Category: Presentations

  • Online Presence and Social Media for Academics Attending and Presenting at Events

    Online Presence and Social Media for Academics Attending and Presenting at Events

    Ideas for Your Online Presence Before, During, and After Your Talk or Presentation

    The best time to share about your upcoming talk or presentation is before it happens. Some people find that their most engaged post on social media is announcing that you’ve submitted your abstract to speak (or your publication). People are excited by the possibility and what you care about. Telling your story of your upcoming speaking engagement is a great way to do that. 

    Sharing on social media can start early, but I don’t want you to think it’s the only way to help your online presence and the people coming to your talk. You’re going to explore many ideas today, but you don’t have to try all of them. I hope that there’s at least one idea that resonates with you and you’d feel comfortable trying it yourself.

    Before your speaking engagement

    When you submit an abstract for or are invited to speak

    Add your website URL and social media handle to your bio. This will help people find you before, during, and after your presentation.

    I’ve just submitted an abstract to speak at…

    Announce that you’ve submitted – If you’ve been invited to speak, a good time to share on social media is when you’ve agreed or committed to that engagement. It’s great to add your social media handle and a link to your personal academic website if you have one, along with your bio. You might add that information to your CV.

    A woman looking at an open laptop on a desk in a coffee shop. Her backpack is leaning in the corner by the window. It's a sunny day, with light streaming in.

    Connect with people before you go

    Once your talk is confirmed, you can add it to your website and you might take time to connect with your fellow panelists or event organizers before the event.

    Conference Hashtag

    If there is one, you can check out the conference hashtag and make plans with people who will also be at the event that you want to see, especially if you live in different cities or countries.

    Business cards

    If you have a business card, add your social media handle and website there is a good idea.

    Share your talk on social media

    When you’re sharing your talk on social media, people need more information than you expect. They need to know what your talk is about, when your talk is to know if they can attend, what the event is, and any link where they can learn more information. This is something you can share on any social media platform or across all your platforms.

    Some professors hesitate to share their upcoming talk on Facebook where they may have a more personal audience, but these people are excited by what you care about when it comes to your research and how you choose to spend your energy. You might include , on all social media posts, any definition or story that helps people better understand why this talk or research matters to you.

    Tag people or organizations that are related to your talk or event. 

    The conference hashtag can be added to your post about your talk but you can also add a hashtag that relates to the topic of what you are presenting on.

    You can share the post about your talk before, during or after the event. 

    Create a graphic or infographic

    If you create a graphic or share an image to go with your talk, a great resource is Writing image Descriptions on Accessible Social – which helps you create social media posts accessible for people with disabilities.

    Want a quick personal academic website?

    If you don’t have one already, you might create a personal academic website with Owlstown.

    During the academic conference or meeting

    A black woman at the front of a large lecture hall holds a microphone in discussion with a white woman with short brown hair sitting at a desk nearby, also at the front of the room. That woman is speaking near a smaller lectern microphone. Each woman holds papers in her hands.

    These are ideas are for your online presence and networking while a conference or event is happening.

    Check out the conference hashtag, again

    If you checked out the event hashtag, you might find that people weren’t using it. Once the event starts, you can start using the conference hashtag and check it out! See if there is a conversation you want to be part of, or an event you want to check out.

    Be open about your online presence

    The best thing you can do for your online presence while at an in person event, is to be open that you have a website or that you’re on social media.

    Help people find and connect with you

    You can make this easier for people by making a QR code that helps people go to your website, have this info on a business card, create a hand out with information or resource about your talk (that includes people need to your online presence) , or use an end slide in your presentation to help people connect with you after the event is over.

    Resources to take home and share

    When you create a resource like a handout or links /slides to share, that can go on your personal academic website. They can also be shared on social media using that conference hashtag to help people find this resource that you’ve already taken the time to gather.

    Will this be recorded?

    Ask if there is going to be a recording. Sometimes, there isn’t an official recording but you can ask if you can record yourself.

    Stay connected once you’re gone

    Connect with people you meet or you like and admire on social media, while at the conference. Helps others be more likely to learn about you.

    It’s okay if you don’t do any of that too

    I have never had time for any of that at conferences, personally. In person events can be overwhelming for me as an introvert. Because of that, I don’t have the brain capacity to remember things like take a photo, much less record some videos. 

    Anything I just talked about – some of those things can be prepped in advance others you don’t have to do live (you can do afterward)

    Next are ideas you can do after your presentation or talk is over.

