0:00:00Hello and welcome to Developing Perspective. Developing Perspective is a podcast discussing
0:00:04news of node in iOS development, Apple and the like. I'm your host, David Smith. I'm
0:00:08an independent iOS developer based in Herndon, Virginia. This is show number 53 and today
0:00:12is Friday, June 9th. Developing Perspective is never longer than 15 minutes, so let's
0:00:17get started.
0:00:18All right, so for today's show, I've been wanting to do it for a while, but I was a
0:00:22little bit intimidated to do. And I was going to write a blog post for a while, then I decided
0:00:26not to do that. And basically, the topic that I'm going to discuss, kind of as a pastor
0:00:31of mine used to put it, is this goes from preaching to meddling. And so rather than
0:00:35just giving, you know, general positive advice, I want to talk about the things at WWDC that
0:00:40kind of really annoy me, and it's the way that some people act and their just general
0:00:45lack of self-awareness or concern for those around them. And so it's kind of, the working
0:00:50title originally was "Don't be a Jerk at WWDC." That's, of course, that's sort of
0:00:56self-referential in the sense that I'm being a bit of a jerk in doing that, so I
0:00:58think I'll go over the title of "How to be Polite or Please be Polite at WWDC."
0:01:04There's a couple of these little pet peeves that I've been going to WWDC for
0:01:08about three years now, and every time you'd kind of think, "Oh, you know, we're a
0:01:13bunch of mature adults, you know, who have paid a lot of money and are here in a
0:01:18professional environment will probably be well behaved.
0:01:21But every year, I'm proven wrong by that.
0:01:23And so I just wanted to talk through some of these and just
0:01:27put it out there.
0:01:28That hopefully it'll maybe create a discussion or just
0:01:31give people pause to think about the way they act when
0:01:34they're at WWDC.
0:01:36And I know a lot of you won't be at WWDC this year, but
0:01:38hopefully it's still useful for the years following or
0:01:43just in general.
0:01:44So the first thing is there's this fundamental lack of sort of respect I've seen a lot for
0:01:51that the Apple employees, especially the Apple engineers, are going through a tremendous
0:01:54amount of effort to put on the event.
0:01:57I see a lot of people who kind of end up in this feeling of like, "Well, I paid $1,700
0:02:01to be here, so they all work for me."
0:02:04It's like, "Well, sort of.
0:02:07That's vaguely true.
0:02:08You did pay $1,700 or whatever, plus all the travel to be here."
0:02:12But really, that's not the way it works.
0:02:17Most of the people running at WWDC are engineers, just like you.
0:02:20They're software engineers who are taking, as part of their job, are being told to put
0:02:25on this event to make our lives better, to show us all the cool stuff and teach us how
0:02:29to use it best.
0:02:30And so as a result of that, I really think it's important to be really respectful of
0:02:35them, to really go out of our way to be appreciative, to be thankful, to be kind to these people
0:02:41to the effort they're putting in.
0:02:44And I think that it just works well as a two-way street.
0:02:48So first thing, this is more of a personal thing,
0:02:52but I try very hard to say thank you to everybody I can
0:02:55with an Apple shirt on.
0:02:56Just be as grateful as you can.
0:02:58There's gonna be just people doing all kinds
0:03:00of fairly menial jobs.
0:03:02And it's like, what does it hurt to say,
0:03:03hey, thanks, I appreciate it.
0:03:04I really appreciate you helping monitor this line.
0:03:07I really help you.
0:03:09Thanks for doing this, thanks for doing that.
0:03:11just be appreciative and I feel like it just raises the tone of the event in a way that
0:03:15is just really nice. But the area that I see this most and that just annoys me the most
0:03:20every single year is around presentations. So at WWDC, you're going to spend a lot of
0:03:26time in presentations and the presentations are almost uniformly, except for the keynote,
0:03:31are put on by Apple engineers at various levels within Apple engineering. And, you know, the
0:03:37best I understand it, a tremendous amount of effort goes into the preparation for this.
0:03:41I mean, this is months and months of hard work by these engineers to make a really polished,
0:03:47sharp presentation. And that shows. I think it has probably the highest level of polish
0:03:52of any presentations I've seen across the board at conferences. They're all really consistent.
