Too many topics, too little time

Similarity. At the back of the conference are some round tables at which people are sitting, laptops sprawling. They're doing what the rest of us are doing: listening but also IM'ing, checking email from time to time, looking up links. Somehow it reminds me being at a drive-in: there's a movie playing at the front, but attending to it is a social event…. [Joho the Blog]

I'm usually one of these people, in the back either with a video camera(it's faster than notes) or my computer, but i'm usually alone or with one or two other people. I think this is because most academic conferences have different expectations than the current set of software conferences that are occuring.