I’ve had a few organizations and people ask me how best to set up a Twitter Wall.

What is a “Twitter wall”?

Simply, a projection of live tweets during a conference or gathering.  It is really a very simple process.  Here are my five steps:

Five “Twitter Wall” Steps

1) Make sure you have a critical mass of tweeters: this is the most important part of using Twitter at your conference as a back-channel (I wrote earlier this week about other good ways to manage “back-channel” conversations using Twitter)

2) Find a large white wall/projector screen in a space you can control the light (and, of course, a projector). Simply put, it won’t work if no one can see the tweets (also, consider placement of the screen.  In front of a seated audience may work for some events and for other might present a distraction.)  Each aggregator will display a bit differently depending on the projector you have.  I recommend getting into the venue early to test the system.  A few technical points:

• Be adapter ready!  Know input types.  VGA, DVI?  Have the right adapter, or know where you can get one fast
• Be aware of natural “time outs, sleep cycles, or screen savers; turn them off
• Extension cords (for laptop and project, with grounding), duct tape, and power bars are handy
• The brighter the space, the more powerful the projector you will need.  If all else fails, book a plasma screen (works in all light conditions, but is much smaller)

3) Choose an aggregator. I’ve tested many applications to aggregate tweets; these aggregators are my top five

Cover it Live*
Cover it Live offers moderated and non-moderated feed integrations with other live blogging functions, more than one person can be responsible and it is a highly flexible format; the best part about Coveritlive.com is that you can remove offensive or off-colour tweets with the edit function (head straight to the blue Twitter logo for more on how to use the API functionality built in) [*This is my personal choice for live blogging and tweet integration].

Scribble Live
Less feature-rich that Cover it Live, but also Canadian.  Scribble Live is the choice of many for its unique, large interface (great for projection); better for environments where you have dedicated “tweeters” or want more control over what is on the live screen.

Friend Feed
The grand-daddy of aggregators.  It works.  It’s intuitive.  It’s not as great as it could be, but it does scoop up more social media information than most aggregators.

Twitter Fall
Leaving you with virtually no control over what is on the screen, but has the nicest visual appeal on projected screens.

Britekite Twitter Wall
More complicated to set up, but created with the express purpose of projection onto walls; I found it cumbersome to set up and use.

4) Monitor the tweets: if you are worried about other (non-conference participants, etc…) posting tweets to your wall, make sure you monitor and remove anything offensive.  This is simple with Cover it Live and Scribble Live, less than easy with Friend Feed and near impossible with the rest.

5) Promote, promote, promote

• Put the projected wall in a high-traffic area
• Move the wall if needed; not enough eyeballs?  It’s portable.  Move it.
• Have a laptop ready with a Twitter.com sign up screen at the ready, put it beside the projector.  Teach people how to use text-messaging to tweet
• Print up visually pleasing signs inviting people to tweet
• Ask your speakers if they use Twitter, teach them the hash tag; integrate Twitter questions from the wall
• Don’t forget the “outside the space” crowd; that is the people not watching the projection
• Have people at the microphones point out the projection