Great discussion on #eventprofs chat tonight around topic. I am pleased that the mood of the group is: (1) open to discuss feedback and (2) willing to look internally to ensure we continue to meet the needs of a growing group. This is a testament to the people behind the handles. Most of all I encourage us to continue to model the new social norm: practice listening, offer to include and respond to needs, be open to change and, be transparent all along the way.

View the tweets in question in this post not as negative feedback but rather one person’s feedback. We can listen, but should they choose not to engage we can’t force it. Good has come from the exchange because of the way this group is handling it.

As you stated, it would be nice if we heard from our fellow Twitter colleague.

We perhaps ought to talk about this subject at an #Eventprofs chat session to collaboratively figure out how we cut down on the “noise” … meaning repetition of Rt’s and so forth. That is a great suggestion..

Thanks for contributing to the conversation, and your insights are always appreciated.

Mike

@michaelmccurry

I will say that I have noticed one thing (which I am guilty of myself) and that is that our group tends to RT a lot of information & hold back-to-back convos while keeping the #eventprofs tag. While I see the value in it, I do see our stream get filled with 20+ RTs of the same article over and over. Maybe it would cut down on the noise if we tried to use the tag a little more strategically and more of a base than a constant piece of every part of our conversations and back and forths. Just a thought!

Thanks for the comments Mike,

I completely agree with you that it is good to go against the grain, god knows I do it all the time

The problem I have here is someone was critical, without offering any constructive input to help us correct whatever is on her mind. Furthermore, several people reached out to her on Twitter, including myself, asking her:

1. To explain what is making her feel the way she does;
2. To please dialogue with us to share how we could improve the situation as we value opinions and want to improved

Unfortunately,to date, no response. So, I guess we move on.

We did plead with her, by the way, to join us for an #Eventprofs chat, which I know is almost impossible, given her location in the world.

Anyways, thanks for your contributions to the conversation and onward we march!!!

Mike

@michaelmccurry

I also saw these negative tweets. I do think they have some merit. The now old adage Twitter is like a cocktail party- you listen first and then talk. Not walk into the room and blurt out stuff– This is really the thing that this person did. Twitter isnt for everyone and it is just a tool like all these social media sites and applications. I do liek we are defensive of our community but we should listen to the idea behind it. We produced some elements for an event yesterday. It was a foundation and I was amazed at the fireworks in the general session. Heated debates which honestly from producing so many internal meetings for corporations I had never seen this type of dialogue. But I found it refreshing and they made headway as a group. I do think these tweets should make us think about what we retweet and not just retweet industry leaders stuff just because someone we respect the tweeter. I know I am guilty of passing on Kim Kardashion tweets to my followers.
I like that this person spoke up and said something against the grain. Though if they do it again we should consider hunting them down and changing there mind. Maybe an invite to the next eventcamp to actually meet the community?

Mike
(please RT)

Nice set of comments Adrian…well put.

I am hopeful our fellow tweeter will speak up and share with us what is really top of mind. Interesting stats you shared at the end of your comments. I guess that answered the question at the end of my article.

Thanks for contributing to the discussion and it really was great to meet and spend time with you in New York during Event Camp. Hope our paths cross again soon!

Mike

@michaelmccurry

For me, a review of the #eventprofs Tweets turns up a lot more than “RT & FF spam from self promoting suits.” I see substantive, interesting posts from people who are progressive leaders in the events industry. And having been lucky enough to meet many of them f2f at Event Camp 2010, I know that they are some of the nicest and most welcoming folks to newbies like me that I’ve ever met.

As far as RTs & FFs go, #eventprofs has grown substantially and the very nature of Twitter means that the proportion of these kinds of tweets will increase as the size of the community grows. Would our friend want us to pass interesting tweets on to our followers without attribution?

If s/he is “not learning anymore”, like Mike I’d appreciate some constructive, specific criticism about what would make a difference.

Looking at the most recent ~100 tweets of our critic, I didn’t see a single substantive post about event management. If you have valuable ideas or comments, please share them with us, we’ll appreciate them. Otherwise it seems churlish to complain without making contributions yourself.

And FWIW, I haven’t worn a suit for years.

Giving this a big more thought, I may have been more forgiving to this user than I should be. Hopefully, as you pointed out Mike, this is a “knee jerk” to what I have observed as a growing community that has had a larger volume of content. It’s the age old question with Twitter that as you follow more users and increase networks, you’ll naturally need to filter out a manageable amount of content for your liking. To that I say, join the club. If there’s too much noise or self promoters, simply ignore it.

If this group appears ‘cliquish’, I will have to rigidly disagree. #eventprofs just turned 1 year old, yet my involvement with the group has been less than 4 months. It took a single chat to feel like I had been a part of the group from the start. This is the warmest, most open group of individuals I’ve ever come across. Not once have I witnessed information or dialogue being withheld. I come from the school of thinking, “you get out what you put in.” If you feel like you’re not receiving personal attention, chances are you aren’t reaching out with your own contributions.

hahahahhaha … good one Eric

Great comments and suggestions Eric,

I am glad you were able to connect with the “user”, I tried, but to no avail, probably because of time difference.

My gut tells me the comments that were made were done without much forethought and pretty much “knee-jerk” reactions to something that happened.

I really hope our Twitter colleague responds with some feedback.

Mike

@michaelmccurry