The Media140 event was held in Perth this week and I attended as a guest blogger.

For me, one of the most interesting things about Media140 was seeing the effect of the Twitter Wall; the web page of tweets with the hashtag #media140 projected behind the speaker or panel in real time. A stream of consciousness about the event, at the event.

Many conferences these days (IT conferences in particular) have a Twitter back-channel; a conversation among Twitterers about the conference during the conference, but the idea that you show that stream in real time to the audience is, I think, a significant shift in conferencing.

I noticed that the ABC-influenced Media140 event in Sydney took a policy decision not to show the Wall in its video of the event. Apart from the obvious potential for people to spam, tweet profanities and send libellous messages, the Wall allows for a diverse commentary and some genuinely funny commentary. My co-blogger @grum was particularly sharp. And we saw the odd situation where panellist @richardgiles was dissing the audience for not asking incisive enough questions. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Wall adds significantly to the entertainment value of the event for those who attend. And it’s far more interesting than watching on-line because you have the tension of the speaker’s reaction to the comment about their bad hair or the fact that they’re droning on.

While experienced Twitterers on stage apparently had no issue with the Wall, Andrew Pascoe, the lawyer from Allens Arthur Robinson who knew little of Twitter was clearly rattled by the idea that he was for a time (1) not the centre of attention and (2) not able to follow the in-jokes. Some of my friends to whom I described the scene afterwards were sympathetic, describing the channelling of attention away from the speaker as rude.

I think most older people would take that line and I don’t think experienced speakers will countenance it in a normal conferencing situation. To me, it’s giving away some reverence for the speaker in return for a higher level of engagement among the audience. Price worth paying. Furthermore, I believe it is an important differentiator for Media140, which could evolve in the direction of Twitter-powered events, rather than events on how to deal with social media.

You can read my other posts here: a tremendously clever joke about media ownership that nobody got, my interview with Brett McCarthy of The West Australian and and an article about time-rich, cynical twitterers. Er, like me.

And if you’re not already doing so, follow me on twitter – @brettreasure

Photo by Paul Pichugin.

SLCC 07 (the Second Life Community Convention) was held in Chicago; it’s my second Second Life convention. I died by Powerpoint twice at the business track. Two people in advertising who should know something about communication inflicted brutally slow talks, reading each slide as they went. They should learn about Pecha Kucha. Look for me in the front row of your next Powerpoint presentation. Know that if I stand up and walk out of the presentation, it’s not because I need to go the bathroom.

Here’s another thing. Do people come up to you and say, ‘you are a brilliant presenter’? Because if they DON’T, you are NOT. This means that when you’re on a panel you need to be CONCISE. You don’t need to RE-PHRASE it.

The normal protocol at question time in conferences is for questioners to line up and ask questions of the panel who remain comfortably seated for the duration. This protocol should be reversed. Those who wish to ask questions should take seats on the panel and the panel members should stand. Standing while answering questions puts pressure on panelists to be concise. And that will reduce the risk of my shooting one of them through the head.

Singapore’s enthusiastic approach to technology adoption is well known and their sponsorship of the first State of Play conference held outside the US is typically entrepreneurial. The iN2015 Masterplan outlines a vision for Singapore as the world stock exchange for digital content. It’s a vision that includes virtual worlds, perhaps the first ‘whole of government’ approach to that technology. I look forward to an involvement.

One of the striking things about the virtual world conferences I’ve attended is their multi-disciplinary nature. Researchers, non-profits, business people, educators and here, a very strong legal contingent.

An objective of the conference was to bridge west and east and some progress was made behind the scenes. In the open sessions though it was very much the westerners giving forth and the asian groups sitting at the back of the room taking it all in. The panels on intellectual property in virtual worlds included the splendidly named western experts Roxanne Christ and M. Scott Boone. Using this protocol I would be B. Robert Treasure; it’s just not that impressive. I don’t mind BB Treasure or B. Winchester Treasure or B. (the Kiosk) Treasure but I’m drifting off-topic. Nick Abrahams was also on the panel; he really needs to be Nicholas Abrahams III.

The westerners expertly reviewed the shifting sands of IP law and sat back for questions. The first man to the microphone spoke through a translator. Judge Unggi Yoon outlined his thoughts on private and public ownership of IP in South Korea, where more time is spent gaming than watching television. Half way through his discourse the whole mood of the room changed. A collective humility descended on the westerners. It was as if we’d been discussing the future of the internet without the Americans. The panelists acknowledged the need to look at developments in South Korea more closely and another little dent appeared in the wall of western omniscience. Neils Clark from Gamasutra [K. Neils BOSON Clark] noticed the same effect in another session.

***

You had to feel sorry for Mike Wilson, CEO of Makena Technologies, a sponsor of the event. As principal of the virtual world, THERE, he had to sit through a conference dominated by discussions about his better known competitor, Second Life. Probably 80% of discussion was SL-centric. A number of people asked rhetorically which virtual environments will predominate in the future but for the most part, the future is created out of the conversations we are having now. Those conversations are about Second Life and they create their own momentum. To quote Harvard’s Charles Nesson on educational research, “Second Life is the best there’s out there. So you use the tool that cuts the sharpest”.