On the web, it's just a click away.
Once we've taken our seats at a particular conference session we have to think
at least twice about getting up and walking over to another. Not only isn't it
particularly polite, it's also a statement that others are going to see, meaning
that we should save it for times when we really want that statement to be heard.
This means that our chances of actually hitting the jackpot with a particular
session are rather limited - we can hope that one out of the four presentations
will be a gem, but that's basically the best we can hope for.
Presentations on the web (in print format) however, offer us a greater chance
of serendipitously hitting on something worthwhile, simply because nobody is watching
when we click on a link and start our journey to something more interesting. We
may even end up thanking whoever made the "presentation" that we clicked
away from. After all, it may have been from his or her links or bibliography that
we got to what was ultimately more interesting and worth our while.
Go to: The tedium of real time.