My Quandary
Recently I was at a multi-day event where the facilitator announced that the meeting was a “Topless Meeting”, in that no lap’tops’ were permitted. She also excluded Blackberries, PDA, Treos etc.. It was curious for a variety of reasons, especially because some of those in attendance, were chosen as a result of their online leadership qualities. When I first heard the facilitator announce that she had banning technology, my first thought was that the participants were adults and should be permitted to decide on their own. My second was the question of the speaker’s ability to be more interesting than the attendee’s e-mail.
Compromise
As an instructor and meeting leader, I’ve never really thought about it, I’ve just encouraged participants to bring their laptops in to the class or meeting. Recenly I’ve asked a group of Realtors, numbering about 20, what they though of the trend toward laptops in the meeting or training session. The entire group (various ages) felt that it was rude to use any of these devices in a classroom.
I’ve felt that we had to make meetings and education as non-intrusive as we could, in order to get agents to participate. However, I’ve neglected the fact that many other participants are easily distracted and offended by the introduction of technology by participants.
What Say You?
I know that asking a question about technology on AgentGenius is already a bit like asking Congress if they like spending non-existant money; but I’ll do so anyway. Do you think that meetings should be “topless”? How can we establish good etiqutte?
