The National Conference Center Blog

Whether you’re new to Twitter or you’re experienced with the platform, at some time or another, all event professionals or tweeps (people using twitter) have been faced with a hashtag they weren’t familiar with. In our office, the most popular Twitter questions are about hashtags. “What does this hashtag mean?” First, we’ll begin with the basics in case you aren’t on Twitter. Hashtags are a way to categorize your tweets and also expand the viewing audience.

For instance, this tweet is most relevant to MPI, Event Professionals, and PCMA: How SCVNGR Can Be Used for Conferences #mpi #eventprofs #pcma http://bit.ly/fDeqVI We’ll explain more.

We’ve compiled a list of the top 25 need-to-know hashtags in the meetings and events industry:

1. #asae – Tweets, blogs, and more directed for associations and members of the American Society of Association Executives.
2. #assnchat – Some hashtags are meant as discussion or to be viewed by tweeps who participate in weekly Twitter chats. For example, #assnchat is a chat on Tuesdays at 2-3 PM EST for association professionals who discuss current industry trends, technology and strategies.
3. #astd- This is for tweets that appeal to the members of ASTD, American Society for Training & Development. Tweets with the year refer to annual conferences, i.e. #ASTD2011 refers to the Orlando, FL conference in May.
4. #bizbash – Meant for events that are Biz-Bash worthy. As the leader in the events industry, tweeps may use #bizbash to refer others to great talent in the industry.
5. #CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility – a growing priority for meeting planners and corporations as they make green travel and meetings part of their CSR.
6. #ecnc – This hashtag is seen in various forms. First, EC known as Event Camp is a one-of-a-kind conference held for event and meeting professionals to share best practices and strategies. ECNC is Event Camp National Conference, ECEC stands for Event Camp East Coast and ECTC is Event Camp Twin Cities.
7. #EIR – Engage, Inform, Retweet similar to #FollowFriday, #EIR is used to share tweeps who great at engaging, informing, and retweeting.
8. #engage365 - This is a community for events professionals interested in social media for events and conferences. Engage Fridays at 1 PM EST and learn from others.
9. #eventprofs – This is the most commonly used hashtag in the events and meetings industry. EventProfs is a thriving community of progressive event professionals, sharing ideas, debating topics and collaborating. It was formed to help grow careers, businesses and the industry. The hashtag can be used at any time, but join the chat Tuesdays 9 PM EST or Thursdays 12 PM EST to engage with other event professionals.
10. #ff – Also known as FollowFriday, this is used on Fridays to share tweeps you find interesting.
11. #gmic – For tweets pertaining to green meetings and events, you can use the Green Meetings Industry Council hashtag.
12. #greenmeetings – Like GMIC, this is is another hashtag used to help others find your green meeting tweets.
13. #hsmai – Used for sharing articles with Sales and Marketing Professionals in the Hospitality industry.
14. #hybridevents – Planning a hybrid event or hoping to engage and share strategies with others? #Hybrid, #Hybridevents, and #Virtual are all hashtags used among #eventprofs.
15. #iacc – This hashtag is used to share interesting articles/tweets to IACC members, International Association of Conference Centers and for the IACC annual conference which will be March 23 – 25th at NCC.
16. #in – Wondering what this stands for? If you choose to share certain tweets with your LinkedIn connections, your tweet should contain the #in sign.
17. #ises – For sharing ideas, photos, and more with members of International Special Events Society. This tag is also placed with the #bizbash hashtag.
18. #mpi – Tying with PCMA and Eventprofs, this hashtag is meant for Meeting Professionals International. Articles, tweets, and engaging with other thought leaders in the event industry.
19. #pcma -The leading organization for meeting and event professionals. Provides superior & innovative education & networking opportunities also known as Professional and Convention Management Associations.
20. #ReThinkForum - Through live or remote participation, the ReThink Forum consists of a network of opinion leaders and change agents who sponsor, design, or provide services for meetings, conferences and events. Follow the hashtag for tweets on the forum.
21. #smassn - Another hashtag used with #asae, #smassn is used to share articles and tips for small associations.
22. #sgmp – Society of Government Meeting Professionals. We’re beginning to see this hashtag more often as government professionals make a push towards the Gov 2.0 initiative, an effort for government agencies to use social media.
23. #SOBCon – an annual conference for successful and outstanding bloggers (SOBs). A conference attended by a wide-range of professionals including event professionals as it becomes one of the largest industries using social media.
24. #virtual – The new way of the meetings industry has a hybrid component to it. Use the hashtag #virtual to share your best practices with other professionals.
25. #training – This hashtag may have mixed search results. #Training can refer to training and development in the meetings industry and can also be about the annual Training Conference & Expo.

Another great resource for defining hashtags as well as analyzing their use and audience is http://tagdef.com, http://wthashtag.com or http://tagal.us.com. Think of any great hashtags we left off? Let us know!

Tags: #eventprofs, A Guide to 25 Hashtags Used in The Meetings Industry, Event professionals, guide to eventprofs hashtags, guide to meeting hashtags, hashtag definitions, hashtags, hospitality hashtags, learning Twitter, Meeting Planners, social media, Twitter hashtags for the meetings industry, Twitter meeting hashtags

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 at 10:00 am and is filed under Business, Hospitality News, Meeting & Conference Planning Industry, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.