WI-FI DISTRACTIONS
The PopTech Wi-Fi is mighty convenient. So convenient that people read and write email and surf the web throughout the conference speeches. It's a high-I.Q. audience, and I'm sure these folks convince themselves that they're multitasking and believe they could tell you exactly what's being said. I don't believe them.
As a friend of Steve's once said, always-on Internet at work is like having a TV in your office. This conference setup is actually much worse. You can tune out a TV in the background. It's much harder to read, and harder still to write, while listening, especially to a speaker far away on a stage. (I keep my computer off during the talks.)