Except under extraordinary circumstances, there is no reason to either answer a cell phone during a meeting or, worse, take the call and have a conversation while the meeting is still going on. So says Chuck Martin, writing in the Portsmouth Herald.
A while ago I set up a Google Alert for new stories on the topics of Cell Phone Interruptions, and Cell Phone Etiquette. There are two or three stories per day like the one I quoted above.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
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You'd think this would fall under the "no duh" category of obviousness. But there's a persistent mindset out there that your phone is vital, and must be answered right at that moment (for reasons of exaggerated self-importance, if nothing else). When that's typically just not true, and why voicemail exists.