Business (Namely- Cell Phone) Etiquette

This post should probably not be applicable to any one reading this, however, I feel it needs to be addressed. A few weeks back, I attended a conference with different forums. In one of the forums, at the very end, as one of the speakers was still presenting information to the forum, a man in the audience picked up his cell phone and called someone. This man then proceeded to have an entire (at least 2 minute) conversation on his phone in a normal volume while the person leading the forum was still speaking. Unbelievable!

What do you do in these situations? What is the proper etiquette? Had I been close enough to the man on his phone, would it have been rude of me to ask him to either A.) please continue his conversation outside the room, or B.) get off the phone? Should the speaker have stopped to single this man out instead of ignoring it? Is there a right answer besides giving this rude little man a lobotomy?

The emergence of technology has been able to speed up business and aid in efficiency (see this previous post). However, it has also created a distraction from other human beings.

Another example of what I deem to be rude occurred at a luncheon just last week. I was sitting at a table with several strangers listening to a speaker give a presentation. Granted, the speaker wasn't exactly enthralling, but nonetheless, still standing up in front of a large crowd exerting energy and attempting to inform all of us. 3 out of the 5 other people at the table were checking their email or text messaging others the entire time. By entire time, I mean half an hour. That's a lot of time to be diddling with your cell phone. You might think, well, Amber's young, she was probably at a luncheon with other "younger" people who get distracted easily and rely on technology more than older, more respectable adults. This was not the case. These men (yes, they were all male) were in the age range of 45-60 and couldn't look up from their blackberries for most of the presentation.


I hate to sound like Debbie Downer on this issue (wah, wah...), but if I had taken time out of my day to speak in front of either one of those crowds and had noticed that people were talking or checking email the whole time, I would be truly disappointed and probably a little angry. When did it become acceptable for us to blatantly ignore others giving their time to us?

Please share your thoughts and experiences on this issue.