I am off to the Australian College of Midwives' conference in a couple of weeks and will be facilitating a workshop on social media. I will be able to do a 'show and tell' because I'll have my computer and projector, but workshop participants will not have their own computer to play with.So I was wondering....how can I get people involved so they get the idea of how Facebook, Twitter etc work...using more traditional media such as paper and pen?
If you have any ideas or advice, I'd love to hear them.
Image: 'What Are You Doing?'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96763131@N00/3642098619
7 comments:
Record a video of what you would like them to see if you did have an Internet connection. Use screenshots, too. Put them into a presentation so you can show what you mean even if you can't access the Internet in real-time.
Do a Twitter request in advance for ppl to respond on why on Twitter & screenshot responses
Ask a q relevant to your audience via Twitter in advance - screenshot responses. Ask audience same q live & show the Twitter response.
Do a simulated Twitter with your audience using "post-its"
Will you have internet yourself on the computer you are presenting from? If so you can show live global responses. There is also a fair chance someone in your audience will be on Twitter or even FB & might be able to respond to you from their phone (maybe set someone up to do so).
Get some friends in the time zone maybe to reply to posts (so you don't get dead air)-you'll likely get spontaneous posts too. Could also post a copy of a "trail" so they can see how it can build.
Not sure if this would suit this situation, but there is a social media game that helps people understand the implications of using online tools. It's based on drawing out expertise from participants, and helps people work through pros and cons of different approaches.
You find out more:
http://socialmedia.wikispaces.com/Social+media+game
http://www.socialbysocial.com/book/social-by-social-game
How many people will you have & how much room? If it is at all ‘manageable’ have each person (or maybe in groups of 3 – 5 – 10??) Take a piece of butchers paper (the kind with a sticky strip) … and quickly draw a ‘profile pic in a box’ (Top left) – write 3 ‘things’ under it RE: Who / Where / Interest… Then on the TOP write a first “status” (even HELLLOOOO????) ….
Then stand back .. and give them – say … 10 mins to (literally) run around the room … quickly reading and then ‘writing’ below each status (YES … just as if they were ‘seeing’ them on a computer ….
Encourage (if participants are OK) … @’sign offs’ (like twitter) … or even ‘nicknames / email address’ like “person41xx” (if that is how you could find me really on line?) / OR … “from Lady in Blue Dress” - in the real world – MIGHT have to get them to underline a REAL ‘online’ ID? (for follow up later??)
Let / encourage / require? them to pop back to own paper … to ‘respond’ .. (good ‘net’ etiquette!)
THEN … hand back the ‘butchers paper’ to ‘original status person / group’ …. JUST to see what ‘happened’ / what was written ..…
Worse CASE … - everyone just writes ‘hello’ … hello … Are U there? … this is silly …. Yes it is silly … etc etc … (much like these days … 5 year olds mucking about ..) … BEST CASE … some good ‘questions & answers’ are ‘posted’ with real online ‘links’.
Either way … 1. It should be FUN! 2. Then the discussion can be had (in small groups / or together) … on … “Can you ‘imagine’ this … on a computer (A LOT LESS RUNNING AROUND if nothing else !) … 3. It should be FUN!
If it is just not ‘possible’ to have EVERYONE do it … - pick / find / set up / call for … about say … 10 – 20 ‘compulsory volunteers’ to ‘do it’ (and the others can laugh & watch them try to get back to all bits of paper and respond …)
But I reckon the best thing would be for all to be running around … even if that meant 50 pieces of butchers paper … & 50 people trying to run & see ‘what was written on theirs’ .. and respond
Oh & GOOD LUCK!!
PS … if there are a few people all ‘running around’ … the excitement & ‘adrenaline’ (even with adults) could get a bit high – so make sure you a) Do the quick WHS ‘talk’ … and b) just flag .. this is fun .. and in the ‘excitement’ someone ‘might’ write / post … something a bit …. “something” …. (Like … NO Yr stupid!! ) …. Encourage people not to ‘take offense’ and more than that .. again .. another good example of good ‘net’ etiquette!
PPS – NOW having written this – with NO midwifery experience (umm – but I have had 4 babies!) .. BUT NOW .. I want to come and play the game! … Where are u doing it Sarah? (lol … just joking … sort of …)
Thank you all for your advice and suggestions...I'll be able to show this blog post as evidence of how we can use social media.
I'll be taking your advice about the post-its. What I thought I'd do if I have a big group of people is get them to imagine they are different people eg midwives, students, consumers, doctors...etc. Even deciding on a name for their account will bring up questions around digital identity...and then they'll need to think about how they use their account. By having a play I hope they'll being up what's professional behavior etc.
The other thing I'll do is arrange for people to contact me live via Twitter, FB etc...and do some live collaboration stuff on Google Docs..including by phone....
I'll let you now how I get on :)
Hello everyone, thank you all once again for all your suggestions. The workshop went very well and as a result I have been asked to be a keynote speaker at a maternity conference next year. Hats off to you all, cheers Sarah :)
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