Land of Lime

What is the proper etiquette at talks and conferences? I will leave aside the question of our (audience’s) expectations from a speaker for another occasion. But as audience members, what are our obligations to the speaker and towards other audience members?

Is it acceptable to keep reading materials, in case one is bored or notepads, both for taking notes or to do some writing of our own, if the speaker proves less than inspirational?

How about cell phones (of course, one would ensure that they are in the silent mode) and text messaging, PDAs and laptops, to take notes but also to email or check baseball score? Also for quick fact checking and to find references. What about using PDAs and laptops in our classroom, where wireless is on offer?

Would any or all of this be distracting to the speaker or other audience members?

On Saturday, at the ‘Fate of the Disciplines’ conference, someone sitting behind me complained that my laptop was distracting her from concentrating. To be honest, at that moment, I wasn’t necessarily taking notes, although I did want to blog about the conference. I was checking a reference.

Usually, I sit in the back and in a corner or even on the floor, ensure that my typing noise doesn’t compete with the speaker for anyone’s attention and try to be unobtrusive. But on saturday, I was persuaded to sit in the last but one row, which led to the complaint. Honestly, there were times this weekend when I cared more about the NFL draft than the conference. But I believe that once we are in a conference setting the speaker should get our attention.

But I also think our listening habits too are slowly changing in the Google age. Even if we do not want to check email or sports scores, we want to check the veracity of statements that the speaker is making immediately. Many of us have by necessity become multitaskers and on occasions lack the capacity to just do one thing at a time, like listen to a talk, especially if it is a boring talk. A few years ago, I probably would have read a book or made some notes if I was bored at a talk; I have read novels and written chapter outlines on occasions. But these days, I am also tempted to open my laptop and either get online or even write. In the last three years, I have spent most of my time staring at a computer screen, to write my dissertation or to get my office work done and a laptop has become an appendage I cannot be without. There are times, when I lack the discipline to show appropriate deference towards the speaker.

Well, I also wonder whether our conference etiquette will undergo any changes with more and more digital natives in the audience. I would like to be oldschool in this matter but I am already corrupted, a little, for better or worse.

There are also larger issues involved here, which are consequential in regards to our own lifestyle habits with the ubiquitous presence of wireless and DSL. But let us save that for another day.