So, a few weeks ago I came across this fabulous article by Jay Rosen called “How the backchannel has changed the game for conference panelists“. It was perfect timing because I had just been discussing how much I had enjoyed the public/private tweeting and live commenting happening during a live stream event I was watching, and how Twitter allows for a totally different and very engaging experience at these things than we used to have before.
I had no idea that there was actually a name for this phenomenon: the backchannel; coined by Victor Yngve in 1970 and made famous in 2002 at the PC Forum conference (thank you Wikipedia!).
Rosen notes that “The popularity of the backchannel… has empowered those in the audience to compare notes and pool their dissatisfaction during a performance that misfires…. Especially at risk are ‘big name’ speakers whose online or offline status is such that they may complacently assume their presence alone completes the assignment and guarantees success.”
He goes on to give 10 tips for how to avoid getting killed in the backchannel. These tips are a good read for famous types who speak at conferences or panels. But they are also a good read for the rest of us, as a lot of it is still relevant. For example, I liked the idea of “blog it first” to get early reactions to what you are going to present so that you can tweak it before your actual presentation.
Now, I’m obviously the non-famous type, and I doubt the ‘audience’ will be harsh, but in mid-June, I’ll be in Karlstad, Sweden presenting at the 6th World Summit on Media for Children. My presentation is on one of the projects that I’ve been involved in over the past couple years: Youth Empowerment through Arts and Media (YETAM). I actually refer to it a lot in this blog, though I haven’t really written a summary post on it. I normally refer people to this nice overview posted on the Communication Initiative website or to this post on the project’s overall methodology.
So, I thought I’d post my presentation here for the 99.9% of people I’m acquainted with who won’t be at the 6th World Summit, and of course as part of my plan to avoid any negative backchannel tweeting while I’m presenting! Enjoy, and would love to have any comments to, you know, tweak it before it goes super live, just in case there are any hardcore backchannellers there….
Note: if you are reading on Google Reader, it seems the presentation doesn’t appear, so try clicking through to slideshare here…. or [NEW!] watch or download the file with notes here (if watching with notes, resize the .pdf document so that you can see the notes underneath the slides).
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Looking forward to the real life version of the presentation 🙂
The presentation doesn’t appear on Google reader… or on the interwebs in Goma. I’d like to see it, it sounds really interesting. Can I beg an e-mail of it?
DK, thanks for your comment. I’m happy to know I’ll have at least one person attending the presentation! 😛
Rachel – I just added a direct link through to SlideShare. It’s a rather huge file because it’s all photos so it’s difficult to send by email. Let me know if you can access it via the link, and if not I’m happy to find another way to send it…. I also uploaded it on dropbox.net and there is a link above… I’m always excited when someone wants to see/read something, so thank you for being interested!
I found it really interesting – would love to hear the narration with it. Will you be recording the presentation with Camtasia or something similar?
Like Laura, I find it difficult to gauge without narration. A Camtasia presentation would be great, but even just your speaker notes (if you use those) would already help.
Have you looked at http://www.mobilemovement.tv
Also I would oike to bring your attention to UN-HABITAT’s Youth fund for yuoth led projects. here is info on the Fund:
During the 21st session of the Governing Council that oversees the work programme and budget of UN-HABITAT, member countries in 2007 passed a resolution calling on the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT set up a special fund to help young people living in poverty. Championed by Norway, the new Opportunities Fund for urban youth-led development is designed to improve understanding, and lead to more effective ways of involving young people in sustainable urban development.
The Youth fund represents a milestone in the recognition at the highest levels of the need to practically support youth-led initiatives and lead the way for other organizations and governments to place youth at the centre of their development strategies.
In its regular meetings with young people from every corner of the world, UN-HABITAT knows only too well how much young people want and need a say in their own affairs and the decisions that affect them.
Young people are most vulnerable to social problems caused by unemployment and poverty. Girls and young women are most at risk. With over 200 million youth living in poverty, 130 million illiterate, 88 million unemployed and 10 million young people living with HIV/AIDS, there is a clear need to invest more in youth.
Youth-led development is about young people making a living and future for themselves and their communities. It involves business and community improvement projects, devised and managed by young people, often working alongside adults with the know-how they can pass on.
The new fund is being set up to strengthen youth-led development that can improve understanding, and lead to more effective policies and strategies to strengthen the role of youth in sustainable urban development.
The intention
The Opportunities Fund aims to facilitate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and their youth-related targets. It will help young people in the poorer neighbourhoods of cities in the developing world find new opportunities in life, especially when it comes to employment and entrepreneurship. It will also be used to strengthen youth-related policies, help governments, civil society organizations and the private sector address youth concerns, and support new information and learning channels for young people. It will help pilot innovative ideas on employment, governance, shelter and secure tenure; share best practices, and assist vocational training and credit mechanisms to promote entrepreneurship and employment for young people. It will also seek to ensure that gender concerns are incorporated into all policies.
Knowledge about youth-led initiatives around the world is very weak. One of the benefits of a mechanism for supporting local initiatives is that information on what is happening on the ground can be easily obtained. In this way the Fund will contribute to learning on the role of youth in development, providing input to strengthening international and national youth policies.
How it will work
The Opportunities Fund will be managed by a committee of experts drawn from UN-HABITAT, donor governments and youth representatives.
Krishnan thanks very much for the two links you posted. I checked out mobile movement, and will share it around internally along with the info on UN Habitat’s Opportunities fund! Much appreciated. Cheers, Linda
The internet has to be the greatest invention – to be able to network these people with the rest of the world is beneficial for everyone.