    After your talk is over

    Record your talk

    Whether there was a recording of your talk or not, you could always record your talk and slides using zoom, then post the video to your website or social media. There are options to share the full version of your talk, if you like to. You can just share the title slide, or full text version of the talk, or even the full slides.

    Connect with people when you’re back at home

    If you didn’t connect with people during the event, sometimes connecting AFTER the event is easier. You can look at the conference hashtag. Look through the business cards you collected.  See the conference program and look at the bios to see who is on social media.

    Create and/or share resources

    If you didn’t have resources to share at your talk, if there are things you want people to know after the fact, you can create a graphic or handout that is shareable on social media or a page on your website.

    Celebrate other people

    While you can post about your own talk, you can also post about your panel and thank the conference and event organizers. If you want to participate in the conference community but not want to talk about your own talk, you can celebrate others instead. It’s a great opportunity for PIs to celebrate their lab members or grad students who are at the event. There are so many ways to celebrate people instead of yourself, if that feels comfortable or more exciting for you.

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    Ideas for anytime

    Take a picture before your talk

    These don’t have to be professional shots. A messy desk shot or photo of you working on your slides or going over your notes on the plane. Something that feels quick or easy to you.

    Take pictures during the event

    Snap a photo of things you see, people you meet, friends you catch up with. Ask someone to take photos of you while you’re speaking or pose at the conference. 

    You could record a video of your talk

    This can be before, during, or after the event.

    You can record a video about your talk

    Record a short video introducing your talk and the main takeaways. This video is especially for people who couldn’t be there live for your presentation.

    Record some b-roll

    If you like video, record b-roll video. Take a sip of coffee, getting ready to speak, short travel clips, video of fellow panelists or friends. These might be put into a longer video or Instagram reel. 

    But these might feel like too much – so even though they are fun ideas, don’t be stressed if you do none of them.

    What feels most do-able for you?

    Here are tips for virtual events specifically.

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  • Online Presence for Academics Attending Virtual Events

    Online Presence for Academics Attending Virtual Events

    I love virtual events. Maybe you do too. But it’s okay if you don’t. As my guest on The Social Academic, Dr. Julia Barzyk said, “research is becoming virtual first.” Virtual events are here to stay when it comes to academics and researchers.

    Your online presence can enhance how you experience and interact with people at conferences and events. This is true for both in person and virtual events. But today, I want to chat with you about what to do for your online presence when you’re attending or presenting virtually. In this blog post:

    Tell people you’re attending the virtual conference or event

    Sometimes, professors hesitate to tell people you’re going to a conference or event because it feels self-promotional. 

    But, actually, when you share you’re headed to an event (even when it’s virtual), you help a lot of people. You can help your

    • Colleagues
    • Students
    • event organizers
    • Speakers

    There are also people who are anxious to join the conversation. Conference attendees sometimes wait for someone, anyone else to use the conference hashtag on social media first. I get that. It can be hard to start a conversation.

    When you think about the people you have the potential to help? Thinking about those people helps the time I’ve put into crafting a post be a lot more meaningful. My professor clients have found that’s true for them too.

    Here are a few places you can share you’re headed to a virtual event:

    • Social media
    • Your website
    • Mentioning in person

    Tip: The most dynamic way you can improve your online presence and your presence at any event you’re presenting at is by improving your speaker bio.

    Subscribe to The Social Academic blog.

    The form above subscribes you to new posts published on The Social Academic blog.
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    Watch my video on speaker bios with Dr. Echo Rivera

    Share about the specific talks you’re presenting or attending

    View over the shoulder of a professor who is attending a live virtual event. On his open laptop screen is the speaker, a person with short hair and glasses, smiling.

    When you share the talk you’re presenting specifically, it helps people know if they can attend. If they can attend (or even if they can’t), it helps people share the event with others who may be interested. Like their grad students.

    Sometimes conference programs are hundreds of pages and multiple days, with concurrent sessions to choose from. I love that virtual events tend to come with options to plan your schedule in advance.

    Let’s say you share your talk on social media too. And, you use the conference hashtag. Only a small percentage of the people presenting are using the conference hashtags (or posting about their talk at all). Already it’s more likely you’ll get eyes on your event.

    When you share the details people need to know if the talk is right for them, things like

    • What your session is about
    • The time and date you’re presenting at
    • Where people can find more info

    It makes a huge difference for people to have ease when learning about your particular event. Some professors make a graphic on Canva, but virtual events tend to create graphics for you. So it’s a good idea to log into the conference platform early to see if there’s a visual way for you to enhance your social media post about your talk. It’s also worth asking the conference hosts if that’s something they plan on having to avoid unnecessary labor (unless you love graphic design, in which case yay!).

