After Talk Etiquette

Whenever you give an invited/job talk with a laptop/projector, it's very common that right after you finish your talk, a few people will come and ask you questions more privately. You should never, ever, turn off your laptop at that point, start disconnecting cables, carefully wrapping cords and cables, or packing your laptop away. This gives off a terrible impression that you don't care for the people or place you just gave the talk, and you just can't wait to get out of there.

Remember that when you give a job/invited talk somewhere, people don't have to come hear you. They're taking their time to listen to you, so you'd better give them your undivided attention till the very end.

And don't forget to thank the audience (however large or small) for coming, at the beginning and end of your talk. It's also a good idea to thank your host/sponsor.

The above doesn't apply to conference/workshop talks when your time is limited: in that case it'd be unethical to cut into the next speaker's time slot (or worse, a coffee break :-)

(Last updated: 11/22/2005)