Convention Etiquette: Discussion and Advice on Do's and Don'ts

[Skydiver]

also, blackberries should be OFF when in the main con room. they futz with microphones horribly.

another reason for a pad and paper. turn those electronics off please.

[SG7]

also, blackberries should be OFF when in the main con room. they futz with microphones horribly.

another reason for a pad and paper. turn those electronics off please.

Amen to that! And that goes for all of those things like Cell phones, Blackberry's, Iphones, Droids etc. If you can't have your gadgets turned off while you are attending a panel or workshop, then you should not be in the room. No offense but I would find it rude to attend say a Stunt Workshop put on by James Bamford for example (as I have heard that he has done things like that at cons) and you're chatting away or texting away on your cell phone or gadget while he is trying to do his thing. Or worse yet it loudly rings right when the guest is in the middle of answering a question from a person within a few seats of you at a panel.

The other annoying thing I found from GateCon '08 was that there was a person about 2-3 rows behind me using one of those "continuous shot" cameras where you get a massive amounts of pictures in the space of a minute. It would have not been a problem except that he was shooting more than 100 shots at a time it seemed. On the second day, Allan had to make an announcement about it as it was really annoying. Doing a few continuous shots occassionally is one thing but this was to the point where obviously it was annoying enough to warrent something being said.

[BruTak]

But on the other hand, con organisers may need to be able to get hold of their First Aid team in a hurry. And a lot of older venues aren't all that good for walkie talkie reception.

For example, the old Central Hotel in Glasgow (which I hear has got new owners, and may be opening up again) had several "dead spots", particularly on the upper floors.

But as a general rule of thumb, I'd say phones off unless it's a case of direst emergency.

[Skydiver]

it's one thing to have the STAFF having communication devices. and they usually have radios or the such. It's another for 300 fans to have their phones on.

What people don't realize, if you have a smart phone, black berry or cell with the gps activated, the phone 'pings' the tower every few minutes. I've heard this in microphones, a 'bzzy, bzzt grrt, gzzt' etc, interference, that lasts for a few seconds to a minute or two. multiply that by 300+ and you get a cacophony of noise. It's horrible. It's one reason some cons have never been able to sell a dvd of the on stage acts.....the phones in the audience futz the audio up so badly that it's unusable.

I've personally had interviews messed up because of the dude's phone.

and when we say 'off' we dont mean 'on silent', we mean OFF! Powered down, turned OFF, dead, dark, etc.

I think the only compromise is if your phone has an 'airline' mode, that leaves the phone power on but turns off the pinging....thing is most people have no idea where or what that is, so just power the danged thing off. With all due respect, none of you are that important that you can't be out of contact for a bit. You paid to be in the con, so BE there. Mind and body.

[BruTak]

There was a famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) incident at one of Wolf's early Stargate cons in London, where someone's phone went off - the ringtone being the Stargate SG-1 theme music - and 90% of the atendees suddenly started scrabbling for their phones to see if it was them...

[discodiva]

LOL!.....now that I'd have paid a LOT to see!....


During Michael's talk at Vancon on Saturday, Lexa (who was at home) was Twittering.....I'm not a fan of Twitter OR mobile phones at Cons....however the resulting messages and exchanges through those who follow her and receive alerts on their phones did lead to some extremely funny and PRICELESS moments on stage by Michael and made for great spontaneous interaction with the audience!!......


Deeds xx

[BruTak]

Call me an old fart if you will, but I just don't "get" Twitter.

[mackenziesmomma]

and when we say 'off' we dont mean 'on silent', we mean OFF! Powered down, turned OFF, dead, dark, etc.

I think the only compromise is if your phone has an 'airline' mode, that leaves the phone power on but turns off the pinging....thing is most people have no idea where or what that is, so just power the danged thing off. With all due respect, none of you are that important that you can't be out of contact for a bit. You paid to be in the con, so BE there. Mind and body.

I think there is an exception to this rule especially if you just come in for a day.

See I was in Vancouver on Saturday and had left my young (4 year old) child at home since it would have been rude to bring her (no way would she have been able to do a day at a con). So I had to keep my phone on (albeit on vibrate) in case something happened with her.

So I think there has to be that consideration as well. Yes I paid to be there, no I wasn't interrupted but I had to be able to be reached in an emergency...

[Skydiver]

thing is kassandra, if your phone had gps on it or was a smart phone you did likely mess with the electronics in the room.

folks that have done just what you did is one reason there's never been a dvd for the Gabit events....the sheer number of cellulars in the audience left on renders the recorded audio useless...so all of us that would have liked to have had a dvd, can't. cause folks dont' turn their phones off.

I respect your need to be in contact, yet folks that have done just what you did have deprived anyone that's ever wanted a dvd from having one.....cause - whatever your reason -you flagrantly and totally ignore and defy the 'turn off your phones' rule.

it's a rule for a reason.

sometimes I think they should record the futzed up audio and release about 60 seconds of it, so folks can really hear what it's like.

ANd i personally would support any con that would employ a signal jammer....cause if folks refuse to obey the rules they agreed to when they bought the tickets, they'll just make them follow the rules.

[mackenziesmomma]

thing is kassandra, if your phone had gps on it or was a smart phone you did likely mess with the electronics in the room.

folks that have done just what you did is one reason there's never been a dvd for the Gabit events....the sheer number of cellulars in the audience left on renders the recorded audio useless...so all of us that would have liked to have had a dvd, can't. cause folks dont' turn their phones off.

I respect your need to be in contact, yet folks that have done just what you did have deprived anyone that's ever wanted a dvd from having one.....cause - whatever your reason -you flagrantly and totally ignore and defy the 'turn off your phones' rule.

it's a rule for a reason.

sometimes I think they should record the futzed up audio and release about 60 seconds of it, so folks can really hear what it's like.

