What rules of etiquette should be followed at software conferences?

Question

Whether as an attendee, a speaker, or a vendor I wanted to know what the unspoken rules of etiquette are at software conferences. Other than the blindingly obvious ones (like don't assault the winner of the iPad raffle because you didn't win).

What are some of the rules that should be followed, even if you feel they don't need to be said?

Please, one rule per answer, with the summary in bold leading the answer. Post multiple answers if you have multiple rules.

Answer 1

Treat Q&A sessions like you'd treat StackOverflow:

Ask per don't be the guy who asks all the same questions over and over again and make sure your questions are:

1. short,
2. to the point,
3. can be answered,
4. wouldn't obviously violate the dude's NDA and
5. actually matter to 85% of the other attendees.
6. Aren't some sort of subterfuge to insult or embarrass the presenter.

Answer 2

• If you're in doubt about the t-shirts, just wear something neutral - go get some solid-colour, logoless (or logos unrelated to the nature of the conference) shirts that won't offend anyone.
• if it's a MS-sponsored conference and they allowed a Wii booth, then there's nothing wrong with playing it. If you're the vendor who provided it, I'd still not worry too much. I very much doubt the XBox team will send thugs to trash it. ;)
• Not sure about cancelling if only one person shows up, but even if there's one person, you can talk to them one-on-one (rather than go through the whole power-point schtick) instead of just telling them to go home.
• Shower (always!) - why was this even in question? Would you want to sit next to someone else who hasn't showered in a few days? And on a similar note: Brush your teeth (no, mouthwash alone is probably not good enough)! Do you want to listen to a sales pitch from someone with really rank and nasty breath? Do you think people will buy from you if you are making a pitch with nasty breath?
• talking during while someone else is speaking is rude. Anything more than a handful of words exchanged, then leave and go talk in the hall. Eating isn't as bad as long as you're quiet and neat.

Answer 3

Codemash has an anti-harassment policy, which should be followed whether there's a policy or not. This is about fanboy-ism and taking that to the level of bullying.

The following is from http://www.codemash.org/About:

Anti-Harassment policy

CodeMash is dedicated to providing an outstanding conference experience for all our attendees, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, financial status, hair color (or hair amount), platform preference, or text editor of choice.

We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form, and we would like to take this opportunity to remind all attendees of the basic premise CodeMash was founded on: passionate, but respectful dialog between our attendees. Please treat your fellow attendees with respect, regardless of the context you’re interacting with each other.

Harassment is not appropriate for any conference venue. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference, without a refund, at the discretion of the conference organizers.

Answer 4

Ask Questions about the Content, not the Company

Just because the presenter is from Microsoft does not mean its ok to take the opportunity to ask pointed and leading questions about what really happened to Netscape, and why "M$" hates puppies.

Answer 5

There's always Wheaton's Law that applies to all conferences and social interactions: "Don't be a dick". :)

Answer 6

Remember, you are acting as a representative of your employer whether you like it or not. Think about this long and hard before you have another drink and/or make a pass at inappropriate female reference here.

You should try to have a good time, but always be polite, aware of your surroundings, and above all else respectful.

Here is a list of the types of trouble you can get into:

• Personally looking like an ass in front of a client. (Or scaring away existing clients.)
• Accidentally leaking information and/or juicy quotes to members of the press. Bashing on your competitor's product can and will get quoted.

The list goes on, but you get the point. You won't be able to know the extent of your influence or who is listening to that private conversation.

Answer 7

If your talk IS NOT explicitly advertised as a product demo or marketing pitch, don't do a product demo or marketing pitch.

I've often seen this happening, especially in academic conferences, where talks are advertised as being a concept, an idea, a technology, etc., and it turns into a demo or product pitch.

Obviously, we all work somewhere, so it's legitimate to say "we at company XYZ do this". It's ok to mention some features. But focus on the topic that you promised.

I recall a keynote at a major academic software engineering conference which was supposed to be about collaborative work. Instead of presenting a talk with interesting slides and novel ideas, the presenter spent 90% of the talk showing a product demo of the next release of a major IDE. I have never seen people getting up and walking out in disgust.

Answer 8

To me, the main thing is to be respectful to everyone - for we are all students of each other. Respect means being polite, never-interrupting, smiling, complimenting good ideas, etc

Answer 9

No groveling during Q&A

Let's say you've just listened to an amazing talk by your idol (Gosling, Knuth, Spolsky, et al.) and they've opened up the floor for questions. It's your turn at the mic. Please do not waste time announcing that you are their greatest fan, you own all of their books, you read their blog every day, and could you get into a picture with them.

Hate that.

Ask your question, listen to the answer, and get out of the way for the next person.

Answer 10

Wireless device limitations Do you really need 5 devices taking up an address at the same time? Laptop - OK. A cell phone? Get a data plan you cheap-skate.

Answer 11

Do not do your work at the conference. Included are talking with colleague (oral or via cellphone), fire up IDE on your laptop and working on it, etc. If you don't have time to go to the conference then don't

Answer 12

Make sure your laptop isn't spewing malware all over the wi-fi

This happened at one conference I attended about eight years ago. Someone had a virus on their laptop and it systematically started spreading itself to everyone else in the room. And then the newly-infected PCs started looking for new hosts, too. Brought down the network in short order.

Answer 13

Don't pitch me on your social app idea. I don't really want to be pitched at all, but if you're going to do it...