Face2face is a blog about planning face-to-face meetings, conferences, conventions, and trade shows, plus business travel and hospitality news.
Sue Pelletier
MeetingsNet Web editor, mad blogger, and editor of Association Meetings magazine...more
While I live on computers in my daily life, I’m one of those who are firmly against people being on laptops in meetings. To me, it seems disrespectful to the other people in the room and the tap-tapping can be really annoying to those around you. But not everyone feels that way. Check out this article in the NYT for arguments for and against laptops in meeting rooms.
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August 27th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Sue, really interesting posting and link to the NYT article. I think what take away from both are (a) use some common sense (b) be courteous, it’s not all about you, and (c) if it’s not necessary don’t do it.
As for my personal opinion, I don’t have a problem with people using laptops provided they are adhering to a, b, and c above. As someone who is involved in adult learning, I would say that some people work in different ways and tend to gravitate toward what works best for them, and if having their laptop with them allows them to participate in the meeting more effectively and does not detract from their contributions or the contributions of others, go for it. However, the second that the quality suffers, for any/all involved, then there should either be a moratorium on laptops in meetings or a “how to effectively use laptops in meetings” training.
Either way, I don’t think that those who use laptops effectively should be punished for the mistakes of a few who don’t.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:42 am
I tend to agree more with Dave.
What is not acceptable is people coming in a meeting and becoming busy with their own unrelated work on laptops, hence, not paying attention.
But I feel it’s fine, if someone needs a quick research or want to find and pull out a chart or takes note of what is being discussed. Also if someone wants to use a laptop, he/she makes sure that a mike isn’t nearby that catches the key-tapping noise. I guess all these is what Dave sums up as “use laptops effectively”
September 4th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
This thread challenges some key assumptions around face-to-face meetings.
Attendees need to be mindful of the significant cost of meeting attendance, including travel, lodging and non-productive time. If time to be dedicated to the actual meeting content is diluted by emails and “other work,” I would challenge 2 assumptions: Did the meeting content need to be delivered face to face? and/or, Do you need to be at this meeting?
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