Seminars. A Culture of the Absurd – Episode 14

Events, seminars, workshops etc. are kind of like high school all over again. If you look carefully, there are a whole cast of characters in attendance that will eerily remind you of your fellow classmates from days of old.  

For anyone who’s ever attended a workshop and wanted to snap your own neck just to make it stop, this one’s for you… 

The Naysayer

No matter what the speaker does or says, this person will do and say the opposite.

The Butt Kisser

These are the attendees that speakers love because they’ll always have the host’s back answering and participating at every turn.  For some strange reason, they seek the host’s approval.  They probably didn’t get enough love from their parents as children.

The Freegan

It doesn’t matter what the topic is or what takeaways are given out, the Freegan will always attend and always snatch up the free stuff.  They will get those takeaways into the tote faster than you can say occupy.

The Lost Soul

I’m not quite sure how this person made it to the event in the first place.  You can recognize them by the befuddled look on their face.  They also tend to shuffle their papers around a lot in a feeble attempt to somehow absorb knowledge via osmosis.  Finally, they often look to their fellow attendees for some kind of support. 

The Sleeper

You may actually think this person is in some sort of special event induced coma or they may have in fact died.  However, as soon as it’s over, I mean the second it’s over, they pop up, gather up all their things and bolt at a pace you didn’t think was possible.

The Frump

This person drops things, coughs a lot, clanks any dishes and is generally a hot mess.  Interestingly, this person is also The Naysayer.

The Fidgeter

I think this one is self explanatory.  Because they expend so much energy staying focused, they eventually become exhausted and turn into The Sleeper.

The Know it All

It wouldn’t matter if this person was attending a theoretical physics seminar on string theory by accident; they’re going to know more than the speaker.  Know it Alls are slightly different than the Butt Kissers because they adore themselves and probably got too much attention from their parents as children.

The Rebel

Rebels wreak havoc for speakers because they tend to walk out in the middle of the event, crack jokes and are generally disruptive.  They’ll also tell fellow attendees lots of stories about how they told their bosses and/or co-workers to shove it.

Despite the absurdity of the attendees, you can pick up a lot of good information at these types of things.  AllpakTrojan regularly attends workshops, tradeshows and/or participates in webinars to stay on top of trends, learn cutting edge techniques and share knowledge.