New School Communications/Old School Respect

This is another entry/salvo in the social media wars.

A dear friend of mine is somewhat of a social media maven. She gives presentations to nonprofits and other groups about how they can utilize Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. as communications tools to expand their message, their audience and their brand.

Recently, she noted that while participating on a panel with other presenters, some of the panelists would whip out their Blackberrys or Netbooks or other keyboards and start typing while other people were speaking. The feedback from their audience showed that some people found this behavior to be quite rude; others didn't mind at all.

The response from the typing presenters was that they thought it would be cool to check Twitter during the event to see how much traffic it was generating.

My friend likened this to teenagers who constantly tweet or text while having dinner at grandma's house.

Now, I have to say that my first reaction to this is "Oh, HELL no." And I will tell you that if either of my kids started texting while visiting their grandmother, they would get a side eye look from me that would virtually zap that phone out of their hands.

To me, this is a basic matter of respect. And a lesson in communications 101. If you ever heard of the famous Dale Carnegie course, you know that its title is "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

I don't see how you're going to influence anyone if you can't even pretend to be interested in them.

If I have paid money to attend a seminar, or even if I left the comfort of my home or office to attend a free seminar, the least the presenters could do is act like they think the information is worth listening to. And that they want to be there.

Have you ever had a professional or social meeting with someone who kept checking their watch? Didn't each glance down make you feel a little smaller; a little less important in that person's sphere?

Now, I will acknowledge that the rules may be different for a presentation on social media. In fact, the idea of a real-time demonstration of how social media tracks an event could heighten the learning experience for the audience.

However, there's a way to do that while letting the audience know what you're trying to accomplish. Then they are in on the experiment. In fact, they are your partner.

If that, indeed, was what the presenter was doing.

My suspicion, like that of many of the people who complained, was that the presenter had not committed to being fully present for the seminar audience. And some of the audience did not like it.

My friend puts on a really good presentation: funny, engaging, informative, accessible. I know that anyone who saw her speak left with new information they could apply to their work the very same day.

However, I'm also guessing that a lot of the audience left with a less-than-positive impression of the presenters who checked out of the seminar as they sat on the panel before them. Which strikes me as an ineffective way of communicating with anyone.

From my old school frame of mind: your devotion to new technology does not trump your obligation to respect the people in front of you.