The Cool Twitter Conferences World Tour
Circa 2009 - 2010

More Background on CoolTwitterConferences.com

CoolTwitterConferences.com was the online home of the Cool Twitter Conferences, an ambitious traveling conference series created during one of the most formative periods in social media history. Beginning in Washington, D.C., in June 2009, the events were designed to teach businesses, journalists, developers, nonprofit organizations, government professionals, marketers and ordinary users how to understand and make practical use of Twitter.

The timing is important. In 2009, Twitter was still a relatively young service, best known for allowing users to publish updates of no more than 140 characters. Businesses were experimenting with it, news organizations were discovering its ability to distribute breaking information, politicians and advocacy organizations were learning how quickly messages could circulate, and marketers were trying to determine whether the platform represented a lasting communications change or another short-lived Internet trend.

Cool Twitter Conferences emerged directly from that environment.

Rather than being a conventional technology convention devoted primarily to programmers, the conferences approached Twitter as a communications phenomenon affecting many professions. Programs included subjects such as journalism, branding, recruiting, public relations, security, government, nonprofit advocacy, crisis communications, entrepreneurship and customer engagement.

Contemporary technology coverage confirms that the Cool Twitter Conferences belonged to a larger wave of Twitter-specific conferences that appeared in 2009. TechCrunch included the series in an August 2009 overview of the rapidly expanding Twitter-conference market, describing Cool Twitter Conferences as a roving event aimed particularly at advertising and marketing professionals and entrepreneurs interested in using Twitter's real-time capabilities.

That places CoolTwitterConferences.com in an interesting position historically. It documents the brief period when Twitter itself was sufficiently new and unfamiliar that an entire traveling educational conference could be organized around explaining what the platform was and what people might do with it.

Ownership and the Cool Blue Company

The conference series was organized by the Washington, D.C.-based Cool Blue Company LLC and was closely associated with Robert “Bob” Fine.

The Cool Blue Company traced its history to 2000 and Robert Fine and Kent Fowler, both of whom had backgrounds in technology and telecommunications. Earlier Cool Blue projects included coverage of emerging wireless technology during the Wireless Application Protocol, or WAP, era.

Fine brought substantial information-technology experience to the conference project. His professional background included positions connected with CMGI and Hughes Network Systems and a senior information-technology role at Conservation International. Later professional biographies describe his 2009 conference work as the beginning of Cool Blue Media and identify the Washington event as the first social-media conference on the East Coast.

Fine continued working in emerging-media industries long after the Cool Twitter Conference period. His subsequent ventures included publishing, social-media media properties and, later, organizations and events focused on virtual reality and healthcare.

Kent Fowler's background was principally in sales and business development, with experience at companies including CMGI, VeriSign, MCI and telecommunications businesses associated with the early mobile-phone industry.

This combination helps explain the character of the conferences. They were not purely academic examinations of social networking. They emphasized practical adoption: how businesses could communicate, how organizations could manage reputational issues, how people could find jobs, how journalists could reach audiences and how organizations could convert participation in an emerging social network into measurable results.

The First Conference in Washington, D.C.

The inaugural Cool Twitter Conference was scheduled for June 11, 2009, at Busboys and Poets at 2021 14th Street NW in Washington, D.C.

The location was significant. Busboys and Poets was in Washington's U Street corridor rather than in a suburban convention center or large downtown conference hotel. That gave the first event a relatively informal, community-oriented setting consistent with the grassroots character of early Twitter.

The conference was scheduled as a one-day event, with additional instruction available to newcomers. A Twitter Beginner Boot Camp preceded the main program and was intended to explain the fundamentals of Twitter and potential ways of using it.

Pricing also reflected the professional-development nature of the event. Early registration for Washington was advertised at $195, rising to $295 immediately before the event and $395 for on-site registration. The Beginner Boot Camp cost an additional $95.

A voluntary $5 carbon offset was also offered, an unusual detail that reflected the environmental and nonprofit interests present among some of the organizers and speakers.

The event was promoted as an informational exchange rather than simply a marketing seminar. Developers, businesspeople and enthusiasts from different disciplines were encouraged to discuss both the technical and social implications of real-time communication.

An Unusually Diverse Washington Speaker Program

One of the strongest features of the inaugural conference was the range of professional backgrounds represented.

Brian Dresher of USA TODAY was scheduled to discuss how the newspaper was using Twitter to extend its reader community. Alex Wellen of CNNPolitics.com and CNN's The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer represented the emerging relationship between Twitter and political journalism, while Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post brought another major-news perspective.

Other sessions moved far outside traditional journalism.

