Everyone has their preferred method of note-taking at conferences, meetings, etc. I am lucky to attend many amazing learning opportunities and thus feel compelled to share like crazy on Twitter and all the while I am thinking about how many great blog post extensions could be created out of this learning.
I create countless blog posts in my head everyday. I can visualize them as I’m driving from school to school, during workouts, walking the dog, talking to other educators… all day long, my mind rolls and rolls.
Know what is depressing? This is a snapshot of what I have accomplished through actually PUBLISHING my blog posts over the past year…
Wow. This visual says it all…and the story isn’t that flattering. It is almost like that non-sticky New Year’s Resolution. All talk, a short sell, followed by a complete fizzle.
Then I went to METC and I sat in sessions thinking about the application of what I was learning. I keep thinking about how many blog posts should be created and published from the connections I was making. Then it hit me.
Some people like to take notes on Evernote, some prefer Google, some prefer paper and pencil, really creative people might even Sketch Note, so I began wondering what do I do best? It hits me… I tweet. There is a simplicity in knowing you have to synthesize thoughts to 140 characters. I do take a lot of notes electronically but then realize I’m usually not making meaning of the notes as much as I am dictating precisely what I hear.
With Twitter’s 140 character approach I get to listen, reflect, and share in a very fast-twitch type of speed which suits my personality well. What is exciting to me is I can read through others’ posts and immediately see how they are interpreting the same message. I find myself thinking… hmmm, that is an interesting interpretation. I need to favorite that tweet and think over the next few days. I can’t tell you how many of these thoughts turn into connected conversations!
Twitter Meets Blogging
I love the ease of connecting Twitter note taking to blogging and now follow this simple process:
- Engage in a learning opportunity
- Tweet like crazy – specifically making additional connections to what is being said to show the thinking instead of solely quoting the speaker
- Return to your work within the week and look at what you tweeted, find common themes, and draw conclusions
- Write a blog post that shares your original tweet and add to extend your learning
I have found this process to be an excellent way for me to connect and build learning through Tweet analysis and extend my thinking through blogging.
As an example, here are three screen shots of Tweets I posted during a keynote with George Couros:
A few days later I processed and added to my thoughts in my blog post, titled Be the Change.
Perhaps I’m overthinking and making the process more complex than it should be, but tweeting to blogging is helping me organize my thinking and add connections to share more than I have in the past. I would call it a win. I’m curious:
What is your best suggestion for sharing what you learn at conferences?
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