This week I and a couple of colleagues from Lincoln attended the 2011 Association of Research Managers and Administrators conference in a rather damp but very lively Glasgow. The theme of the conference was “Good Advice in Hard Times” and we’ll be posting some notes, analysis and reflections on the sessions we attended soon.

If you just can’t wait until then you can get some idea of  what went on at the conference by searching for the #arma11 hashtag on Twitter.

Unfortunately only a handful of people were tweeting at the conference – from over 400 participants – which means you won’t get the full range of ideas and opinions expressed at the event.

I think the lack of social media engagement at ARMA conferences is a real shame, especially given the wide sector representation at the event (virtually every UK HEI had at least one representative there) and the importance of the topics being discussed to higher education and beyond. Many other conferences in HE have a lively and active Twitter community which can stimulate debate and engagement in addition to the IRL chats over coffee. I met a few people at this conference who I may otherwise not have spoken to because we linked up on Twitter during the first day. What’s more, Twitter enables you to quickly and easily continue conversations once the conference is over.

A social media presence is something I hope can be promoted and encouraged more proactively at next year’s conference. In fact, I plan to email the ARMA conference committee to suggest just that.