The idea was simple (or so I thought)
We had a speaker from a top-of-mind energy corporation in the North Texas region. Julie Wilson, APR, past president of the Greater Fort Worth Chapter PRSA, and vice president, corporate development, Barnett Shale Division, Chesapeake Energy Corporation accepted an invitation to speak on the corporate community relations tactics, views and answer questions. I volunteered to conduct a live blog post during the luncheon on the chapter's blog.
Good idea at the time
I made a brief announcement before the luncheon on the chapter's blog and spoke with a few board members about the idea. (Buy-in was easy and initial positive response was received.)
Should have thought it through
I made some mental notes about the challenges of and suggestions for live blogging:
- Since this idea was concocted the night before, it lacked the proper planning that should have been done to prepare for this type of endeavor.
- Sitting down to type statements and audience Q&A takes a fast typist.
- It is important to pay thoughtful attention for details and nuances from the speaker while trying to maintain a running list of important ideas to share.
- It's ok to miss a few things here and there as long as you stay true to the speaker's concepts. (Hopefully, those in attendance will help view commenting for clarification.)
- Next time I think I'll use a live blogging web-based program that is built for just such an occasion. (I am going to try Coveritlive.com)
