Etiquette and the Perfect Lunch Spot

There is a great bookstore off of Dupont Circle in DC called Kramerbooks & Afterwords. They have a special brunch on the weekends and a knowledgeable staff in their bookstore. When Monica Lewinsky's receipt from the store came to light during the most heated portion of the Clinton-intern scandal, Kramerbooks refused to share the details of her purchase.  They are that solid in their commitment to their patrons.

I may be slightly exaggerating when I say Kramerbooks stands for the last bastion of respect for the intelligentsia in DC. But, I am in no way overstating it when I say, Kramerbooks has a great lunch menu and drink specials.

Because they do.

In fact, if their lunch menu was less inviting, I may not have ventured there  today for my business meeting with a couple of colleagues. If their atmosphere were less inviting, I may not have entered into a fascinating dialogue with a few patrons about social media and etiquette.

Our conversation centered around the pervasive use of smart phones and the way people use them in social settings. Each person shared their own experiences with people answering phones or texting away during otherwise intimate moments with friends.

And the conversation got me to thinking...:

• I hadn't taken my smart phone out during our conversation
• Would it one day be acceptable to interrupt the current conversation for phone or text (except in emergency?)
• Was it already acceptable and I didn't know it?
• What does this mean for meeting attendees?
• We really need an etiquette guide/baseline for meeting attendees and speakers
• Oh yeah, I've been working on this very issue with a few association people...better get back to it!

A few weeks ago on the weekly #assnchat Twitter conversation (facilitated by Jeff De Cagna), a group of us discussed putting one of these etiquette guides together. The idea was to create something as a guideline for attendees and speakers to reference for social media use during a meeting.

My conversation with the patrons at Kramerbooks today reminded me that people were still looking for guidance with this kind of behaviour...and that we need to start working on this project again as a community.

Issues we will address:

• acknowledging the meeting's social media policy
• acknowledging the speaker's social media policy
• public disclosure about using SM during a session
• your rights, rules, and risks when using SM during a meeting
• what to include in a meeting program about social media

If anyone is interested in working with a group of us on an association social media etiquette guide for meetings, please email me at klitalien@delcor.com.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Kramerbooks' drink specials, check out their online menu. :)