Social media and Twitter in particular are great tools for introverts in our field, offering a way to build a network in a more stealth mode than the super crowded cocktail hour where chit chat must progress beyond how the weather is just fabulous and how we all can’t wait until summer break.
“Icebreakers…?…”
That sentiment, which has been expressed numerous times in numerous blog posts from blogs like SA Feature, Amma Marfo, and others, was again brought up yesterday during an extensive Twitter exchange about #NASPA14, this year’s NASPA Conference in Baltimore. And I generally agree with it. Most of the time, I am that sentiment. I make connections via Twitter which I often am able to follow up on IRL at conferences or at events with a much lower fear and anxiety level and in a more comfortable sense of self, leading me to be more authentic.
I’m on an ACUI webinar today where I praise this process because it’s how I made my connection to the Boston higher ed scene, primarily via Tim St. John, or Tim St. Awesome as I just said out loud to myself.
Me… at a conference… without connections… and actually everyday of my life.
So, what spurred this blog post then? I usually keep Hootsuite open as a tab on my browser throughout the day to pay attention to my feed, interactions, and searches. Just watching my main twitter feed this morning, I had to shut off Twitter for awhile. It was just overwhelming, and it was mainly spurred by the tweets coming through from NASPA.
It was a little bit of “it’s that kind of week” in our office (Spring Break is next week, so the campus is wound up pretty hard), a little bit of just too much coming down the pipes, and a lotta little bit imposter syndrome.
The Warp Twitter Drive has been overloaded, Captain.
Like, I’ve gotten annoyed with #sachat in the past and have completely deleted it as a search feed on my Hootsuite, only to return it later as a far off column that I have to scroll to, only to let it creep back to my main screen. But, this was different today. I literally went into overload. As ACUI comes up and I’m prepping my own presentations, the imposter syndrome of seeing all the great work that colleagues around the field are doing shut me down rather than inspired me. I had to say goodbye for a bit just to recharge and recenter, something I’ve been working on a lot since the fall.
kthxbai
I allowed myself to fall down that rabbit hole of believing that what I had to say would be overshadowed, outshone, and ridiculed by the highlight reel of NASPA that was coming through on my feed. This post was supposed to be centered around a tweet I thought I had favorited awhile ago, and I can’t remember who said it. But, the conference back channel, more often than not, is the highlight reel of a conference. It’s the bold ideas, the ideas we want to adopt and adapt, the methods and activities that impress us that make our feeds. In the thick of it, at an ACUI conference, it is my everything, because I can engage in more conversations about the field I enjoy than just the session I’m in at the time. It also allows me to venture beyond my small introvert bubble.
When I’m not at the conference, when I’m sitting at my own desk at work with work stuff bearing down and students coming in every couple of minutes as my Twitter feed updates, it’s overwhelming. The backchannel is a lot, and when we aren’t careful, it can take us by surprise and take us down for the count.
Didn’t see that shutdown moment coming, did you, Joel?
I’m not blaming everyone as NASPA for tweeting so much… the complete opposite. Nor do I think they should filter and limit their tweets because me back at home at my desk is going to feel too overwhelmed. By all means, these conversations need to happen and each person should add their voice via the means they find easiest, in this case via social media. NASPA is a huge entity, so the backchannel is going to move at warp speed (so let’s just imagine that potential NASPA/ACPA merger conference…)
Conferences offer that time away from the daily grind of the office environment- we are in a different place, exploring ideas, concepts, and possibilities that represent the highest reach of what we want to and hope to explore in the field and areas we so enjoy and commit our energies to. While ACUI and NASPA is not exactly a zen rock garden, for our minds in taking time to think beyond our Outlook Calendars and our next meeting on event policies, it represents that zen, that ability to think about the greater picture.
I fell into a trap yesterday, allowing myself to be brought down rather than lifted up by the backchannel. I had to step away. It led to this blog. Social media is so important and has shifted how we do business irreversibly and for the better, but we have to stay aware of what it represents and when we’ve had too much. I’ve hit the reset button, and I’m ready to step back into that stream. I may not position myself under the waterfall again today, but at least I can still listen to the sounds of the stream as it rolls by.
Don’t go chasing waterfalls… or at least don’t stand under a Twitter waterfall… just hang out in the stream downriver… with the @bears looking for #salmon… or something.
Polar Bears and Coffee 