AUDIENCE

In your experience, what is the responsibility of an audience member?

Because I see conferences in part as places to get feedback on work-in-progress, I think audience members have a responsibility to listen, be curious, and be engaged. I always appreciate questions that help me slightly shift my focus and see my work in a new light. It takes a lot of work to put together a conference presentation and it feels good to have people listen and care about what you’re saying. (Dr. Janine Morris, Writing)

In my opinion the responsibility of the audience member is to be attentive and willing to engage the presenter with relevant questions and constructive feedback.  As a presenter one of my expectations at a conference is to learn from audience members about areas of my project that might require further research or clarification or about new lines of inquiry that might strengthen my research.  (Dr. David Kilroy, History)

To actually listen and engage with what is being presented.  Otherwise, don’t attend. (Dr. Ben Mulvey, Philosophy)

The audience normally has some interest (or expertise) in the topic at hand. As such, a good audience tries to constructively challenge the assumptions, theories, or methodologies in an effort to help  improve the research. (Dr. Ransford Edwards, Political Science)

To pay attention and ask provoking questions that relates to the material being presented. (Prof. Kandy Lopez, Art + Design)

To pay attention and be authentic listeners. That means listening to the presentations and pushing back your initial thoughts about the research so that you can try and approach the topic in a way that is open-minded and engages the researcher on their research and nothing else. Audience members should also be aware that they are part of the presentation to an extent and behave in ways that they would like others to during their own presentations (Golden Rule). (Dr. G. Nelson Bass III, Political Science)

Audience members should clearly listen to the speaker(s), but also take notes, and be ready to ask questions and/or share thoughts with the speaker. An audience member should be respectful and should not be aggressive or dismissive of a presenter.  (Dr. Yvette Fuentes, Modern Languages)

To listen respectfully and if asking a question, to keep it relevant to the panel/paper topic at hand, rather than bringing in purely personal interests/expertise that may not be a productive discussion point (Dr. Marlisa Santos, Literature & Film)

Audience members listen to the presentation quietly without interruption. At the end of the presentation audience members may ask questions to present ideas to the speaker. Interruptions, even questions about the content during the talk, are very rare and would be seen as disruptive. (Dr. J. Matt Hoch, Life Sciences)

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In addition to listening attentively and respectfully to the presentation, if posing a question to a panelist, keep it relevant to their work. A question or comment should engage with the panelist on their own terms, not pose a tangential point based on the audience member’s irrelevant personal interests or unrelated pet projects – there’s an entire genre of academic jokes poking fun at such self-absorbed conference questions. The Q&A session ordinarily at the end of each panel is meant to further a generative discussion about the panel’s overarching topic. (Dr. Yair Solan, Literature & Film)

1) To be an attentive listener. The last thing any presenter needs is the audience dozing off or scrolling through their phones.2) Try and engage with the speech by asking constructive questions where appropriate. Opening things up for debate is fine, and welcome, so challenging the speaker may be a part of this. However, audience members should be respectful, and mindful not to overly lace into the speaker even if you highly disagree with their point of view. (I can't say I have always adhered to this, but I am realizing that I ought to). (Dr. Jeremy Weissman, Philosophy)

Audience members should be respectful, but ultimately they should be there because they want to learn or want to support a presenter. If I tweet or otherwise share information from the panel I make sure to credit the speaker, indicate the session and conference, and be careful to accurately describe their research, not take anything out of context. If I’m going to ask a question, I think about what questions would benefit not just me but other audience members. (Dr. Katy Doll, History)

An audience member listens to the presentations and offers feedback to the presenters after they have presented their work in the question and answer time typically allocated at the end of presentation panel sessions. It's generally frowned upon to be looking at or using your phone during the presentations. (Dr. Amanda Furiasse, Religious Studies)

Be engaged and ask questions. (Dr. Teng Li, History & Legal Studies)