I think the big benefit is that when our participants see the wall projected, it encourages them to engage more on social media. So it’s a bit of a carrot to get them to jump on Twitter or Instagram and participate because they see the wall projected. Participants want to see their images and contributions projected for everybody else to see. So I think for me as a comms person, that’s the biggest benefit of it. And then there’s the practical side, where it’s just a great way to combine all of our activity around the event and have a visual representation of that.
The wall was a distinct point of attraction for our event audiences — partners, ministries, and state officials. It was dynamic and helped our event participants engage with the proceedings of the day and what was being disseminated on our social media channels.
TEDx is all about ideas and the conversations that will spark from them. The social wall helps accelerate these conversations as they’re accompanying the talks in real-time, but it also serves as an archive for audience reactions after the event.