Raj Malik and Shashi Bellamkonda of Network Solutions addressed the problem of getting corporate management and legal departments comfortable with social media while managing potential risks. Jessica Lee, associated with APCO Worldwide and Fistful of Talent, addressed Twitter as a recruiting and employment tool.

Gayle Weiswasser discussed Twitter's role in crisis communications. Jennifer Kaplan examined environmental messaging. Nicole Young of Busboys and Poets spoke about the restaurant's use of Twitter. Rory Cooper of the Heritage Foundation addressed political and ideological communication through social media.

The range illustrates one of the conference's central ideas: Twitter was not merely a technology product. It was becoming infrastructure for communication across previously separate fields.

A Conference Designed for Beginners and Professionals

Cool Twitter Conferences deliberately avoided limiting attendance to people who already considered themselves social-media experts.

That is why the Beginner Boot Camps were important. In 2009, many professionals were hearing about Twitter constantly without necessarily understanding hashtags, followers, retweets, shortened links or the etiquette of public online conversation.

At the same time, more experienced attendees could explore APIs, applications, security, marketing strategy and specialized organizational uses.

The organizers described the conference as relevant to advertising and marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, developers, business owners and people trying to improve customer experiences or strengthen a personal or corporate brand.

Later conference descriptions expanded that philosophy. Organizers argued that employees of Fortune 500 companies could learn from small businesses just as small businesses could learn from major corporations.

That cross-pollination became one of the distinguishing ideas behind the series.

From Washington to a Traveling Conference Series

The original announcement was extraordinarily ambitious. Planned stops included San Diego, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas and Vancouver, followed by proposed international conferences in cities such as London, Stockholm, Sydney, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and Cape Town.

The actual schedule evolved substantially.

By the summer and fall of 2009, documented tour stops included Washington, San Diego, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto and New York, followed by additional events in Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Vancouver, Anchorage, Orange County, Philadelphia, Dubai and Minneapolis.

Contemporary MediaShift listings confirm both the Seattle conference on July 27 and the Los Angeles conference on July 31. MediaShift described the events as opportunities for web developers, businesspeople and others to understand Twitter and leverage the microblogging service. It also recorded the conference hashtag, #cooltwitterconference.

Speaker biographies provide additional independent evidence that the tour was operating in multiple cities. Security researcher Tom Eston, for example, recorded a Cool Twitter Conference presentation in Cleveland in August 2009 on staying safe and secure on Twitter. Chicago technology entrepreneur Pek Pongpaet likewise lists a Cool Twitter Conferences appearance in Chicago in August 2009 among his speaking engagements.

These records are useful because they show that Cool Twitter Conferences was more than an announced itinerary. A genuine traveling speaking network developed around it.

San Diego and the Local Character of the Tour

Each conference could take on some of the personality of its host city.

The San Diego conference, for example, was held at Croce's Restaurant & Jazz Bar in the city's Gaslamp Quarter. Writer Cathy Scott later recalled learning about the conference because her sister, entrepreneur Cordelia Mendoza, was a speaker there.

Mendoza described the energy surrounding the event as contagious, according to Scott's later account.

That recollection captures an aspect of the conferences that formal agendas do not fully communicate. Early social media blurred the line between online community and physical networking. People who had communicated through Twitter handles could suddenly meet in person, exchange ideas and then continue the conversation online.

The conference itself therefore became part of the medium it was teaching.

Security, Privacy and the Less Glamorous Side of Twitter

Not every presentation was about gaining followers or promoting products.

The Cleveland conference included security specialist Tom Eston speaking about safe and secure Twitter use. His presentation dealt with the security implications of social networking, an issue that became increasingly important as businesses and individuals placed more information online.

Eston's participation is independently documented through his professional speaking history and social-media security materials. He was subsequently interviewed about his presentation and other social-network security issues.

This is another reason the Cool Twitter Conferences are historically interesting. Many of the concerns that dominate social-media discussions today—privacy, impersonation, corporate risk, account security and reputational damage—were already emerging when Twitter was still being explained to beginners.

International Expansion and Dubai

One of the most notable expansions of the series occurred in Dubai on November 18, 2009.

The event took place at the Media Rotana Hotel in Al Barsha and was organized in association with Total IT Solutions of Dubai. Contemporary regional blog coverage confirms the event, venue and Cool Blue Company's involvement.

Dubai demonstrated the global reach that Twitter was developing.

The program included speakers from marketing, technology, public relations, education, publishing and entrepreneurship. Reg Athwal was featured as a keynote speaker discussing what he called ROTI—Return on Time Invested—on Twitter.

