be drying up on a question, throw another one out to keep the conversation flowing. However, if your audience is heavily engaged in a discussion then let it play out before you change the conversation with a new topic. 

Having lots of questions readily available is smart planning but remember you don't need to use them all.

10. Show Respect

If someone tweets something interesting, profound or useful, don't be afraid to retweet it and prefix it with a short comment or a "+10". It's a sign of acknowledgement and respect by the host.

11. Provide Transcripts

Not everyone will be able to make your Twitter Chat every week, and those that can't really do appreciate having a transcript available to read afterwards at a more convenient time.

12. Analyze & Report

Understanding who attends your Twitter Chats each week and what topics appear to be the most popular, will help you plan for future topics.

I use www.hashtracking.com who not only have an incredible tool for analyzing and providing a complete transcript, but also provide fantastic support. Highly recommend them.

Next Generation Communications (#SWChat)

Thanks to everyone who took part in this weeks Social Workplace Twitter Chat event (#SWChat).

Next Generation Communications?

We are in the no-mans land of communications. The younger generation preferring social style of communication, but businesses still primarily using traditional forms like email. Is it time for businesses to start thinking about the Next Generation Communications to help bridge the gap between social and traditional, and how should it be approached?

Event Statistics

• No. of Tweets = 1100
• No. of Contributors = 89
• Reach = 231,000
• No. of impressions = 2,300,000

Summary

Full Transcript Report via @hashtracking

Questions Asked

Q1) Email is on it's way out - Agree / Disagree?

Q2) How many hours a week do you think you spend on email vs social comms for your company?

Q3) Should companies follow Atos' example of phasing out employee to employee comms?

Q4) Are social comms (e.g. IM, Twitter, FB etc...) really more efficient than email?

Q5) What advice would you give to a company making that transition from traditional to social comms?

Q6) What are the barriers for a company to move to the Next Generation form of comms?

Q7) In 140 characters or less, define a sales pitch to your CEO why they should consider phasing out email e/ee to e/ee comms

Shared Reference Material

• What Is Your Communications Transitional Strategy? via @davidchris
• Atos intends to drive staff to 'inbox zero' by 2013 via ZDNET
• The Death Of Email By 2018 via @davidchris
• Talent Management When the Old Outnumber the Young via HBR
• Social Media vs. Email — Are We Asking The Right Questions? via @theMaria
• Technology doesn't engage people, people do via @bigdragazzo
• 5 Key Tips When Adopting Social Media via @SocialAxis
• Trains, Sliding Doors and Social Networks via @grantmason
• Do You Know the Most Popular Online Marketing Method? via WebSense
• Ditch Your Inbox: Luis Suarez Interview via Unified Communications Online

Useful #SWChat Links

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Blogging - Why Do It? (SWChat)

Thanks to everyone who took part in this weeks Social Workplace Twitter Chat event (#SWChat).

Blogging - Why Do It?

Is Blogging a widely accepted practice for in-house communications with employees and external communications with customers, or has the age of the Blog been and gone to be replaced by more conversational type social platforms?

Event Statistics

• No. of Tweets = 1100
• No. of Contributors = 111
• Reach = 375,000
• No. of impressions = 4,000,000

Summary

Full Transcript Report via @hashtracking

Questions Asked

Q1) People only Blog to boost their ego. Agree / Disagree ?

Q2) Are social platforms like Google Plus, Facebook a replacement for standard Blogging platforms ?

Q3) Should companies replace internal email newsletters with Blogs to communicate to employees ?

Q4) <skipped>

Q5) What is the ROI  for a business to Blog and how is that measurable ?

Q6) What Blogging style works best? Passive / Factual / Personable / Controversial ?

Q7) In 140 characters or less, what advice would you give someone wanting to start Blogging ?

Shared Reference Material

• Modern Ways To Job Search (infographic) via @CareerTips2Go
• It's 2012 And The Idea That 'Content Is King' is Still Total Bull**** via @mackcollier
• IT Firm Phasing Out Email To Boost Productivity via CBC News
• Making Collaborative Work Work via Harold Jarche
• 4 Signs That You're Blogging For The Wrong Reasons via Brian Whalley
• Why Blogging Is Good For Distressed Teens via BPS
• Blogging Sarcasm (picture) via @AskWhatNext
• UK Top Women Bloggers via Vikki Chowney

Useful #SWChat Links

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