0:03:58They're all very polished and sort of to the point. You very rarely have weird demo problems
0:04:04and things. They go out of their way so that you're not sitting there like watching people
0:04:07you know, type in code and things, it's all really sharp and put together.
0:04:11And so there's a couple of things that I see every year that drive me crazy
0:04:15when people are going to these presentations.
0:04:17And so the first one is people who arrive at the presentation
0:04:23kind of expecting to just work or do their email or whatever while they're there.
0:04:28And that's fine. I mean, I totally understand that some people are just kind of there to absorb it.
0:04:33But if you're one of those people, please don't sit in the front row.
0:04:36please don't sit in the first, like, third of the auditorium.
0:04:38Why don't you just go sit in the back?
0:04:40You'll hear it fine.
0:04:41You're obviously not looking at it.
0:04:42You know, there's a big screen if you need to.
0:04:44Please go sit in the back.
0:04:45Like, you're being disrespectful to the person who's presenting,
0:04:48because if they look out into the auditorium,
0:04:51and it's just like, you're just sitting there hacking away,
0:04:54you're clearly not paying attention,
0:04:55that doesn't feel good.
0:04:57Go sit in the back.
0:04:58And also, you're distracting all the people around you.
0:05:00And it's often-- maybe the simplest way to think about it
0:05:03is if you're sitting in the back row and you're typing away,
0:05:06maybe you're annoying the people to either side of you,
0:05:10maybe the person just right in front of you.
0:05:12But if you do it in the front, everybody behind you can see you.
0:05:14Your screen's glowing nice and bright, attracting attention,
0:05:17and just kind of annoying people.
0:05:19So if you're going to do that, please sit in the back.
0:05:21That's just common courtesy.
0:05:23And similarly, if you're going to take notes, which is great,
0:05:26don't do it on your iPad with the keyboard clicks turned on.
0:05:31if you can't, you know, it's like, try and be as quiet as you can in that process.
0:05:35You have no idea how annoying that little keyboard click, you know,
0:05:38sound that you get from the iPad can be.
0:05:43If you're going to do it on a keyboard, that's fine. You know, obviously there's a certain amount of
0:05:46noise involved in typing on a
0:05:48MacBook Air or something, just sort of be quiet about it, and just be
0:05:51considerate of those around you.
0:05:53Treat others as you'd have them treat you, the golden rule. Make sure your phone's on
0:05:57silent
0:05:57as generally pretty good, but
0:06:01Often I hear the other things beyond that are like IRC noises or the number of times I've heard like the Twitterrific or tweetbot refresh sound.
0:06:11Just kind of, you know, just be considerate and be mindful of those things.
0:06:15And then the last thing, and this is the most important thing as far as I'm concerned for being respectful to the presenters,
0:06:22is when the presenter hits the point that's kind of the conclusion,
0:06:27the number of people I've seen who immediately, noisily, start packing up their bag, get up and leave.
0:06:33So the person hasn't actually finished, they're just sort of in conclusion,
0:06:36they've got another maybe 30 seconds, 45 seconds of presentation,
0:06:40and people are just sort of like, "Oh, I'm done, let's get out of here."
0:06:44I mean, that's about as rude as you can be.
0:06:46I mean, you've listened through whatever, the 45 minutes, 50 minutes of good, solid information,
0:06:51and you don't let the guy finish.
0:06:53You don't get as many as 30 seconds of conclusion,
0:06:56and now here's the final thing, and sort of sends you off.
0:07:00And I mean, that's just rude.
0:07:01And it just kind of drives me crazy.
0:07:03And I've seen so many presenters just kind of--
0:07:05either they never finish.
0:07:07I've seen in some cases, they just kind of like, oh, I guess
0:07:12I'm done.
0:07:13Thanks.
0:07:14Which is not cool.
0:07:16Or on the flip side, it's just the people who--
0:07:20you could tell they really were glad.
