Back in July, I wrote a post entitled How Conference Organizers can use Google Plus.

I was hoping to spark ideas for event professionals and anyone trying to figure out how to fit one more social network into their lives.

I personally + Google+ more than I Like Facebook, but I do understand that they are two completely different environments and both have their place in our social atmosphere.  But I digress.

I was fortunate to have connected with fellow Google+ fan Anna Bavido. Anna popped into one of my random Google+ Hangouts.  After several months of connecting with Anna on Google +, I had the idea to ask her if she would be willing to cover the conference via Google Plus and thankfully for me, she said yes.

During the conference Anna was amazing. Using the #SMTulsa hashtag (Yes, hashtags are searchable on Google+), Anna posted updates from the speakers, candid photos, and hosted live hangouts through out the two day event.

Thanks to my friends at Vocus, we had a blogger’s lounge available for Anna to recharge her devices and keep the Google+ party going.

At the end of the conference, Anna created a Google Plus Circle of all attendees, speakers, and sponsors.

This was much better than doing a breakout session on Google Plus specifically.   Attendees just had to be told what Anna would be doing during the conference and those interested flocked to her.

More than a back channel, Google + is a great  a tool for live blogging, note taking, sharing your conference content, and  extending face to face connections after the event is over.    Not only am I enjoying reading the posts after the fact, Anna now has begun to take her notes and turn them into content for her blog Magic Bottle Marketing. 

I’m very excited about  how well Google+  fits into the social conference environment.

I get asked this question all of the time.  Especially as it concerns Twitter and other social media activities for events.

A few years ago, my answer would be something like.. “it depends.”  Fortunately as the social web matures so do the ways we measure the impact of the activity.   One of the tools I used during my most recent conference is Tweetreach.com

The morning following our two day conference, I was able to see that Tweets mentioning #SMTulsa reached over 359,000 people and which users had the most activity.

As an event marketer, I can now share this information with event attendees, sponsors, and partners to show how far a Tweet can go.

What are your favorite social media measuring tools?

This morning’s post from Seth Godin was entitled Episode Markers.

Where you sit and when you leave and how you walked in–they are all markers, ways we space things out.  Don’t forget that as soon as your audience walked into the conference room, they changed. ..Seth Godin

It made me think about Social Media Tulsa Conference 2012 and this tweet from one of our speakers.

Speakers are being more interactive at #SMTulsa.I credit @Partyaficionado for arranging the room. yfrog.com/nw49dhej

— Becky McCray (@BeckyMcCray) March 15, 2012

I had to smile.