I was on a panel of four people yesterday. We were all told to speak for 10-12 minutes; one person spoke for 25. It was the second time I have been on a panel with this person over the past two months, and he did the same thing both times.
Small slippages in time happen to us all--very often the pace of our speaking changes with venue. But someone who takes up more than double his allocated time is either unprepared or inconsiderate--probably both.
One of the things I have grown to appreciate the importance of is some shared sense of manners. As a kid I thought worrying about which fork was used for salad was silly. Actually I still think that is silly but I didn't appreciate the annoyances caused by people that just don't care about how there selfishness impacts others.
ReplyDeleteNow I understand how a shared sense of common courtesy manners is important to hold bad people from being overly selfish (how about the idiots that insist on yelling into their cell phones in libraries or wherever else they happen to be for example).
And if I must comply with a few rules I find silly so I can exist in a society where others have a shared sense of unacceptable behavior that is ok with me. I now appreciate the idea of acceptable codes of conduct that people are encouraged to follow. I really didn't understand how selfish so many people would be without rules telling them not to interrupt others, or eating with their mouth open, or treating others with respect, or realizing you must share with others (toys, when you are a kid or time with other speakers...)...
Name the Yapper! Who is it?
ReplyDeleteOnce I know, then I'll be able to make sure that I don't attend events where the Yapper is speaking!