ANd i personally would support any con that would employ a signal jammer....cause if folks refuse to obey the rules they agreed to when they bought the tickets, they'll just make them follow the rules.

My phone is just a flip phone no GPS, nothing fancy just makes and takes calls. I wasn't trying to be argumentative just saying that sometimes there is that lovely 'rock and a hard place' situation which a person needs the phone. I had to make a choice between taking my daughter to the con and probably causing more of an interruption or having my phone on.

[Skydiver]

I know. And i totally know where you're coming from. I wasn't trying to sound confrontational. Sorry if it came across that way.

However I've also heard folks that refuse to turn off their phones, and not all of them even know how to make it electronic safe.

they do screw things up for everyone and it's frustrating. not just for other fans, but for con organizers

I'm of hte 'grew up unplugged' generation. I like my toys, but theyu're not the end all and be all of my life. My world won't end if i can't call someone or use the phone for days...in fact, i have a whole 3 people i've texted in the past. So i simply can't 'get' the mindset of those that must be plugged in and in communication with the rest of the world 24/7.

when you add the annoyance of htose that can't mute the ringers along with those whose machines futz up the electronics, it's very frustrating, because (and i'm not talking about anyone in particular) people seem to have this 'i'm so important, i simply CANNOT be off line, and rules, what rules? i paid to be here and i'll dang well do as i please' attitude.

the self-centeredness is simply mind boggling.

[SG7]

Back in the days when we didn't have Cell phones, we would have left the number of the hotel with whom ever we felt necessary to have it in emergencies. No reason why that can't still be the case during panels and other events where cell phones would be inappropriate. All you need to do is tell the person/people that if they cannot get a hold of you on your cell phone then to call the hotel as you are probably in a panel, workshop etc. Or even better yet, call the person (whom you left the number with) just before you go into the panel and let them know that you will be in a panel and won't have your phone on. I leave the number of the hotel with my parents and if anything happens they can call there if they can't get me on my cell. They already know that my phone will be off a lot of the time during the con

Agreed on the self centeredness. Some people DO feel that they are SO important that they feel that they have this right to do what ever they please irregardless of the rules or consideration of others. Sure they paid to be there. But they also need to remember that anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand other people also paid to be there. And they did not pay to listen to someone behind them talking on their cellphone, or someone's cell phone on the other side of the room going off or having to put up with poor audio in a panel because of cell phones.

Perhaps if it is that important to you to have your cell phone on, then why not keep it off and just tell people to text you. And then see if you can get a seat by the door (if possible) during the panel, then slip out quietly once every half hour or hour or so, turn on your phone and then get your messages. AFAIK one can still get text messages when their phone is off.

[mackenziesmomma]

You are both correct in your assertions. I don't use mine frequently (in fact I think the entire time I was up for the con I got/made 5 phone calls in about 36 hours. None of those during actual 'con time' and definitely NOT in the panel room.)

I definitely get being frustrated with it affecting audio/etc. I'm pretty new to the whole con thing, but I know that it can be hard to find the 'ground rules' your first time at a con (a lot of people I spoke to here were newbies).

It would be great if at the beginning of the day/con/whenever the con organizers (especially at events that are more than one day & have single day admission available) could give everyone a run down of 'common courtesy' or print it in the schedule or something.

[SG7]

You are both correct in your assertions. I don't use mine frequently (in fact I think the entire time I was up for the con I got/made 5 phone calls in about 36 hours. None of those during actual 'con time' and definitely NOT in the panel room.)

I definitely get being frustrated with it affecting audio/etc. I'm pretty new to the whole con thing, but I know that it can be hard to find the 'ground rules' your first time at a con (a lot of people I spoke to here were newbies).

It would be great if at the beginning of the day/con/whenever the con organizers (especially at events that are more than one day & have single day admission available) could give everyone a run down of 'common courtesy' or print it in the schedule or something.

Would be nice. As what we all may see as common sense may not be to others. Especially if there are those out there who have the "me" attitude. And feel that they have the right to do what ever they please. Even if it is at the expense of others. And there will be those who are just genuinly oblivious to what would be proper ettiquet for the situation.

The problem is that we have become so dependant upon our electronic gadgets that we feel as though the world will end or some big catastrophy will occur when they are turned off. Sure there may be some emergency that can arise. But how hard would it be for a hotel staffer to inform one of the con staffers and then inform the person sitting in the panel. Better to have one staffer quietly let an attendee know of an emergency than everyone having their phones on (even on silent or vibrate) "just incase of an emergency." And if you are seriously that concerned about an emergency (and may well be very valid so I will never degrade someone for it), then it may be best that inform your contact(s) just before going into the panel/event that the only way you can be reached for "X" hour(s) is by contacting the hotel.

[prion]

Cellphones and actors talking on stage.

It's no different really than going to a theater, only it's costing you a LOT more

Anyway, I don't think there is a cellphone that does not have a 'vibrate' setting. All cellphones should be on vibrate during the con. Heck, even before cellphones whenp eople had pagers, they were set to vibrate. Then if you got a call, you left the room and took it. You did not sit in your seat and yakk incessantly. If you're on an organ donor transplant list, then a ring is fine, but otherwise, no. Put the darn thing on vibrate.

The only people who I think should be alllowed to answer a cellphone during an actor's talk are the actors, cuz then we can all laugh hysterically at them when they go "I'm doing a talk, honey, I'll get the milk on the way home."

As for twitter, it's a fun way to communicate, get news - but if you're at a con, relish the face-to-face time. You don't get it all that often.