I’ve stopped tweeting from seminars, workshops and other live events I attend as a speaker or an audience member. Here’s why:   
   

1. Multi-tasking, research shows, isn’t productive. In fact, the opposite is true.

If I’m in the audience to learn, and I’m busy listening, and busy tweeting, something’s got to give. If you can do both tasks exceptionally well, great. I can’t. So I won’t.
   
   
2. I don’t want to miss one valuable lesson from the speaker who’s on the platform or from things I see in the room.

At Publishing University, sponsored by the International Book Publishers Association, in March of this year, I was a member of three panels that discussed social media and online book promotion. I love hearing Dan Poynter, the self-publishing expert, and attended his presentation on Saturday morning, but arrived late. If I hadn’t been paying attention, I would have missed the clipboard he had sent around the room so audience members could give him their names and email addresses and subscribe to his ezine.

“That’s brilliant,” I thought to myself when I glanced up and saw the clipboard. When I speak, I send a basket around the room and ask for business cards if people want to subscribe to my newsletter. Problem is, people’s email addresses are sometimes old ones, or they’re not even printed on their business cards. I don’t know that until I get back to the office.

Thanks, Dan. I now use a clipboard.
   
   
3. I don’t want to have to worry about tweeting when I’m away.

Leaving for a conference for a few days and freeing myself of any social media responsibilities is actually a treat. Try it. 
   
   
4. These events are terrific places to network, build relationships and recruit joint venture partners.

I don’t want to miss hearing an interesting question from an audience member who I might want to meet later for coffee.
   
   
5. When I speak at these events, it galls me to see audience members glued to their mobile phones, texting like mad.

If I had my way, I’d prohibit anyone from even bringing a phone into the room. I want to give the speaker the same courtesy I expect. That means I’m no longer going to encourage audience members to use a special hash tag, or even tweet tips from my presentation. I want their eyes on me, not their phones.   
   
   
What about you? If you tweet from these events, why do you do it? If not, why not? If you’re a speaker, what do you think when you see people texting during your presentations?

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

How to write a hip-hop press release. http://ow.ly/9NW5M

How To Add Tech Billionaires To Your LinkedIn Network Right Now – Forbes. http://ow.ly/9Ooag

12 Most Little Known Tricks to Use On LinkedIn. http://ow.ly/9Ooua

8 ways to drive traffic to your website with Google+. http://ow.ly/9OpeU

Your social media dashboard is killing you if you make this major mistake. http://ow.ly/9PWZe

Proud of your company’s social media success? Compete against others in this fun contest, sponsored by biz journals. http://ow.ly/9PWJg

Facebook Photos Now Shown In 4X Bigger High Resolution and Can Be Viewed Fullscreen. http://bit.ly/GN7UF8

3 Steps: Setting Up the LinkedIn “Follow Company” Button | SEO Blog | Excira http://ow.ly/9Oom2

PR crisis deepens at Susan G. Komen | Articles. http://ow.ly/9OEES

3 places to send a press release. [See my comment on this blog post for 5 more ideas.] http://ow.ly/9NWmK

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

50 Ways to Get More People to Like your Facebook Page | Facebook Tips and Tricks – FanPageFlow.  http://ow.ly/9jBz0

Big list of 200 “Write for us” pages. http://ow.ly/9kmjE

The mounting minuses of Google+. It’s a ghosttown, compared to Facebook, study says. http://ow.ly/9ljxI

Why do journalists make so many mistakes that demand corrections? Top reasons, from a NY Times editor: http://ow.ly/9ljPS

Today’s Publicity Ezine: A great PR pitch, how Pinterest violates copyright & new LinkedIn “follow” button. http://ow.ly/9ltsG

5 “musts” you must follow when adding or changing your photo on LinkedIn. http://ow.ly/9mn8r

The one skill that makes an online entrepreneur unstoppable. http://ow.ly/9mRXl

Twitter to give marketers access to old tweets. http://ow.ly/9mTV8

Facebook opens timelines to brands. http://ow.ly/9om8V

Excellent summary of how to write a press release for SEO, by Brian Hanson, who owns 300+ niche websites.

