What Joe Said

In case you missed the first two parts of this short series, you can check them out here: Living in the Backchannel: Pre-conference and Day 1, Living in the Backchannel: Day 2 of LEI 2010.

You’ve read about the pre-conference, the connections, the excitement and the engagement of #LEI10. Up until halfway through Day 2 of the conference I was connected non-stop, tweeting, reading, referencing, bookmarking, then…this happened:

That dreaded, inconvenient, hopeless icon flashed on my phone as I was about to go into an afternoon session. What did this mean, what was I to do? There was no salvation, there was no solution. I would have to go through a session without having Twitter there with me as a colleague. I would be disconnected for 75 minutes until @OberBecca rescued me in the following session with a spare charger.

This series has focused largely on using Twitter throughout the conference so why am I taking the time to talk about a time where Twitter was nowhere to be found? Because the moment I put my phone, darkened and dead, back in my pocket this is what I felt like:

Taken at the LEI Welcome Keynote

I felt as discombobulated as the new chick coming out of the egg. I paid attention to the speakers, feverishly taking notes to share later, but something was missing. When Twitter was in my hands it was not distracting but without Twitter, I felt like an artist who had all of their supplies but no canvas. All these ideas, thoughts, resources, questions, answers all in front of me…on a piece of paper written in pen. If I am the artist, I just drew a masterpiece in the sand only to have the tide sweep it away.  The notes on the paper wouldn’t be real-time if I transposed them later. I couldn’t get responses on the spot or questions to ask right then and there from other colleagues.

I look back at my notes from that session and you would think that I was writing in my opposite hand. Twitter not only served as my public notebook but when I did use a pen and paper in the sessions I also had Twitter; my notes were neat, legible, organized. Without Twitter my notebook had turned into a dry-erase board at a brainstorming session. Scribbles, shapes, lines, words all over. See for yourself: (Without Twitter on the left and with Twitter on the right)

It turns out that my phone being low on battery would in turn mean I would be low on focus. Twitter had empowered me to catch key phrases and questions from the session to intrigue and share with my followers, something a pen and paper had yet to accomplish. It was as if I had to relearn how to take notes. With Twitter, I was listening and contributing. Learning and sharing. It was a two-way street. Without Twitter, I was a sponge soaking up the information without any release or output.

After this experience, I learned two things: 1) always travel with a spare charger on your person, 2) after writing tweeting with my thumbs for over 24 hours just holding a pen to a piece of paper was a foreign feeling.

My fourth and final post will explain what Twitter “in real life” transformed into and how 140-characters and engaged followers led me to an encounter I’ll never forget.