Laptop Etiquettes When You Bring the Computer in Office Meetings

Dean Hachamovitch is general manager of Internet Explorer for Microsoft. He has some tips for office workers who carry Tablets or Notebooks in discussion rooms:

Laptops in meetings can be discouraging if the most senior people in the room are frequently looking down at their laptops or, worse yet, typing for an extended time. The presenter has to wonder how much he or she is getting across.

Some speakers start a meeting with “Laptops off, please.” Others might chirp, “Excuse me, we’re having a meeting here,” if people are making more eye contact with their screens than with the speaker.

In some meetings, especially if the topic is sensitive, it just seems more respectful to leave the laptops closed. On the other hand, if the meeting is covering a variety of areas and the conversation is moving into something I’m not involved in, I don’t feel too bad about catching up on my e-mail.

Set your laptop on “presentation” mode for meetings, which mutes instant messaging, among other things. Link.