0:07:22you can get really getting into it they're really enjoying the presentation
0:07:24that might get to kick out the park
0:07:26scone great and then they can get the industry dejected it's like wait
0:07:30that anybody care
0:07:31was leaving
0:07:33so don't do that
0:07:34gave me a way for the thirty seconds
0:07:36italy says you know
0:07:38thanks and
0:07:39whatever you know he won't when he gives it gives you know gives you a floor
0:07:43uh... to leave
0:07:44you're gonna be waiting in line for the next session no matter what you know
0:07:47getting out that thirty seconds earlier
0:07:49is a_t_s_ still been selfish maybe if you're like over on the new
0:07:52jump the line. It's like, well, it's being a little selfish. And then two, I don't know,
0:07:56it really doesn't matter. Very rarely do rooms overfill. And if they do, it happens. You'll
0:08:02catch it on the video, you'll catch it on a repeat. Apple's really good if a room overflows
0:08:07to then make sure that that presentation is given again later in the week. If it wasn't
0:08:11originally scheduled, often it'll be shown on the Friday, especially on the Friday afternoon.
0:08:16So the information isn't going anywhere. So just be respectful of your presenters. They
0:08:20They really are putting a lot of work into this and I think they deserve that, you know,
0:08:24that that's the least that they could deserve.
0:08:26Then a couple of other things, these are more just sort of general rather than being focused
0:08:31on the presentations themselves, is trash.
0:08:33Please throw your trash away.
0:08:34Come on, you're, you know, we're all adults here.
0:08:37There's trash cans everywhere, but the number of times you'll see people just leaving trash
0:08:41everywhere, it's just kind of, you know, it's just sad.
0:08:45It just makes me kind of sad when I see that.
0:08:49Line etiquette.
0:08:50a huge amount of time waiting in line at WWDC. That's the way it is. From the keynote on
0:08:56Monday morning all the way through, you'll spend a lot of time waiting in line or waiting
0:08:59online if you're from New York, or queuing if you're from Europe. And so basically, it's
0:09:06a kind of important thing that we actually queue and wait in line, wait online in an
0:09:12appropriate way. And so there's a couple of things. These are kind of the way I do it
0:09:16and the way I view waiting in line.
0:09:18But you-- first, it's like, if you're
0:09:20holding a spot for somebody, be reasonable on the ratio
0:09:24of people for whom you are holding that spot,
0:09:27so that there is nothing worse than you're
0:09:31all waiting in this huge long line.
0:09:32And then one guy in front was holding space
0:09:35for these 10 guys.
0:09:37It's like, that's not fair.
0:09:38That doesn't seem fair.
0:09:39I mean, my own kind of personal rule
0:09:41is typically kind of like a one to one, maybe a two to one
0:09:45in terms of like, kind of like the buddy system, like often when I'm, like in the keynote,
0:09:49I'll often kind of have a buddy or someone who, you know, is like, worked, kind of taking turns,
0:09:53I'll go to the bathroom, he's waiting for me, you know, we're kind of, we're offsetting each other,
0:09:56and that seems pretty rare, you know, fair and reasonable. You know, showing up with 10 of your
0:10:01friends, not really cool. And you know, I think also being, you know, respectful of the people
0:10:05around you, and this kind of gets into the set, the next topic I wanted to talk about is just kind
0:10:09of your general interaction, is being respectful of other people's time and being just sort of
0:10:14mindful of it. Sometimes, you know, being aware that sometimes people are going to want
0:10:18to chat, and if they are, that's great. I've met a lot of interesting people waiting in
0:10:21line or talking in general at WWDC. That's part of the fun. That's part of the joy. But
0:10:27if you're getting to, if someone's sort of sending you the signals of, "Hey, you know,
0:10:30actually I really don't want to talk," like you say, "Hi," and they say, "Hi," and then
0:10:35pick up their phone and start working on it, it's like they're saying, "Hey, I'm, you know,
0:10:39I'm burned out from last night's party.
0:10:41I'm whatever.
0:10:42And so I'd rather just chill.
0:10:44And so just be respectful of that.
0:10:47Similarly, be very careful about selling your products
0:10:51in conversation.
0:10:52And this is something that doesn't happen all the time,
0:10:54but it happens enough that it kind of--
0:10:56but it's always kind of annoying when I introduce myself
0:10:57to someone and it's like, hi, I'm Dave.
0:11:00And he's like, oh, hey, I'm Bill.
0:11:02I make this app.
0:11:02You want to check it out?
0:11:04It's like, maybe.
0:11:06Maybe I would actually want to check out your app.
0:11:08maybe I want to pay you, pay to buy that app.
0:11:11But diving straight into a sales pitch,
0:11:14I'm not walking up to you at a booth at a trade show.