Dean Hunt discussed finding and creating opportunities through Twitter. Samer Costantini of Cisco addressed mistakes people could make when representing a corporation on the service. Professor James Piecowye of Zayed University's College of Communication and Media Sciences examined Twitter as a learning tool.

Other participants included Masarat Daud of the 8-Day Academy, Yousef Tuqan Tuqan of Flip Media, entrepreneurs Mohamed and Peyman Parham Al Awadhi of Wild Peeta and Dubai media personality DJ Bliss.

The breadth of the Dubai program illustrates how quickly Twitter had crossed geographic and professional boundaries.

Registration and the Business Model

Cool Twitter Conferences operated as paid professional events rather than free meetups.

The Dubai pricing structure provides a useful example. Early registration was advertised at $145, with a $95 student rate. Standard advance registration rose to $195 and on-site registration to $295. A Beginner Boot Camp cost $59, and lunch was included with conference registration.

The tiered pricing suggests that the organizers were attempting to balance accessibility with a sustainable traveling-event business.

The Washington Examiner covered the business aspect particularly directly before the first event. Its June 2009 article portrayed Fine as an entrepreneur attempting to build a business around the enormous interest in Twitter after leaving his position at Conservation International.

That same article also revealed a complication surrounding the conference's name.

The Twitter Trademark Question

The Washington Examiner reported that a lawyer representing Twitter said she had not been aware of the Cool Twitter Conferences World Tour and raised a trademark concern about the conference's use of the Twitter name.

This contemporary report is important because it shows how new the commercial ecosystem around Twitter still was. Independent conferences, consultants, applications and training businesses were appearing rapidly, sometimes faster than formal relationships with Twitter itself could develop.

There is no reason to treat that early report as evidence that the conference series itself was fraudulent or illegitimate; independently documented events clearly occurred. Instead, it illustrates the legal uncertainty surrounding businesses being built around a rapidly growing platform and its brand.

Cool Twitter Conferences in a Crowded New Market

Cool Twitter Conferences was not alone.

By August 2009, TechCrunch was reporting on the proliferation of Twitter-oriented conferences. Its roundup included the 140 Characters Conference organized by Jeff Pulver, the 140/Twitter Conference in Los Angeles and the Cool Twitter Conferences.

The fact that TechCrunch included the Cool series alongside these events is useful evidence of its visibility within the emerging social-media conference market.

It also reveals how quickly an industry had formed around Twitter. Conferences were no longer simply discussing websites or “Web 2.0.” Twitter itself had become sufficiently influential to support competing event brands.

Cool Twitter Conferences differentiated itself largely through its touring model. Rather than concentrating attention on one major annual event, it attempted to bring relatively compact programs directly into multiple regional markets.

Government 2.5 and Public-Sector Social Media

The organizers also extended the concept beyond Twitter-specific education.

A major spinoff was Government 2.5: Using Social Media to Improve Government Services and Engage the Public, organized by The Cool Blue Company in association with Cat-Strat Productions.

The two-day Washington conference was planned for December 14–15, 2009, at the Washington Court Hotel on Capitol Hill.

Its subject was remarkably forward-looking for 2009: how local, state and federal governments could use social media to communicate with citizens, improve services, encourage public participation and increase transparency.

The planned program included introductory social-media instruction and public town-hall discussions concerning government, politics, elections and public-policy debates.

Whatever terminology was used at the time—Government 2.0, Government 2.5 or social government—the fundamental issue has become permanent: public institutions now have to communicate with citizens through digital platforms while addressing transparency, speed, accuracy and accountability.

Reviews and Participant Reaction

Surviving contemporary and retrospective comments suggest that participants particularly valued the practical nature of the conferences.

Michael Gesing of the Northeast Ohio Citizens League described the Cleveland conference as providing practical information and experienced advice useful to his organization's plans.

Cathy Scott later wrote enthusiastically about the conferences and their community of speakers, noting that she eventually spoke at three of them.

These accounts should not be mistaken for systematic independent consumer reviews; the surviving record is largely composed of participants, speakers, bloggers and people professionally connected with the early social-media community. Nevertheless, they provide evidence of an active network surrounding the events.

The series also generated secondary activity such as interviews, presentation decks, blog posts and speaker announcements, extending its reach beyond the people physically present in each room.

From the Conference Tour to The Big Book of Social Media

Perhaps the most tangible legacy of the conference series was what came afterward.

Robert Fine edited The Big Book of Social Media: Case Studies, Stories, Perspectives, published in 2010. The collection drew on the broader community that had developed around approximately 20 social-media conferences and included contributors from numerous professional fields.

