Take tonight for instance - I happened upon a twitter party #ForDummies - yep you guessed it... (or maybe you didn't) but there was a twitter party celebrating 20 years of For Dummies books. First of all, I feel really old because I remember when DOS for Dummies came out - I didn't buy it, but I remember it... and then I felt overwhelmed when I learned that there are now over 1800 For Dummies books in print and more coming out every day!
I got to say hi to a few other party guests, whom I recognized from other fabulous twitter parties, and I also got to connect with some great contacts for blogging - namely editors, authors and a For Dummies publisher!
Oh yeah... in the middle of the learning, laughing and general mayhem that is a twitter party... I WON these cool prizes:
Baking Kit for Dummies
- Everything you need to bake cakes, muffins, and breads
- 9-inch round nonstick cake pan, 6 cup nonstick muffin pan, 9 by 5-inch nonstick loaf pan
- Includes 4-piece measuring cup set, 5-piece measuring spoon set, and silicone spatula
- Easy-to-follow For Dummies instruction booklet explains all tools and cooking
AND the
Pizza Making For Dummies 6-Piece Kit
Pizza Making For Dummies 6-Piece Kit- 12' non-stick pizza pan and 15" pizza stone included
- Accessory tools included in set are pizza cutter, pizza server, cheese graeter, and sauce ladle
- Dummies instruction pamphlet
- 1-year limited warranty
- Measures 16-inches by 3-inches by 16-inches
How I Party:
I'm a big fan of Tweet Grid, but there are other options for managing your twitter party - TweetDeck and TweetChat are pretty popular, but I like Tweet Grid because it divides your party into 3 or more conversation streams - one that has everything from everyone, one (or more) that follow the hosts of the party and one that shows your tweets and any tweets that mention you or are replies to your comments.
The other thing I like about partying in Tweet Grid is that they automatically tag all of your tweets with the party #hashtag... The #hashtag is probably the most important thing at a twitter party, because it's the way everyone finds the common thread, and it's the basis for tweet grid and other party platforms to keep everything together and block out the noise of your other tweeps while the party is going on.
I have to say that some parties move so fast that I barely even glance at the main column, but most parties are structured around questions posed by the host, so following that stream is probably the most important thing in a twitter party...
It can be intimidating to attend your first twitter party, but just remember that no one is reading every post, so go with the flow, don't stress and make some new friends!
If you have a twitter party coming up please leave a comment below, and if you have specific questions that I might be able to help you with or find the answer to, please feel free to leave them too!
