Many lawyers blog. But what about live blogging while at a conference?
One of the most exciting conferences for interactive (technology) as well as film and music is going on right now in Austin: SXSW . Social Media Today’s Lee Oden, blogging live from SXSW, posted some great tips for effective live blogging while at SXSW.
Lawyers could apply these same tips while blogging and posting live during legal or industry conferences.
For example, Lee suggests checking out the conference schedule in advance, and planning to arrive at key sessions early (so that you’re seated near a plug.) I’d also suggest examining all concurrent sessions and selecting ones that would be particularly interesting your blog readership.
Lee suggests typing the posts in an application like Notepad and then transferring them to your blog. This works well in case you lose your internet connection during a session.
Promoting your posts immediately is also key, Lee notes, via Facebook, LinkedIn and the like. To take advantage of the “real time” nature of your blogging efforts; you want to get the word out fast.
Live blogging has an excitement and sense of “urgency” that blogging after the fact doesn’t (much like live journalistic coverage is more thrilling than recap reporting). Of course, blogging during conferences is also a great way to reach readers across the globe who couldn’t ravel to attend the conference in person; even if they read your posts the next day rather than in real time, the coverage will still be fresher than the summaries printed in post-conference newsletters months later.
Want to become a popular source for the press? Want to work well with the foreign press? Paramjit Mahli of the SCG Legal PR Network has some great tips for lawyers on both:
Becoming a popular press source:
http://www.profitingwithpublicrelations.com/2010/01/becoming-a-goto-source-for-the-press.html
Working well with the foreign press:
http://www.profitingwithpublicrelations.com/2010/01/draft.html
To the latter post I commented that knowing how to communicate with reporters from foreign cultures can be invaluable. Americans tend to be very direct communicators, very individualistic, and comfortable with self promotion. As a result, many American lawyers are quoted with a string of sentences beginning with, “I think…”, “I know…” and “In my opinion…”. Although lawyers should make their opinions known, when communicating with a reporter from a less individualistic and more indirect culture, American lawyers should avoid starting every sentence with “I”.
Last night I got to introduce John Otis, TIME and Global Post correspondent in Bogota, before a local World Affairs Council event. John recently published Law of the Jungle: The Hunt for Colombian Guerrillas, American Hostages, and Buried Treasure. Many years ago as a young journalist he made his way from Minnesota to South America with his typewriter crammed in his backpack; the typewriter took up so much room that he had to abandon his sleeping bag.
John read from his fascinating book, a fact which I later described on my Facebook page. What interested me was the response that I got. Although my comments were brief, a number of friends emailed me asking where they could buy the book (answer: Amazon). Since my description was minimal, I concluded that it was the book’s snappy, intriguing title which had garnered so much attention. Words like “Buried Treasure” do pique the imagination.
So, when writing articles, blog posts, or even letters to clients, how can you grab your reader’s attention? Although allusions to the “Jungle” and “Hostages” may not be appropriate, writing in a compelling way (not legalese) will set you apart from most lawyers. Need help? There are plenty of books, like Words that Work, to give you guidance.
Introducing John Otis
What can lawyers possibly learn from FarmVille’s international social media success? As discussed in my Global Rainmaking blog, FarmVille’s creators took an idea that appealed to a wide variety of people, regardless of gender, culture or age–and developed it into a global phenomenon. Similarly, international lawyers who work with a wide variety of clients must think of social media strategies that appeal to prospective clients regardless of culture. For more suggestions, read Learn from FarmVille’s Social Media Success.
The ABA Journal has posted some great, simple tips for using Facebook more effectively and securely. These tips include: using, and regularly changing, a “strong” password; updating privacy settings; and segregating clients on a “friends list”–and treating this list differently in terms of which Facebook information your clients can access.
