Farhad
Mohit is a busy executive who doesn't have time for people who
waste his time.
So
instead of suffering through inane PowerPoint presentations
at a recent Internet industry conference, the chairman of Los
Angeles-based BizRate.com flipped open his laptop and began
sending e-mails to colleagues at the office. Thanks to wireless
Internet access throughout the conference area, Mohit paid attention
when speakers interested him--and got real work done when they
didn't.
"It's unbelievably helpful to be able to do e-mail at a conference,"
Mohit said. "Before wireless, I would have had to go back to
my room--and then I'd probably miss the next speaker. Now, when
these guys go into sales-pitch mode, I tune 'em out."
That, wireless critics say, is precisely the problem. Who can concentrate
on what's going on at the speaker's podium when you can just
as easily have a real-time chat with your girlfriend or knock
off a few work-related e-mails without leaving the conference
room?
From etiquette experts to senior executives at Microsoft, a growing
number of people say wireless Internet access is becoming an
annoyance--a technology that could potentially become more annoying
than cell phones or pagers. They point to the alarming number
of attendants at technology conferences and even internal office
meetings who ignore speakers to focus on personal e-mail or
Web surfing.
They also bemoan the increasing din of chirps, pings and knocks
that attendants' computers make when they receive e-mail or
instant messages. They say the annoyance could soon spark restaurants
and conference halls to clamp down on laptops, forbidding people
from bringing them inside or kicking out offenders if they forget
to turn off the volume.
At the Industry Standard Internet Summit last week in Carlsbad,
Calif., attendants discerned a direct correlation between the
quality of the speaker's presentation and the number of noises--from
Apple's "Wild Eep" and Microsoft "tada" to the shrill "knock!
knock! knock!" of Yahoo Instant Messenger: Whenever the speech
got boring, the computerized noise level increased dramatically.
"Outrageous" and "rude"
The babel has already reached distraction level, critics say.
Signs typically remind conference attendants to turn off cell
phones and put pagers on vibrate mode, but they rarely instruct
attendants to mute laptops.
"It's outrageous. It's really rude," Sue Fox, founder and president
of Los Gatos, Calif.-based Etiquette Survival, said of noisy
notebooks. Author of "Business Etiquette for Dummies," Fox counsels
many Silicon Valley executives about proper manners, and paying
attention to the speaker is one of her top priorities.
"It's the same as talking on your cell phone or talking to your
neighbor when someone's giving a speech. Maybe it's boring,
but that's no excuse," Fox said. "If someone is talking or giving
a presentation, it's not the time to have your laptop open--just
as it's not appropriate to be talking on your cell phone."
Loquacious laptops don't pique etiquette experts exclusively. Corporations
are increasingly calling for a mass muting of the machines.
When the Four Seasons brought its technology managers to Florida
for a meeting in June, meeting coordinators for the Toronto-based
luxury resort chain specifically asked workers to keep their
laptops in their hotel rooms. The request highlighted notebooks'
potential for distraction, seeing as it came during a meeting
about the July introduction
of Wi-Fi at all 56 resorts worldwide.
Make no mistake: These silicon silencers aren't denying that the
technology is powerful--possibly the next "killer app" that
could boost office efficiency and revolutionize the workplace.
They know they'd be fighting a losing battle if they tried to
turn the rising tide of wireless.
From the San Francisco International Airport to Starbucks Coffee,
consumer-oriented businesses are trying to cater to business
travelers and others who require 24-hour, high-speed connections,
without the flakiness and phone charges of dial-up access. Meanwhile,
computer manufacturers are racing to install laptops with integrated
wireless capabilities. Most major technology conferences, from
the Internet Summit last week to the CeBit spring trade fair
in Hanover, Germany, offer wireless Internet access.
But the distraction issue has emerged as one of the first social
challenges that wireless faces as it tries to gain widespread
acceptance--not unlike the battle over ringing cell phones in
the early- to mid-1990s. Back then, the increasingly ubiquitous
gadgets became a flashpoint pitting social gabbers and power
brokers against people yearning for a quiet dinner, subway commute
or bathroom break.
The loud laptop could become an even bigger cultural battle. Unlike
the simple cell phone, notebooks can transmit a huge variety
of sounds--and many Web sites offer audio downloads ranging
from rap to dolphin screeches.
Focus on Wi-Fi
The issue has even reared its head at Microsoft, an ardent supporter
of so-called Wi-Fi technology. Wi-Fi is the wireless Internet
access system based on the technical standard 802.11B, which
requires the installation of a small radio "hot spot" connected
to the Internet via a broadband connection. The radio extends
the wire line and connects with any mobile devices equipped
with mini-radios in PC cards. Products that use such technology
are called Wi-Fi, short for "wireless fidelity."
At Microsoft's Redmond, Wash.-based campus, about 10,000 workers
have the ability to tap into wireless Internet access. At any
given time, about 3,500 Microsoft employees are sending e-mail
or surfing the Web via Wi-Fi, said Mike Edwards, general manager
of infrastructure engineering at Microsoft.
Edwards said that the typical person with Wi-Fi can boost daily
productivity as much as one and a half hours per day. But he
also noted that it's not uncommon for 10 people in a meeting
of 20 to 25 workers to be buried in their laptops, not paying
full attention to the presentation or meeting coordinator.
Edwards said that they're "multitasking," but some executives at
other technology companies have determined that it's tough to
pay attention to both a speaker and a constant stream of incoming
e-mail. At Compaq Computer and Dell Computer, for instance,
midlevel managers say, it's not uncommon for meeting coordinators
to ask attendants to keep their laptops folded and turned off.
"What's the point of having a meeting if half the people are doing
e-mail?" asked one Dell manager, who requested anonymity. "If
you're doing e-mail, you probably shouldn't be attending the
meeting in the first place."
Brian Grimm
Spokesman for Wilmington, N.C.-based Wave Communications, believes
it will only be two or three years before all major hotels and
conference halls are Wi-Fi-enabled. When taking business trips,
he tries to stay in only those hotels that offer wireless access.
But he realizes that the technology will dramatically change the
way people perceive conferences--as it already has done in the
technology sector. It could force speakers to be more enthusiastic,
compelling and interesting--or else suffer the fate of an audience
buried in their laptops, he said. That's not necessarily a bad
thing, he noted.
"Go to a conference without Wi-Fi. Everyone's listening to the
speaker. Go to a conference with Wi-Fi. Everyone's sending e-mail
and working if it's boring," said Grimm, who has attended his
share of sleeper conventions.
"It's an interesting phenomenon. Pretty soon, it's going to be,
'This conference bites because you don't have wireless LANs,'"
Grimm said. "For better or worse, people love to be in constant
communication."