Contributors included people associated with marketing, journalism, politics, entrepreneurship, public relations, healthcare, technology and government.

The book effectively preserved the conference model in print: instead of arguing that social media belonged exclusively to marketing departments or technology specialists, it presented many different case studies and perspectives.

The book subsequently received more formal recognition than the conference series itself. It won recognition in the 2011 Small Business Book Awards and was included on lists of recommended social-media books. It was also reviewed in academic and professional contexts.

No comparable major industry award for the Cool Twitter Conferences themselves was located in the available contemporary sources. The book therefore represents the clearest award-related continuation of the intellectual community that developed around Fine's conference activities.

Popularity and Media Visibility

It is difficult to calculate attendance or overall popularity accurately because comprehensive ticket-sales or attendance records do not appear to have survived publicly.

However, several indicators demonstrate that the series achieved meaningful visibility.

It expanded from one Washington conference into a multi-city operation. Technology publications such as TechCrunch and MediaShift documented it. Independent speakers preserved references to their appearances. Bloggers promoted regional events. The organizers were able to take the format outside North America, including to Dubai. Finally, the conference network contributed to a substantial social-media book project.

That is stronger evidence of influence than simply relying on promotional claims made by the conference itself.

At the same time, Cool Twitter Conferences should not be portrayed as having been comparable in scale with giant technology conventions such as SXSW. Its significance was different. It was a relatively nimble traveling educational series operating at precisely the moment when social media was becoming a professional discipline.

What CoolTwitterConferences.com Was Known For

CoolTwitterConferences.com was essentially the operational center of that tour.

Visitors could learn where upcoming conferences would take place, review speaker programs, determine registration prices, learn about Beginner Boot Camps and understand the philosophy behind the events.

The site's most important function was educational as well as promotional. Its pages captured the questions organizations were asking in 2009:

How should a newspaper use Twitter?

Can Twitter help someone find a job?

How should corporations manage legal risk?

Can a restaurant build customer loyalty through tweets?

How should employees represent their companies?

Can nonprofits mobilize supporters?

How can government agencies communicate directly with citizens?

How do businesses measure whether the time spent on social media is worthwhile?

Those questions now seem ordinary. In 2009 they were sufficiently new to build an entire conference tour around them.

Cultural and Historical Significance

CoolTwitterConferences.com is most valuable today as a record of the transitional period between the experimental Web 2.0 era and the mature social-media industry.

The conferences appeared before today's influencer economy had fully formed, before corporate social-media departments became routine and before most organizations had established detailed policies governing employee use of social networks.

Twitter was still a 140-character service. “Social media manager” was not yet the standardized corporate position it later became. Companies were still deciding whether Twitter deserved serious attention.

Cool Twitter Conferences captured that uncertainty and excitement.

Its programs reveal people discovering, almost in real time, many practices that subsequently became standard: social customer service, live event commentary, real-time journalism, personal branding, social recruiting, crisis communications, digital political organizing, online community building and government engagement.

Even the use of a conference hashtag—#cooltwitterconference—illustrates how physical events were beginning to develop simultaneous online audiences.

The Legacy of CoolTwitterConferences.com

The original Cool Twitter Conference era was relatively brief, but its significance lies partly in that brevity.

It belonged to a moment when a new communications technology could move from curiosity to business necessity within months. The organizers responded by creating a rapidly traveling educational format, assembling local experts and professionals from very different industries and asking them to explain what they were learning.

The project also became part of Robert Fine's longer career in emerging media. His later biographies explicitly connect the 2009 conference initiative with The Big Book of Social Media, subsequent publishing projects and later conference ventures in newer technologies.

Today, CoolTwitterConferences.com functions less as a destination for an active conference series than as a historical record of early social-media culture.

Its archived schedules, speaker subjects and registration pages preserve something that conventional histories of Twitter can overlook: the practical uncertainty surrounding the platform when it first entered mainstream professional life.

People were not yet asking how to optimize sophisticated social-media campaigns across established platforms. They were still asking what Twitter was, whether their organizations should use it, what could go wrong and whether spending time on it produced any meaningful return.

The Cool Twitter Conferences existed to help answer those questions.

For that reason, the site provides a revealing snapshot of 2009's social-media turning point—a period when Twitter was moving from an experimental microblogging service into journalism, marketing, government, politics, entrepreneurship and everyday business communication, and when a traveling conference could bring together everyone from newspaper executives and developers to restaurateurs, recruiters, security researchers and small-business owners to figure out what came next.