Am I the only one who doesn't see any problem with this at all?
I mean, it's not like attendees are talking into a phone, inconveniencing other people. Complaining that every attendee's attention is not permanently fixed upon you strikes me as particularly vain. What about taking notes on a laptop? What about scribbling into a notebook? You should be glad that someone's interested enough to repeat the things you're saying to others.
Backchannel tweeting to me sounds like an excellent solution to the whispered conversation. Now you don't need to be physically proximate to someone in order to discuss ideas raised during the presentation. Not only that, but you're not going to disturb other attendees doing it! Thanks to this tech, people can add richness to the presentation they are attending.
This leads into the future. What happens when we have implants that allow us to communicate without tapping on a device at all, but rather just by thinking? How are you going to even know who's fully fixated upon you, and not engaged in backchannel conversation? And would you still be offended?
Always remember: Presentations are not for you; they are for your audience.
> Complaining that every attendee's attention is not
> permanently fixed upon you strikes me as particularly vain.
I read this differently: an audience can get the most out of a presentation by paying attention.
If you're consciously communicating while attending a presentation, you're probably not getting anything out of what's being immediately said. In an information-dense presentation, that means you're not getting the most out of the presentation: unfortunate at best, and making the rest of the presentation hard to understand at worst.
Perhaps it's more useful read as an "attendee tip" than a "presenter request?"
If you have a problem with people looking into their phones and away from you, there's one simple thing you can do to fix the problem - be more interesting.
No really, it works.
I love backchannel tweeting because of two things:
1. I gave people something to talk about, yay. Later on I will join in and get to see all the comments, wonderful!
2. Too many people starting to look down? Quick! Pepper the talk with something interesting, move to the next slide, the next topic, whatever. You are not being entertaining and if you are not entertaining nobody will get anything out of your talk (because they won't pay attention)!
I keep getting invited to talk at barcamps and stuff, so I must be doing something right.
I mean, it's not like attendees are talking into a phone, inconveniencing other people. Complaining that every attendee's attention is not permanently fixed upon you strikes me as particularly vain. What about taking notes on a laptop? What about scribbling into a notebook? You should be glad that someone's interested enough to repeat the things you're saying to others.
Backchannel tweeting to me sounds like an excellent solution to the whispered conversation. Now you don't need to be physically proximate to someone in order to discuss ideas raised during the presentation. Not only that, but you're not going to disturb other attendees doing it! Thanks to this tech, people can add richness to the presentation they are attending.
This leads into the future. What happens when we have implants that allow us to communicate without tapping on a device at all, but rather just by thinking? How are you going to even know who's fully fixated upon you, and not engaged in backchannel conversation? And would you still be offended?
Always remember: Presentations are not for you; they are for your audience.