Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Cell Phones (Again)

You've been there. I was there today.

A seminar, 40 people, 3 hours with a mid-seminar break for sure.

Four cell phones go off during the first 60 minutes.

And no, the leader had not specifically asked that cell phones and pagers be turned off, but really, you are not that important to anyone in the room, only to yourself; get used to it.

I spoke two months ago with a trainer who stipulated in his $2,500 per day contract that the first cell phone or pager would see him heading out the door AND they had to pay his fee.

And around 10 o'clock, a cell phone went off.

He says he said "Thanks!", and came home on an earlier flight than planned. And that they paid his invoice.

Tonight I found myself thinking that peer pressure might work.

The presenter might get the entire crowd to buy in to the deal that "When a cell phone goes off, one of us will leave. Either the cell-phone recipient, or me".

That should work.

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