We had a great WEAC Convention last week, and you did too. How do we know? Well, because you told us. We have several ways of getting feedback from you, and one of our newest is through social networking. This is the first WEAC Convention where we all talked together on Twitter and Facebook and through the interactive features of weac.org. And, it was fun!
We created what’s called a hashtag on Twitter, which is really just a simple way of organizing messages. Anyone “Tweeting” about the WEAC Convention or wanting to read Tweets from and about the Convention could type #weacconvention into the message to group it together with all other Convention Tweets. WEAC Teaching & Learning Consultant Ron Jetty, who does an amazing job organizing the Convention, took over as our main “Tweeter.” Through Twitter, you could follow along as Ron “Tweeted” comments from General Session speaker Pedro Noguera; described the scene in Exhibit Hall; sent pictures (taken from his smart phone) from the General Session, Exhibit Hall and Discovery World tour; and described the closing session. A couple Convention attendees joined in the conversation, including Sheila Kohl, who entered a couple Tweets about her travels at the Convention. In case you missed it, you can still review WEAC Convention Tweets, or add new ones, by going to www.twitter.com and entering #weacconvention into the search box. (WEAC’s Twitter page can be found at www.twitter.com/weac.)
Meanwhile, other WEAC Convention conversations were - and still are - taking place on Facebook. At www.weac.org/facebook, we posted pictures from the Convention, and you, WEAC members attending the Convention, shared information and thoughts. Mary Burke and Lori Cherf talked about the great experience they had at Discovery World. Lori said : “There's so much to see. We never even got to the top floor! Thanks to all the people who arranged all the details.” Mary Kruel said she was glad to see WEAC on Facebook and Twitter, and Lucy Walter said, “Great convention, thanks to Bucky Badger for giving us an hour out of his busy schedule...all the kids...young and old kids...enjoyed seeing him there!”
Right here, on weac.org, we posted a series of pictures depicting the Faces of the WEAC Convention on the Share Your Photos page, along with a link out to the WEAC Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/weac that includes dozens of pictures of members posing with Bucky Badger.
And we're not done yet. This week, we will add some video from the WEAC Convention, using online services provided through the Wisconsin Eye Web site (www.wiseye.org).
Yes, we had fun using social networking at the WEAC Convention, and it’s exciting to think we are just at the beginning in terms of our use of social media. We will be using it more and more in many ways, and we hope you increasingly take advantage of the opportunities it provides for you to become more engaged in the association and association activities. As always, let us know what you think.