By: Eden Hensley; Photo by Brooke Dennis for Alt Summit
I’m constantly amazed by how many in the Alt Community, myself included, are introverts. For so many of us to gather together in Salt Lake City is amazing; we are facing our discomfort and forging on ahead with our dreams. This is no small feat and should be celebrated!
We realize we need to connect with others to accomplish our dreams. We’ve learned to embrace the discomfort. We don’t know when we walk into a room whether or not we’ll connect, but we take that first step anyway.
The week after Alt Summit can be overwhelming as we sit and look at pages of inspiration and lists of actions we feel we must take. Join us today at 9AM PST / 12 PM EST on Twitter for our weekly #AltChat. We’ll be chatting about embracing the unknown and offering each other tips for moving forward.
How to Participate in a Live Twitter Chat
- Follow the host of the Twitter Chat, that’s us @AltSummit, so that you will see the questions we ask.
- Let your fans know that your Twitter stream will be a little more active than usual for the next hour as you participate in #AltChat and invite them to join you. For example, PSA: My tweet stream will be pretty active for the next hour as I join #AltChat. Come along as we chat about Embracing the Unknown.
- Use a Twitter application, such as Hootsuite, and set up side-by-side streams to view the chat and any replies to your responses. The first stream should be a search for the #AltChat hashtag. The second stream should be @mentions. If you’re using a browser, open two windows: one to see the conversation (general #AltChat hashtag search) and one to see your interactions (@mentions).
- Slow down the speed of the chat, the rate at which tweets come at you, or pause it altogether using a Twitter Chat application, such as TweetChat or Nurph. You can set how many tweets you want to see at a time or pause the stream while you catch up on the conversation. These applications automatically append the #AltChat hashtag so that everyone will see your responses.
- Retweet the host’s question before you answer so that your fans know the context for your reply. They may not be following AltSummit and will only see one half of the conversation otherwise.
- Begin your 140 character answers with A1, A2, and so on to match the question you’re answering. This is especially helpful as not everyone joins the conversation at the same time and people may be responding to multiple questions at the same time.
- If you aren’t using a Twitter Chat application, such as TweetChat or Nurph, be sure to include #AltChat in your answer so that others can see your response. For your 15 minutes of fame, also include #AltSummit and your answer will appear on the Altitude Summit home page.
- Have fun and make new friends! Favorite or retweet responses that resonate with you. After the chat, go through your favorites and retweets and get to know the people you interacted with.