1. Southern Entrepreneurship
in the Arts Conference
Live-Tweet
Hosted by North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center
Tara Connolly, Live tweet organizer

2. Summary | #SEACon2012 Live tweet
With a modest effort initiated two weeks before the
Southern Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference, Live
tweet organizer Tara Connolly, in collaboration with NCEC
staff, set up a live tweet, meeting NCEC’s objectives (see
objectives slide) and resulting in 350+ #SEACon2012 tweets
as well as participation from non-attending Twitter users
across the U.S. and as far away as Australia. The live tweet
also received a positive response from conference
attendees who participated.

3. About | #SEACon2012
About #SEACon2012: The Third Annual Southern
Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference, hosted by NC
Entrepreneurship Center (NCEC), was held Saturday, February
11 at University of North Carolina at Greensboro. More than
350 people from 5 states and students from 18 universities
attended. Most live tweet and Facebook coverage was posted
to live tweet organizer Tara’s personal Twitter account (650+
arts and entrepreneurship oriented followers) and Facebook
account (400+ fans). Most data in this report refers to coverage
and statistics gathered from live tweet organizer’s personal
accounts.

4. Results | #SEACon2012 Live tweet
Though we did not have access to advanced metrics, below are
some summary figures from the live tweet as of February 26,
2012:
→ 350+ #SEACon2012 tweets
→ 50+ Retweets
→ 25+ Participants (RTs, mentions, responses)

5. Initial Goals | #SEACon2012 Live tweet
• Generate more buzz before conference
• Promote brand and encourage more attendance at
future conferences among non-attendees
• Publish a record of conference sessions
• Encourage engagement with conference content
and interaction among attendees

6. Process | Live tweet organizer’s steps
1. Pitched idea, captured hosting organization’s objectives in
holding a live tweet
2. Created hashtag in collaboration with NCEC staff
3. Before conference, conducted outreach to interested parties
and partner groups (art and entrepreneurship groups, speaker
networks) and live tweet organizer’s personal network to
encourage participation in the live tweet
4. Before conference, compiled a spreadsheet of relevant multi-
media links, quotes and information about each speaker,
activity and session for use as content during live tweet
5. Tweeted key points from conference sessions, multi-media
links, pictures and posted media to Facebook throughout
conference
6. Published conference recap blog posts and sent them to live
tweet participants and partner groups after the conference

7. Pre-conference Engagement
Pre-conference partner group engagement
Pre-conference promotion
Pre-conference RT by @jmknc, Raleigh, NC – 1,111 followers

8. Non-attendee engagement | State-wide
RT by @NickDiCo, Raleigh, NC - 1,118 followers
RT by @jmknc, Raleigh, NC - 1,111 followers

9. Non-attendee engagement | Nation-wide
RT by @coolmcjazz, D.C. – 2,458 followers
RTs by University of Miami Masters Program in
Community and Social Change

10. Non-attendee engagement | International
5 RTs in Sydney, Australia by @PaperCatTales

11. Attendee engagement

12. Post-Conference Engagement
10 RTs to reach 14,900+ followers
RT by @AfricanAmArt in NYC

13. Facebook Activity
Facebook post - #SEACon2012 Iron Pour

14. Most Popular Tweets
@taralconnolly: Here's my recap of Beverly McIver's keynote
at #SEACon2012 this weekend. Enjoy! ow.ly/9348f
@ksvintagegarden: No idea is sacred and every idea is
sacred- J. Gallucci #SEACon2012
@taralconnolly: #SEACon2012 is hosted by @UNCGStartup,
Entrepreneurship Center at UNCG, which helps students in non-
business areas apply business practices
@ksvintagegarden: Glad we are tweeting...cause I missed
this. Funny!“@bryantoney: An entrepreneur feels like a swiss army
knife - Joe Soler #seacon2012”
@taralconnolly: Young entrepreneur @mlrollings suggests
other performance artists check out YAP Tracker for resources +
audition notifications #SEACon2012

15. Evaluation | Areas for improvement
• Publicize hashtag to attendees in advance at conference
registration and preconference email reminders. Publicize
hashtag around the facilities during conference. Consider
projecting live Twitter stream in lobby at conference to
encourage more participation among attendees
• Link organization social media accounts to live tweet
organizer’s social media management account for
maximum posting to both personal and organizational
accounts
• Utilize advanced data collection through social media
management tool such as Hootsuite for analysis of live
tweet results

16. Takeaways | Successes
• Before the conference, identified partner groups with an interest
in the content or an affiliation with one of the speakers and
encouraged them to participate in live tweet and share content
with their network, resulting in more RTs during conference and
sharing of recap material after conference
• Utilized live tweet organizer’s existing social media network
including many contacts with interests in conference content
(most non-attendee participation was on part of members of live
tweet organizer’s personal network), resulting in more RTs and
participation among non-attendees
• Utilized conference recap blog posts as mechanism to reach out to
live tweet participants and partner groups after conference,
resulting in more sharing of at #SEACon2012 content during weeks
after the conference

17. Resources
A Basic Guide - How to Live Tweet an Event
http://www.movements.org/how-to/entry/how-to-live tweet-
an-event/
Case study - Results from live tweet (tweet up) event in Boston:
http://bostontweetup.com/2011-masschallenge-awards-
bostontweetup-review/
Case study - Live tweet increased event sponsor promotion
http://bostontweetup.com/boston-fashion-week-social-media-
review-swap-case-study/

18. About the Live tweet organizer | @taralconnolly
Tara Connolly
I’m a freelancer and communications contractor based in Raleigh,
NC. I’ve worked with more than 15 nonprofit organizations to craft
compelling communications, strategy and development initiatives.
In January 2011, I was featured on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s
website as one of “Ten New Nonprofit Voices.” I’m an avid tweeter,
reader and life-liver. My love for arts, culture and travel has taken
me to 16 countries. Learn more about my work at
www.taralconnolly.com. Contact me at @taralconnolly or
taralconnolly@gmail.com.