Did the rules of phone etiquette change when smartphones were invented?
Is it now appropriate to use your smartphone during a face-to-face meeting or when listening to a lecture at a conference?
My mother always taught me not to interrupt a conversation, be polite and watch your ‘please’ and ‘thank you’s. By showing manners towards someone, you make them feel valuable.
Therefore, I find it annoying when I’m in a meeting with someone who pulls out their phone and reads a text while they are simultaneously talking to me. If you’re in a one-on-one meeting and the other person grabs his/her iPhone to check their e-mail, that’s just rude.
That said, I understand how smartphones can have a very appropriate place in a workplace setting, especially if using it serves to facilitate or enhance the speed of business.
| Smartphone |
Rude Phone |
| Using your smartphone to validate a point in a business meeting |
Texting while someone is presenting to you |
| Using your smartphone as a presentation tool (i.e. to show 3D product demonstration and/or project content) |
Checking emails while prospects are walking by your trade show booth |
| Staying connected to what’s going on in the office, with the ability to access materials anywhere, anytime |
Answering non-emergency calls when in a meeting or a work event |
Professor and researcher Christine Pearson has studied the effects of technology on how we treat each other at work — and written about it in a recent book and New York Times column — and the topic is catching on big time. City officials in Danvers, MA, and Provo, UT, have proposed texting bans during council meetings, and the general consensus seems to be that, although most people do it, texting (and checking email and Facebook) during meetings is just plain rude.
What are your thoughts? Is texting during meetings a sign of increasing “incivility” in the workplace, as Pearson says? Or are some industries just too fast-paced and tech-oriented to keep messaging out of meetings?
MarketingSherpa asked more than 900 B2B marketers to share what information is required in their organizations before leads are passed to sales. It was stated in this article that of the 935 people surveyed, less than half verified that a lead actually has a valid business need for their offering before passing the lead on to sales.
Kaon Interactive 