0:11:17I'm just trying to chat.
0:11:19So if at some point, almost certainly, I'll be like,
0:11:22hey, what do you do?
0:11:23That's an opportunity for you to say, hey, this is the app.
0:11:26I say, you want to check it out?
0:11:27Oh, sure.
0:11:28But it's part of the conversation.
0:11:30I don't want to feel like I'm being sold to just
0:11:32by saying hi to somebody.
0:11:33Similarly to that, it's kind of a--
0:11:36At WWGC you'll run into all these fake famous people or famous internet famous people or
0:11:42whatever and these are people whose podcasts or blogs you'll read or even Apple people
0:11:47who are legends in the field or whatever and it's just kind of a funny thing but especially
0:11:54with them be very respectful of their time and attention and I think you'll have a much
0:11:58better interaction with them.
0:12:00my personal way, it's like if I run into somebody who's belong I read or whatever, it's like,
0:12:07"Hey, I bumped into John Gruber, right?" Someone I actually never met, but it'd be interesting
0:12:12to meet him and it's like, "Hey John, love your work, really appreciate the efforts you
0:12:16put into your writing. Thank you." That's kind of my intro. And if he says, "Great,
0:12:22thanks," that's it. That's the end of the conversation, shake his hand, off I go. If
0:12:27he's like, "Oh great, yeah, hey, what do you do?" It's like he's in a mood to talk, then
0:12:30great, but don't assume that you kind of have a right to their attention.
0:12:35Just because you give them all this time to read their blog, don't feel like you have
0:12:39an unlimited right to their attention.
0:12:42They may be really burned out from the conference and talking.
0:12:46They just need some time.
0:12:47It's like the last thing they need necessarily is kind of being badgered, and especially
0:12:50to don't sell to people like that.
0:12:52That's like the worst thing.
0:12:53It's like, "Hey, Mr. Gruber.
0:12:55Hey, check out my app.
0:12:57It would be great if you featured it on Daring Fireball."
0:12:59"Dude, chill. You'll be alright."
0:13:02So that's kind of all the negative things.
0:13:05A few positive things to hopefully wrap it up on a high note.
0:13:08So first, don't overdo it. WWDC is incredibly fun.
0:13:11I mean, this will be my fourth, I believe.
0:13:15And it's one of the best times of the year you'll have.
0:13:18Spend a lot of time meeting really interesting people.
0:13:20You'll learn a ton. You're kind of drinking from a fire hose and it's awesome.
0:13:23If this is what you enjoy, you're a kid in a candy store.
0:13:28or if you love Apple technology, if you love programming, it's awesome.
0:13:32But be careful.
0:13:33Don't overdo it, especially early on, like Monday night, Tuesday--
0:13:37especially Monday night parties, Tuesday night parties,
0:13:39Sunday night parties.
0:13:40Be careful.
0:13:41Don't go nuts and ruin the rest of your week by overdoing it early on.
0:13:46Stay hydrated.
0:13:47Drink a lot of water.
0:13:49It's like, keep your energy up.
0:13:50And just be kind, be respectful, and be polite,
0:13:54and we will all have an awesome time.
0:13:57Alright, that's it for today's show. I'll be at WWDC next week, so look out for me.
0:14:01If you follow me on Twitter, it's probably the easiest way. If you ever want to meet
0:14:04up, just @ReplyMe and see if we can work something up. I'd love to meet some of the
0:14:08people who listen to this show, make it a bit more of a dialogue rather than the monologue
0:14:12it usually is. Otherwise, I hope you guys have a good weekend. Safe travels if you're
0:14:17going to Dub-Dub. Otherwise, I look forward to talking to you guys next week. Like I said,
0:14:22I'm going to be doing a bunch of shows.
0:14:24I'm hoping to do probably maybe even five or six shows next week,
0:14:28kind of talking about the various parts,
0:14:30kind of dissecting the keynote and things like that.
0:14:32I got my new mobile microphone set up, which I'm really excited about.
0:14:35And as always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, complaints,
0:14:38I'm on Twitter, underscore David Smith.
0:14:40The feed for this podcast is devperspective on Twitter.
0:14:44And otherwise, happy coding.
0:14:45And I hope to see you next week.
0:14:47Bye.