Social Etiquette Rules For Seminars

I'm planning to attend a seminar sponsored by the Rochester Professional Consultants Network tomorrow and whenever I go to a meeting I wonder about social etiquette. I've been to many social media seminars in which attendees are Facebook-ing and Tweeting away and it got me to wondering... are we paying attention to the speakers or are we too busy and too connected to our smart phones and other devices to truly pay attention?  

In-session tweeting gets me to wondering... are we too socially connected? If I am in front of a group going through my well-prepared speech do I want your undivided attention? Yes, I do. Will I get it? Probably not. In some cases, attendees are urged to tweet-out info while they're in-session. We are supplied with the hashtags to use. Does that mean then, that we are obligated to tweet? Are we in violation of some social media ordinance if we don't tweet? Are we truly paying attention to the speaker if we're frantically tapping away on our smartphones? Great questions. Anyone have the answers? 

When I'm standing in front of the room, while I may not have your rapt attention, I would certainly like to think some of my ultra-fascinating information is making an impact. (lol... kind of) If you're spending the time on your smartphone are you really tweeting or are you checking your email, texting your friends, family and business colleagues or simply surfing the internet? Is what I am talking about valuable? Boring? So fascinating that you can't wait to share the info with everyone you know? How is a speaker to know? 

Do I have any answers? Nope? Just wondering how you, as a speaker feel?