34
votes
Accepted
How can I politely ask my audience to not use their cellphones when I am giving a talk?
Because Mobile phones have made it harder for speakers to compete for their audience's attention, the speaker has to give them more value that their mobiles would never be able to do in that situation....
- 779
19
votes
How can I politely ask my audience to not use their cellphones when I am giving a talk?
One other thing to consider is that you might be wrong about what people are doing on their phones.
I use my phone to take notes at things like faculty meetings and conferences. I find it very ...
- 3,654
14
votes
Accepted
Are longer, text-heavy slides more effective at communicating ideas than quick, numerous slides?
Short answer
No, short slides with bullet points are better.
Long answer
There's a pretty good amount of literature out there on this topic, so I'll collect the main points here. When you are giving a ...
- 9,012
14
votes
How can I politely ask my audience to not use their cellphones when I am giving a talk?
But when I am talking in a conference or something, I think that this could be insulting to senior professors etc.
You are correct; it would be.
Unless you're actually the organizer of the ...
- 735
8
votes
How to deal with rude interruptions in a seminar?
Generally hecklers at a seminar are rare. When I help people speak publicly, I tell them a couple things: the audience wants to see you succeed, not fail; the audience hopes more than anything else ...
- 32.3k
7
votes
How can I politely ask my audience to not use their cellphones when I am giving a talk?
Too many people including professors are dependent on and addicted to their cellphones so you have a real challenge here.
You can politely announce right at the beginning of your presentation that ...
- 10.4k
6
votes
How can I politely ask my audience to not use their cellphones when I am giving a talk?
I have attended many scientific conferences and given many academic presentations and seminars, and I have never once seen somebody talking on their phone during a session. If people are talking on ...
- 167
4
votes
How can I politely ask my audience to not use their cellphones when I am giving a talk?
I'm not so sure "polite" is what you want. As you are the speaker, they need to be polite.
When I present I am happy to tell the audience that phones must be off or on silent mode, and if anyone has ...
- 4,029
2
votes
How to deal with rude interruptions in a seminar?
It looks like B is renowned for this behaviour and C has repeatedly witnessed it and is fed up as well. If the two of you are peers or you're in a higher position, you can anticipate it with a comment ...
- 9,773
2
votes
Accepted
How to deal with rude interruptions in a seminar?
You're clearly annoyed by his interruptions. And from your story it seems some others are too. I leave it up to your judgment whether his behavior is actually rude.
You might want to consider his ...
- 844
2
votes
How to deal with rude interruptions in a seminar?
You said B is in a higher position than the rest in a comment (if I understood that correct). Now, it really depends on the setting. B might be just trying to optimize the usage of time, because the ...
- 561
2
votes
Accepted
How to present myself to other cultures on cover letters
State facts factually.
While I personally never would, you may include hobbies and personal interests as a very short side note (unless relevant for the job), but keep the tone mostly neutral. If ...
- 561
1
vote
How can I politely ask my audience to not use their cellphones when I am giving a talk?
Another thing I use my phone (or laptop) for during a presentation is immediate googling of unfamiliar terms. If you use a term I don't understand in your talk, there's a good chance you'll lose my ...
- 808
1
vote
How can I politely ask my audience to not use their cellphones when I am giving a talk?
I usually use peer pressure to do it. Of course, I always ask/tell people to not use their phones beforehand, and always there are some people that do. I have no problems with people's lives ...
- 1,594
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible