I tap away, sometimes loose track, sometimes do something completely different on my laptop because (a) the current talk (or this bit of the talk) is not of interest (b) some thing urgent at work has come up which needs fixing (this has happened (c) no excuse, just got distracted by a link/email.

I sit as my desk a lot watching others tweet at event and find it very useful.

Chris

Up until a few months ago I wasn’t convinced about tweeting at events if you were reading the tweets as an outsider to the event – it was difficult to follow, especially if a few people were tweeting and responding to comments other Twitter users had posted. However, with the use of services like Twapperkeeper, it’s a good way of seeing what went on – I’ve downloaded Twapperkeeper files for events before and filtered out the tweets that I don’t find relevant.

From the point of view of taking notes, I find tweeting very useful. I find that I can get down the key points more easily/quickly than if I was writing them by hand and I don’t have to retype them when I get back to the office. I miss less of the talk as well, because I’m quicker at typing than writing with a pen.

I imagine it might be a bit annoying for some people to hear the clickety click of my mobile device as I tweet, but I think if I’m expected to take notes less productively via paper and pen at events primarily dealing with technology, then that seems a bit mad.

I appreciate the point that some may find typing noisy; guess that’s something that does have to be considered!

My personal view is that I generally use my laptop for notetaking – which can end up in some tweeting; but mayn’t.
However, if I’m the only person doing it & espeically if it’s not an area when I feel that there are many geeks in the audience – and if the speaker looks uncomfy, then I minimise it as much as I can.