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

7 Crucial Tactics for Writing a Radically Successful Guest Post http://ow.ly/8TLYO

Farts: The topic of a 6th-grader’s 1st-place speech. Here are 5 lessons from the speech: http://ow.ly/8TPHk

5 ways LinkedIn can freshen up and be more relevant http://ow.ly/8VfF5

6 ways to get more B2B leads from social media  http://ow.ly/8VkBW

5 tips for measuring ROI of PR and determining if you’re beating your competitors  http://ow.ly/8WCf0

11 things that annoy journalists and bloggers  http://ow.ly/8X9oS

5 tips for choosing a LinkedIn profile photo (and other LinkedIn mistakes to avoid)  http://ow.ly/8YmE2

Google offering $25 in gift cards to let them track you  http://ow.ly/8YnF3

Tip for Publciists: Have a new client? Make sure they know how to do media interviews.

Sleazy and dishonest if true: Pinterest secretly cashes in on user links by adding its own affiliate codes  http://ow.ly/8YxOu

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

How entrepreneurs decide how to post on LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter. http://ow.ly/8MvYM

4 easy tactics for becoming a must-follow account on Twitter.  http://ow.ly/8MHte

5 Ways Writers Can Break Out of the Tired Old Social Media Box.  http://ow.ly/8Mxlx

How to keep your face out of LinkedIn ads. http://ow.ly/8Mw6j

Don’t create your next info-product until you watch this cool video that explains a smart 5-step system. http://ow.ly/8Onwp

13 Ways To Get More Traffic & Publicity From Slideshare. http://ow.ly/8OA68

Top 30 PR Do’s and Don’ts. http://ow.ly/8OzE4

18-point checklist for proofreaders. http://ow.ly/8PTc9

Press Release Tip: Always include a strong call to action & explain EXACTLY what you want people to do (click, call, write…)

The Inside Scoop on Using Twitter Lists for Profit and Sanity http://ow.ly/8Rgbr

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

How to write irresistible blog intros. http://ow.ly/8Em6E

Chicago Tribune Offers Sunday Book Review Section for $99 a year. http://ow.ly/8FRZM

Facebook timeline becoming mandatory for all users. (Ugh.) http://ow.ly/8HvgH

4 Simple Steps to a Facebook Timeline that Tells Your Marketing Story. http://ow.ly/8FSh9

Write killer headlines using this clever trick. http://ow.ly/8GLQO

3 good reasons to snip a LinkedIn connection. http://ow.ly/8H6lT

The 50 most influential social media experts. http://ow.ly/8Hv7E

How to have happy subscribers that stay on your email list. http://ow.ly/8HvgH

5 fab tips for online PR success. [Bet you're not doing most of this. I'm not.] http://ow.ly/8Hxzv

10 quick (and easy) tips to improve your writing. http://ow.ly/8I1yi

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

10 content marketing tips for 2012. http://ow.ly/8mLqd

Top 3 Video Marketing Lessons from Nielsen. http://ow.ly/8mLRO

Bloggers: Want (recurring) donations from your readers? Just ask! http://ow.ly/8ohOz

Daily newspapers going the way of the milkman. http://ow.ly/8ox57

Authors: 10 Cool & Creative Ideas for Bookmarks. http://ow.ly/8pyWH

Blogggers & Columnists: Submit your best stuff for the 2012 Column Contest. http://ow.ly/8oy5O

How to Destroy Your Online Reputation in 3 Days or Less http://ow.ly/8obvQ

How to learn which content you’re sharing on Facebook is hitting your fans’ hot buttons. http://ow.ly/8ohbA

5 incredibly fun ideas to build your fan base & engage them on Facebook & Twitter. http://ow.ly/8mNYQ

16 things to check when you edit. http://ow.ly/8mNBH

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

Top 10 creative writing blogs. http://ow.ly/8gzJb

Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for improving your presence on LinkedIn. http://ow.ly/8gBr9

