sjreeves@eng.auburn.edu (Stan Reeves) (05/21/91)
I recently returned from a technical conference in which there was a great deal of confusion about when to applaud for the speaker. Some people applauded as soon as the speaker finished with the paper, and others applauded after he/she had finished fielding questions. This dual applause really irked me. I wanted to take a survey -- which is the best time to applaud the speaker? I realize that this group is probably not the ideal place to ask about this, but I figured that a significant number of the readership would be in a position to have an opinion about it. -- Stan Reeves Auburn University, Department of Electrical Engineering, Auburn, AL 36849 INTERNET: sjreeves@eng.auburn.edu
sandell@ils.nwu.edu (Greg Sandell) (05/22/91)
In article <sjreeves.910520181602@eng.auburn.edu>, sjreeves@eng.auburn.edu (Stan Reeves) writes: > > I recently returned from a technical conference in which there was a > great deal of confusion about when to applaud for the speaker. Some > people applauded as soon as the speaker finished with the paper, and > others applauded after he/she had finished fielding questions. This dual You make me feel sorry for all us academics...have we really become so consumed by convention and custom that we have forgotten that applause expresses appreciation? Unless the particular conference you are talking about is heavily dominated by some peer pressure to behave a certain way at a presentation, I'd say one should applaud if the feeling to do so arises when the speaker concludes the principle part of his talk. I must say the spectacle of an audience looking at one another to mime the question "gosh, should I clap or not?" elicits sympathy from me. But the occasions on which the "wait until questions are over" applause behavior is observed by participants seems to be related to (1) the length of the allotted presentation and (2) to the manner in which the speaker makes his conclusion. -- Greg Sandell sandell@ils.nwu.edu