Using Enterprise Social Media for Conference Participants

I've been investigating how to use enterprise social media to facilitate real-time collaboration and information sharing among work teams and specialized groups. Enterprise social networking focuses on the use of online social networks or social relations among people who share business interests and/or activities. 

Companies are starting to investigate and use them to promote real-time collaboration, file sharing, and relationship building. They are starting to implement social networks to promote collaboration amongst their employees. The networks are being implemented to get employees collaborating and sharing tips and ideas about how to improve the workplace and are being used to increase transparency across the organization.

The two tools I'm currently investigating are SharePt and Yammer. Even though SharePt is mainly a document management and collaboration, it does have some social media components: blogs, wikis, and discussions. Yammer is a mico-blogging tool that allows users to instant message conversations and files (including photos and videos). 

From my investigation, here are some "kewl" recommended uses of each tool. The recommendations are based on the scenario of using these tools for a focused group of individuals participating in a real-world conference.

SharePt:

• Use the blog for key note speakers to post articles based on book chapters or concepts they will discuss during the conference. Allow conference attendees to read post in advance in preparation for the conference so they can comment and post responses. This serves two purposes: it gets the participants engaging ahead of time and it gives the speaker ideas about the conference attendees (which may help in the planning of the presentations).
• Use the blog for the company CEO or other leaders to post kick-off blog about the conference theme and how valuable the conference and their participation is to the organization. 
• Use the discussion area to pose questions for the key note speakers or panelists and conference organizers.
• Use the wiki for whole group work or assignments throughout the conference. For example, an exercise could be for participants could be asked to post ideas about key topics to come up with a consolidated list of best practices or ideas on the topic.

Yammer:

• Use during the conference to pose questions for conference participants.
• Use to take polls on effectiveness of the conference or to get participant feedback on the sessions, presenters and overall experiences.
• Use to announce updates or changes in the conference agenda.
• Use to allow real time conversations between conference participants.

I am still investigating other tools. I think the functions I've listed above are a good start for incorporating social media into traditional conferences.

To come, a more in depth comparison of costs and security...