If you’ve been to a marketing conference in the past year, you’ve seen that social media has provided a whole new dimension to networking, sharing information, and organizing people.

Two years ago there may have been 3 or 4 people tweeting quotes, stats, and links from a keynote, oblivious to the annoyed looks they were getting from across the table. Today, great presenters are tech savvy and cater to these attendees by providing social media rich content, hoping they may spark some online conversations about their presentation in another part of the country, or world, before they’ve even left the stage.

Presenters are regularly providing attendees with unique hashtags and their twitter handle before the presentation – rather than after – and are trying to speak in 120 character soundbites for easy re-tweeting.

If you’ve yet to dive into the realm of digital networking at conferences, here are 10 tips to get you started:

1. Before the conference, do some sleuthing to find out what hashtag is being used on Twitter (i.e. see #AFPmeet, or #DigitalLeap).
2. Use the event hashtag on every tweet that relates to the conference at all, you never know who may want to join the conversation.
3. Keep the sound off! Especially the artificial ‘clicking’ sound your keys may make as you type. Dimming the backlight is a nice touch too.
4. Be discreet. I’m most impressed by the some who can be all over twitter, and somehow also be chatting with my boss near the bar. How does she do that??
5. Host a tweetup – it’s as simple as posting “who is up for drinks in the hotel lobby? #conferencehashtag”
6. Say thank you – Twitter is a great way to thank the keynote speaker, session presenters, and organizing committee if you aren’t able to say it in person.
7. Post pictures! It is quick and easy, and don’t worry, nobody expects you to be a professional photographer.
8. Try to meet every tweeter in person before the event finishes.
9. Pay it forward. Help someone sign up for Twitter, you’ll have a follower for life – or for as long as Twitter is cool, at least.
10. Share the presentation slides online if a link is available.