Blackberry use during Meetings

[BillyBall]

When is it appropriate if ever? My boss loves to use his Blackberry during meetings and it seems like a slap in the face to the person(s) presenting. I keep my Blackberry in my pocket regardless of how boring the meeting is but maybe I'm in the minority here.

So, is it cool and if so, when?

[Rhino]

Rarely, if ever.

We have a sales guy that never looks up from his Blackberry during meetings. It's extremely rude.

[sooner_born_1960]

I usually get with a couple people and play yahtzee during meetings.

[soonermix]

if you can do listen to the presetation and look at your blackberry at the same time then it is fine. i know i can't do both so i put up any communication device until after meetings.

[C&CDean]

If somebody is thumbing their Crackberry during a presentation then may I humbly suggest that the presenter needs to jazz it up?

The only time I get mine out is if the person speaking is boring me to tears.

[OU4LIFE]

Deaner has a crackberry.

I bet it has a John Deer cover.

[Frozen Sooner]

Rude as all hell.

[C&CDean]

Rude as all hell.

Sounds to me like somebody sucks at presenting.

[Frozen Sooner]

Sounds to me like somebody sucks at presenting.

Sounds to me like someone isn't grownup enough to pay attention in meetings.

[C&CDean]

Sounds to me like someone isn't grownup enough to pay attention in meetings.

Sounds to me like someone is boring as hell.

[BillyBall]

I'll admit, I have to turn the thing on silent and off of vibrate or I am tempted to look to see what emails have come in during the meeting/presentation.

[TheUnnamedSooner]

Obviously your boss has more important things to attend to than pay attention to a boring presentation. That's why he gets the extra .25 an hour.

[Beano's Fourth Chin]

If I'm running a meeting, I usually ask the folks in the meeting to suggest ground rules. If someone suggests it and everyone buys in, then turn them off. If someone suggests it and someone else argues against it (which has never happened) then I'll probably suggest that, we use them in emergencies only. If nobody suggests it, then it's fair game.

If people are using them willy nilly, then someone isn't very good at running meetings/presentations. They're not inherently evil and/or rude.

Now, people coming in 15 minutes late to a meeting and wanting a recap. that, I hate.

[Beano's Fourth Chin]

Obviously your boss has more important things to attend to than pay attention to a boring presentation. That's why he gets the extra .25 an hour.

Your boss better darn well be manning the headset. If I have to wait in the drive thru longer than 1:00, he should be canned anyway.

[GrapevineSooner]

I came into this thread late.

Can somebody recap?

TIA

[GrapevineSooner]

And as to the point...

My boss is the only one who has a Trackberreo (or something like it) in our department. Since he gets alerts whenever there's an outage, he has a built in excuse.

Generally speaking, as long as you're doing something that can easily be multi-tasked while following along to the presentation, I don't see a problem with it's use.

Of course, Your company's and organization's MMV.

[CtheB]

I am in the professional service business, so:

If I am getting paid to be there, I turn it off.

If I am not getting paid, I am giving attention to paying clients by staying current with their communications.

These are my general rules, but there are exceptions where I think the use during a meeting might be received poorly, so I don't use it in those instances.

[Frozen Sooner]

Sounds to me like someone is boring as hell.

Sounds to me like someone thinks that work is supposed to be entertaining. Typical of you Gen Y slackers, I guess. :D

And honestly, I don't notice if people are using them while I'm presenting. I just don't e-mail during meetings because I personally think that it's rude to not pay attention when someone is talking.

[lefty]

We all have to put together "powerpoint" presentations that no one cares about. At least give the poor suckers doing the presentation a little bit of respect. Turn the damn Blackberrys off for a couple of minutes.