10-point checklist for growing your blog in 2012. http://ow.ly/8gBY9

10 reasons why you might not be attracting the right (or any) Twitter followers. http://ow.ly/8i6tI

Authors, do you make these 3 disastrous book-writing mistakes? http://ow.ly/8i8gM

New to speaking? 5 great venues where you can book gigs and learn the ropes. http://ow.ly/8ikNR

How bloggers can use book reviews to connect with expert authors & tips on how to write reviews. http://ow.ly/8ikbh

3 big benefits to reading your articles aloud before publishing, from Ann Wylie. http://ow.ly/8jvrx

Get credit for your PR brilliance. Bulldog’s Media Relations Awards deadline is 1/16. http://ow.ly/8kuYP

Hospitals: Want Boomer business? Focus on content marketing & social media. http://ow.ly/8kw7n

Here are five things to consider doing differently on Twitter this year.

They’ll help you gain traction, see a bigger return on your investment of time, generate more retweets and gain more followers.

If you can’t do all of these regularly, at the very least, start doing some of them once a week, and then increase the frequency as you become more comfortable doing them.

1. Rewrite your best tweets and post them at different times throughout the day. Don’t let your followers miss a terrific article or video you’re linking to, just because they weren’t reading their feed at the exact time your tweet showed up.  
    
   Why this is imporant: It will save you time because you won’t always be searching for new content.
      
      

2.  Don’t tweet identical information you’re also sharing on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can share the same article or video, but rewrite it for each of the three sites.

   Why this is important: All three sites are very different. And people might be following you on more than one of these sites and don’t want to see duplicate content.
    

3. Every few weeks, go to your Twitter profile and click on “Listed” in the upper right corner. You’ll see the names of all the lists that others have created and where you appear. It’s a fascinating glimpse into how others view you.

   Why this is important: It tells you whether your branding is on target. Let’s say you’re a book marketing expert. If you don’t appear on any lists devoted to book marketing, something’s wrong. Start sharing more solid content on your topic.
    

4. Make your tweets so compelling that they force people to click on links. A handy cheat sheet that I’ve printed and keep near my computer is Christ Garrett’s 102 Headline Writing Formulas.

    
   Why this is important: You cannot afford to write boring tweets! If I like content somebody else has shared on Twitter, but I think their tweet is lackluster, I rewrite it before retweeting. You’ll find dozens of terrific rewrite ideas in Garrett’s cheat sheet.

    

5. Create Twitter lists, with an emphasis on three groups: top experts in your own industry, top experts in the industries you want to target, and journalists and bloggers whose attention you want to catch.

    
   Why this is important: You can import the feed from any of your lists into programs like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite and see, at a glance, content from the most important and influential people you’ve identified. Be sure to respond by retweeting it and replying!  (See “How to Use Twitter Lists & Directories to Generate Publicity and Build Your Brand.”)

What Twitter resolutions have you made for 2012? Or, what’s the one thing you’re going to work on most diligently to become a smarter, more efficient tweeter?

Here are my Top 10 tweets from this past week, great for retweeting! If you missed these, follow me on Twitter.

Prevent the “lago effect” from dooming your CEO who tries to “help” during a crisis. http://paper.li/clayedwardspr/pr-pros-paper

How Restaurants Are Using Social Media to Their Advantage. http://tinyurl.com/8xbuyuo

How to Use Great Testimonials, Once You Get Them. http://ow.ly/8b2LS

Get Blog Results for Business | Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad | Writing On The Web. http://tinyurl.com/7dzodzr

Top 50 Women Entrepreneur Experts to Follow on Twitter. http://ow.ly/8dj2U

Nice year-end gift for your clients. Free ebook with 2 dozen publicity/social media tips. http://ow.ly/8dj8Z

5 clever uses of LinkedIn’s brand new “group polls” feature. http://ow.ly/8dkJL

5-part strategy for cashing in on content and social media marketing in 2012. http://ow.ly/8dTU6

Freelancers: Pick up some extra cash in 2012. Pitch articles to these paying markets. http://ow.ly/8dUTu

Authors: Compare major print-on-demand companies. http://ow.ly/8dV2u