    I’ve also worked with a lot of professors who host or moderate events. Sometimes they have multiple events and presentations at the same conference over several days. There’s an inclination to not share their own thing, so it’s okay if you find comfort in sharing the thing you’re hosting instead. It makes a big difference for the panelists or speakers at your event.

    The truth is, people often wait to share about themselves until the last minute (if they ever do). I think that’s often because of either imposter syndrome or time. As a host, you care about this. And you can help make it easy for the speakers at your event to share with ease when you tag them. It’s much easier to repost than to craft it themselves.

    Tips for your social media post reach the right people

    • Use the conference hashtag using #CamelCase where you capitalize the first letters of each word
    • Use up to 1 other hashtag related to your field at the end of your post
    • Tag the event organizer or conference host
    • Tag the speakers

    Visit Accessible Social from Alexa Heinrich for best practices for writing accessible social media posts.

    When you have a link where people can learn more info about your talk or event, please know that most social media algorithms downgrade how many people it shows your post to when you include a link in your post. When you have a link to share, one way to do that is by including the link in the comments or replies of your post. For Twitter/X, you can include the link in a thread.

    Here’s more on sharing your talk or conference presentation on social media.

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    Connecting with speakers and attendees virtually 

    A bright room where a woman sits at a table with papers. She's holding an small mug in her hands and is smiling at the red mobile phone in her hands.

    At virtual events, connecting with people in ways that are lasting can actually be easier. That’s because virtual events have virtual platforms where you can have a profile, get a link to click on to find someone’s social media or website, or download their slides/resources. Virtual events may have networking sessions, pre or post events, and ways for you to stay involved.

    Most virtual events have a space for you to create a profile. Your profile helps people see you and get to know who you are. And when you update your profile early (like when access to them opens), you give people opportunity to learn about you as they’re updating their own profile.

    One way to connect with people in advance is by adding an invitation in your bio. For example:

    • Adding a scheduling link and inviting people to meet you for coffee
    • Adding your email and inviting people to contact you if they are interesting in collaborating or networking

    Some conferences have space for you to create your own virtual event (like a hangout with a shared topic of conversation).

    There are also asynchronous ways to feel like you’re part of the community. For instance, the option to ask a Question to all attendees, or to create a poll. Some virtual conferences have games you can participate in. Or a scavenger hunt.

    I love that virtual events can often create better environments to communicate with speakers as compared to in person conferences. When you’re in person, you have what, 10 minutes before your next session starts? Virtual allows for asynchronous options, giving you opportunity to ask questions to speakers before their session (even when you can’t make it live). There’s even space for speakers to upload resources and share links for you to take home.

    When their session has ended, the chat space often stays so people can engage in conversations when watching the replay. And actually, don’t wait for someone else to do it first. If you’re at a virtual even and you see that no one has said anything in the chat (after the event has ended), you can start by thanking the speaker. You can build meaningful relationships with people virtually even when you don’t have a specific conversation or feel unsure of what to say at the moment. Every relationship doesn’t need to be built on something “big” or “deep” or “collaborative.” Do what feels natural.

    Virtual events allow us to have more control, even when it comes to our schedule. I love the flexibility and accessibility they create for academics and researchers. And I know that for some people they’re maybe not your cup of tea. And that’s okay.

    Whether you prefer virtual or in person events, there are ways for you to connect with people in meaningful ways online. And there are ways you can have agency with your online presence to help the people at that conference better know who you are and what you care about.

    Looking for a great platform for your virtual event in HigherEd? Check out Forumm from my friends 448 Studio. Here’s my interview with founder, Dan Marrable.

    Your online presence is a great way to share your research, teaching, and academic life. To find collaborators and make lasting connections. And I want that for you, if it’s something you’re curious about for yourself.

    There are a lot of misconceptions about what your online presence should look like as a professor. And it stops people from feeling confident or comfortable showing up online, even when you know a strong online presence aligns with your goals.

    There are free resources to help you be intentional with your online presence on The Social Academic blog, podcast, and YouTube channel. This article is specifically about your online presence before, during, and after your talk or presentation.

    It’s also okay to want support from a partner who cares about you. Let’s chat about working together on your online presence as a professor or researcher.

    Subscribe to The Social Academic blog.

    The form above subscribes you to new posts published on The Social Academic blog.
    Want emails from Jennifer about building your online presence? Subscribe to her email list.
    Looking for the podcast? Subscribe on Spotify.
    Prefer to watch videos? Subscribe on YouTube.

    Guides and Advice Articles Online Presence How To’s Resources for Grad Students Share Your Research

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