Ok, I am no veteran of the conference scene but I have been to a few and feel I might share some etiquette tips for those who may be planning on going to or will be going to conferences in the future.
1. Be on time to sessions. It helps if you want to get a seat. But more importantly, it is out of respect for the presenters and your fellow conference attendees. It is very distracting when people are still filing in casually 15 minutes into the session. Just be on time!
2. Focus on the session. Do not take the time in the session to play on your phone or text someone. I can't believe how many librarians I saw texting during sessions - not acceptable and distracting to others in my opinion. If you have an emergency, get up, leave the room and handle it.
3. This one should go without saying but apparently does not...DON'T TALK!! In many sessions so far there has been many people without seats who are obviously set on hearing the presentation. If you want to talk to your friend instead of paying attention...leave! Your boss won't know! But, don't be disrespectful to the presenters and your peers by talking during a presentation.
4. This blends with the last one : Attend alone! I see a lot of people with their friends hopping from session to session. This tends to cause the talking described above and I also saw people watching a youtube video together and laughing etc... This is distracting to others. I use a laptop during sessions for notetaking but my screen is glued to MS Word. In my opinion email and web browsing are unacceptable and can be distracting to others.
Also, a conference is a time to learn and grow and to allow yourself to get out of your "comfort" zone. Even if this means going to a session alone. Going to sessions just because your friend is, is not an effective way of maximizing your time at the conference.
Quite frankly I am writing this because I have been appalled at the behavior of some of the conference attendees. Don't get on my list!! I am going to start naming names!!
-Roy
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