LI tweet talks to be short and sweet

Some professionals might get agitated at having to pare down an hourlong panel presentation to just 15 minutes. But not those who'll be presenting at next Thursday's 140 Characters Conference Long Island.

That's because being concise is a way of life on Twitter, where tweets have to be 140 characters or fewer, says Paul Biedermann. He and two other panelists will be speaking -- in a total of 15 minutes -- about a Twitter community known as #UsGuys.

What's more, the nearly 50 speakers at the event, ranging from marketers to educators to someone who organizes face-to-face events called TweetUps for the National Hockey League, will get just five minutes each to share their stories of how "real time" Internet -- meaning Facebook, Twitter and other such sites -- has impacted their work and lives.

The conference, to be held at the Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in Central Islip, is billed as being focused, hyper-caffeinated and PowerPoint-free.

It's an offshoot of the 140 Character Conferences developed in 2009 by Jeff Pulver, a digital entrepreneur in Great Neck, known on Twitter as @jeffpulver.

The idea is to present as many voices as possible in a single track, so the experience is shared, with a nod, too, to short attention spans, says Pulver, a co-founder of Vonage, a voice-over-Internet phone-service provider. Some locations of his previous conferences: San Francisco, Barcelona, London, Tel Aviv. And one in Manhattan is coming up June 15-16.

Those who run traditional businesses can "soak in a lot," says Jeff Namnum (@namnum) one of the planners and a co-founder of Socialisle Llc, a resource finder for businesses. "This is a friendly and generous environment." Indeed, proceeds beyond costs are earmarked for the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island.

Biedermann (@PaulBieder mann), a creative director in Huntington, says he and fellow panelists will "capture the fun, freewheeling spirit" of Twitter in talking about #UsGuys, a virtual group of a wide range of professionals who brainstorm and share support on issues related to marketing, branding, social media, leadership, creativity. Think of a 24/7 idea lab, he says, with as many as 1,000 members globally. (They find one another on Twitter by using the hashtag #UsGuys in their tweets.)

Next Thursday's panel "may get chaotic," he says, "but never dull. The last thing we want to be known as is #UsSnooze." Learn more at http://li.140conf .com/ and on Twitter at ᐌon fLI.