Issues with watching presentations....

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I'm an academic scientist. Work at a nice sized university in a well known department. As such, I have to attend a lot of meetings, workshops, and seminars. This is somewhat of a struggle for me, because about half the seminars I have to attend are on topics that bore me to tears and I find myself spacing frequently. I also have to constantly shift position in my seat, and (from my perspective at least) the motions I use to do so are very exagerrated and occur at a much more frequent rate than anyone else around me. I'm fairly certain the frequent movements are disturbing to my co workers.

Anyone got any good techniques for calming this kind of restlessness? And is this a problem anyone else has during meetings, classes, etc?

double post sorry

o i hear you... i am not a professor so i can sit in the back where is less pressure. can you try to shift more to back seats? for example you can be late on purpose so than you end up taking a seat in the back not to disturb the presentation.

also i would space out or think about my favorite ideas when i am bored by the talk. that is okay. also i am chewing a gum. if you are doing it discretely enough it can be a nice release mechanism.

I'm not a professor, either, but I know exactly what you mean. I got into trouble my first semester of grad school for fidgeting (swivelling my chair back and forth) during seminar classes. I learned to sit forward so I couldn't make the chair rock or swivel as often, and to use pens that don't have a button at the top (for clicking, which I was doing automatically, too.)

I also have a tendency to space out -- not only during boring presentations, but during interesting ones, as well. Sometimes, something the speaker says will catch my attention and I'll start thinking about that and before I know it, I've lost the thread of the discussion. Other times I'll just space out and back in again and have missed the last several seconds or minutes. I haven't figured out how to fix the spacing issue, yet.

If it's a darken room a MP3 palyer and headphones works wonders.

A PDA with decent typing ability (I use an iTouch) is good in lighted situations.

When the discussion is beyond any hope of keeping my attention, I'll take out the iTouch and start writing, sometiomnes in a journal, sometimes poetry, somestimes short stories. And it looks like I'm taking notes and it distracts me enough to stop my constant leg shaking.

Oh my, oh my. Though at the average Dept meeting I was always theoretically able to talk and vote [though generally outvoted] whereas now the meetings I am stuck with deny me even that.

Been there, dear colleague. Linguistics by me, but I doubt the department or the university makes any never mind. Academia is full of boring ignorant idiots. In which category I was set often myself, so I guess I am entitled.

From early childhood I cultivated impassivity - minimum motion, expressionless, repressing alk visible interest or disgust.

That it is the home department. At conferences I could and would raise my eybrows, frown, shake my head, visibly tune out, or write sarcastic comments to the friend sittinbg beside me.

But at home, where they are watching you - practice blankface in front of the mirror.

I do not recommend the MP3 player approach or reading a book. But it IS good to have a notepad in which you can be seen scribbling what COULD be notes on the presentation. And if it is really a poem about the experience or your shopping list or nasty remareks about stupidity, who is to know?

I went so far - I AM languages - as to invent a sewparate language with its own writing system which I used both for such snide comments and for genuine [rare] notes.