Business

How to Be Productive at a Tech Conference

The problem with conferences is that they’re huge time and productivity sinks. The advent of in-conference wi-fi is a godsend for people who would otherwise be stuck playing solitaire or reading the newspaper during yet another boring presentation. But some people take multitasking to extremes. Paul Kedrosky reports seeing this stunning example during an ETech […]

Multitasking
The problem with conferences is that they're huge time and productivity sinks. The advent of in-conference wi-fi is a godsend for people who would otherwise be stuck playing solitaire or reading the newspaper during yet another boring presentation. But some people take multitasking to extremes. Paul Kedrosky reports seeing this stunning example during an ETech presentation last week -- the the space of two minutes, this attendee was:

  1. In the #etech IRC chat
  2. In at least two ongoing IM conversations
  3. Buying a piece of computer luggage
  4. Bidding on something at Ebay
  5. Adding a trip to Dopplr
  6. Compiling some code
  7. And listening closely enough to the on-stage speaker that he laughed aloud at all the right places

This guy is on the same level of master multitasking as Cory Doctorow. On the other hand, items 1-6 could all have been accomplished at home, without having to spend $2500 plus planefare and hotel charges.

Photo: Steve Jurvetson