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Musings from Half Moon Bay: If you paid to attend ISS, then why aren't you paying attention? |
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Jan 09, 2007 at 03:38 PM |
Blackberrys and other PDAs in constant use, people checking and replying to their email, purchase orders and proposals being tweaked, spreadsheets getting updated, surfing the Web for the latest industry or tech news---no, it's not a typical workday but the activities of many attendees at ISS.
While the parade of speakers takes the stage, I am aghast at the number of people who aren't paying attention very often.
I understand the need to stay in touch with your colleagues and customers, to take care of bidness even though you're attending a conference, but why bother to come to events like ISS if you're not listening to the presentations? Isn't a waste of your company's or your own money (unless you're only here to put the "schmooze" in ISS)? If you aren't interested in a particular speaker or topic, then I understand taking a break and multitasking a bit, but not for several hours in a row.
Another question I have is one of etiquette: Isn't it a bit rude to chat away with your fingertips when someone else is making a serious attempt to communicate to you and the rest of the attendees? You can always take it outside.
But then, it could be worse: I have fond memories of glancing over the shoulder of a well-known equipment industry CEO, shaking my head in disbelief as he played card games on his laptop for much of ISS 2005.
Now that's what I call executive privilege.
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