Post by @gknutson

SIC 2011 is finally over.  At least for me it is.  Tonight’s after party rages on, but my liver is shot from last night’s party at Seattle’s infamous Showbox theater featuring Shabazz Palaces, so its back home on the couch for me.  

During the past two days I attended thirteen sessions across various topics.  In order to get value from this experience I not only had to engage, but keep a record of the most relevant learnings.  But taking notes has always been a chore for me.  I do it, but the problem is I rarely go back and read them.  Regardless of this I started off strong, taking copious notes during the first session.  The problem was that I found myself spending too much time writing and not enough time listening.  So, after that first session I exchanged pen and paper for my trusted HP laptop and fired up Twitter. 

My technique was this – Listen first, and if I hear something that I think my followers (fellow marketers) would find useful then I’d tweet it.  Which tweets will I come back to and read again?  Which ideas will I share with my colleagues back at the office?  The ones that were retweeted, commented on, and drove actions by my followers.  Imagine if a college kid could take lecture notes, then have them reviewed by a team of scholars, who then return said notes with comments and all the best nuggets highlighted.  Impossible, right?  Not with Twitter. 

I tweeted a ton the last few days, probably too much.  But 32 of those were retweeted.  One of them 10 times, which for me is pretty good.  That tweet was gold.  Pure, solid, gold.  People came up to me during the conference and talked told me they saw it on Twitter.  My wife, who also works in marketing, brought it up at the dinner table.  That never happens. 

So, when I sit down to write a recap of what I learned at Seattle Interactive Conference 2011 there will be no need to sort through pages of hand written, torn, coffee stained notes because I’ve got a digital copy of peer reviewed and tested 140 character snackable bites waiting for me on Twitter. 

What do you think?

Best,

@gknutson