Online Exclusive

Time To 'Tweeten' Up Your Event!

By Paul Peavy

Editor’s Note: To follow SportsEvents on Twitter, log on to www.twitter.com/sportsevents.

Surely by now you have heard of Twitter.com and “tweeting.” It is social network device that can run from your computer or your phone and allows you to post brief “status” updates in 140 characters or less.

Actually, this method of communication makes a great deal of sense to me. You can add so much to your event by going to www.twitter.com and signing up. What does this cost you? About three minutes of your time to sign up and zero dollars for the rest of your life.

What do you get for this investment? An incredible tool to promote your event. You get a tool to tell people about deadlines and changes. You get a tool to remind people what to bring the week before the event. You get a tool to welcome people with. You get a tool to tell people where to go (in a nice way) once they arrive. You get a tool to pump up the crowd. You get a tool tell people what is happening once the event starts. You get a tool to tell people what’s happening as athletes finish. You get a tool to tell people, “Thank you very much, y’all come back now ya’ here?”

All that for three minutes and zero dollars? Seriously, I can’t imagine you’ve had a better offer today. Let me be very specific about the ways I would have loved to have the most recent sporting events I have attended tweeted.

The first was at the Junior Olympics Swim meet in Florida. There was not enough seating at the pool so the gymnasium became an overflow tent city of parents and waiting swimmers. There were large television screens that showed the heats in the water, but the screens were not visible from all over the gym and people were often crowded in front of them. It sure would have been nice to receive a tweet on my phone—in my chair—saying, “Event 49 is on the blocks.”

The second event where “tweets” would have been beneficial was The Gulf Coast Half Ironman Triathlon. Triathlons are spread out over many miles and many hours. Receiving updates like, “The first swimmer’s out of the water” or “Our first female is about a mile from the finish,” would sure make for more enthusiastic gatherings at key places in such a spread out event.

In triathlons, participants are only allowed to wear wetsuits if the water is below a certain temperature. For this event, it sure would have been nice to receive tweets about the water temperature so you could be prepared either way.

I’ve given you a lot to chew on, but trust me, it is worth going to www.twitter.com and encouraging your participants to follow your event on your Twitter site. The payoff will be immeasurable.