DO YOU HAVE THE LINKEDIN AUDIO EVENTS FEATURE?
To find out if you have this feature activated for your profile, go to your Home Page on your desktop, over on the left-hand side you’ll see EVENTS.
Click the PLUS SIGN and go through the process to set up LinkedIn Audio Events.
Look for the EVENT FORMAT field.
Click the drop-down menu and if you have LinkedIn Audio that option will be visible to you.
Most people already have LinkedIn Live or External Event options activated. If you don’t see the LinkedIn Audio Events option yet, be patient … it’s coming!
During my 60-minute LinkedIn audio live event with Keith Keller and Kevin D Turner, we actually ended up going for 90 minutes as there were so many questions from attendees and really good conversations!
WHAT HAPPENS AT LINKEDIN AUDIO EVENTS?
For hosts, you can go into the ‘Green Room’ 15 minutes before the scheduled live broadcast. In the green room the host and co-hosts or moderator can conduct a sound check and go over key points for the upcoming conversation.
When the host clicks ‘go live’ the speakers will be on the STAGE area and everyone who clicks to join the event will be in the Listeners area.
HOW TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
When the host is ready to take questions or gain input from the audience, they will ask anyone who has questions to raise their hand.
The host will then choose up to 17 people max to come on to the STAGE.
I found that it was easier to bring up 2 or 3 people at a time, have them ask their questions or discuss the topic and when they were done those participants could be placed back in the listeners area and others could be brought up on the stage.
That worked well for me. Other hosts may have all 17 people up on the stage at the same time but it may be a little harder to moderate.
Listeners who are up on the stage should MUTE their microphones until asked to speak otherwise there will be a lot of background noise.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM MY FIRST LINKEDIN AUDIO EVENT TEST
The key takeaways from the conversation last week, which was a test for me to see how effective LinkedIn Audio, can be compared to Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse (Social Audio platforms) can be are:
LinkedIn Audio connects professionals on a live call that’s highlighted to the members of that network through an automatic notification to registrants.
With LinkedIn Audio Events, for those who spend most of their time on LinkedIn, instead of joining a different platform to chat ‘live’, you can chat with, and expand upon your existing professional network built over time directly on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn encourages networking and makes it easy for participants and the hosts of the live audio to connect with others, as they can see the profile images of everyone who has clicked to ‘ATTEND’ the event.
Everyone who has clicked ‘ATTEND’ can send direct messages to other attendees even if they are not directly connected. This is a HUGE benefit to expand your professional network LinkedIn.
Just imagine, for example if you are interested in marketing and there is a marketing audio event for you to attend, when you click to register your interest to attend, you are able to see who else is attending.
If there are marketing professionals with whom you may have synergy, you can directly message them before, during or after the event! You can also send a request to connect with other professionals in your area of interest directly via the LinkedIn Audio Events platform.
I believe this direct messaging is not possible with Twitter Spaces nor Clubhouse at the moment.
OPEN CONVERSATIONS
People share their views more openly in deeper conversations over an audio platform.
Currently LinkedIn doesn’t permit recording for replays so that encourages even more open discussions. In the future LinkedIn may allow recording but hosts MUST then let people know they are being recorded.
I wonder if that will prevent people being more relaxed and open? This will be a topic for discussion on YOUR CAREER Podcast (and on LinkedIn Audio) if LinkedIn adds the record function to LinkedIn audio in the future.
Currently Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces allow recording of audio events.
JOIN FROM DESKTOP OR DEVICE
However a key differentiator right now is that you can join a LinkedIn Audio Event on either DESKTOP or your DEVICE. Clubhouse and Twitter only allow you to join their audio events on your device at present.
A lovely bonus to LinkedIn audio events is that you can see who you are already connected to who will also be attending and you can rekindle the connections beforehand.
An interesting comment from Kevin D Turner during our chat was, “Clubhouse reminds me of the wild conversations like with friends in a pub” – LinkedIn encourages more professional conversations.
Another attendee who joined us on the ‘stage’ was Billy Dees who said, “The spoken word is an art form.”
We can only rely on the ability to use our voice on audio events while LinkedIn Live video events can rely on presentation slides to illustrate points and the visuals may detract from the nuances of the spoken word.
Jo Saunders, Perth Based LinkedIn Trainer had some interesting comments too. After joining my test run with Keith Keller and Kevin D Turner, she posted:
“The concept is similar to Clubhouse (the pioneer of live audio events) and Twitter Spaces, but what I love is the location – the professional network where I have a professional profile, my professional network and the ability to interact in many ways with the host, speakers and participants.
Previously we could host a show on Clubhouse in collaboration with a LinkedIn event and messaging, so I love that this can all be done in one platform where my community and wider audience is.
Audio is easy to get involved with because you don’t need to dress up, style yourself or even get dressed…. but, given you only have sound, you do need to show up professionally, and use your voice to the best of your ability by having good posture, sound quality and have the right mindset.”
I’m delighted that many people view this new feature on LinkedIn as such a positive.
LINKEDIN AUDIO EVENTS FOR JOB SEEKERS
I believe that it is also an excellent way for JOB SEEKERS to highlight their areas of expertise.
For job seekers, by requesting to come on the stage (you raise your hand to request to speak) you have the opportunity to ask intelligent questions or add your thoughts and comments which will enrich the conversation greatly.
This will also interest other attendees who may click on your profile photo and immediately see your profile information.
The content from discussions will also be valuable to hosts who are content creators as this is an excellent way to generate ideas for content, source information for a blog post or article and, when we have the ability to record, events will be excellent content for a podcast episode!
Now I have some questions for you:
? Have you attended an audio event yet?
? Would you host an audio event?
? How might you use LinkedIn Audio to your benefit?
So, what are your thoughts? Request to connect with me at linkedin.com/in/janejackson or send me a message and let me know what you think!
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