Attendees orchestrated something of an uprising - certainly it was an upstaging - during a session at the March 2008 South by Southwest (SWSX) Interactive Conference and Festival. When I first heard the news, I can't say that I was surprised. What surprised me was that it doesn't happen more frequently.

According to various reports (see links below), during a general session in which BusinessWeek columnist and author Sarah Lacy interviewed Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, attendees grew restless with the conversation and the questions being asked. They used cellphones to IM (instant message) and Twitter comments to each other. Perhaps feeding off communications with like-minded attendees, the virtual conversation became the real conversation. Some participants began shouting out comments and questions at the stage. At this point, Lacy decided to turn the session over for Q&A, and attendees asked some very thoughtful and pointed questions.

Here are two observations that the Lacy/Zuckerberg session reinforces.
The more passive the participants, the more quickly their patience evaporates.

This session ran 60 minutes. For any audience, particularly the savvy and engaged SWSX attendees, this is an interminably long time to sit and watch two people engaged in a conversation. Participants expect shifts in focus and format. I doubt they would have grown so restless if the floor had been opened for questions much earlier on.

With the social media generation becoming a larger part of our community, we have to acknowledge that they are not accustomed to merely "watching."

All of the online social media engage viewers as commenters, raters, and content creators. You don't just watch the YouTube video, you mark it as one of your favorites, post your thoughts about it, link to it on your blog.

As Rob Everton, creative technology director for aWiderNet, so aptly noted in his blog post about the Zuckerberg keynote, "increasingly, the audience wants to be part of the conversation, and if you don't give them a voice, they may raise their own."

What happens on the stage must serve those not sitting on it.

I'm always amazed at what good lemmings we are as conference attendees, particularly in general sessions, politely enduring painful panel discussions, mind-numbing lectures, and pointless interactive exercises because the people "up there" are in control. Wrong.

Participants choose to temporarily gift control over their time to presenters and presentations in exchange for value. When the value isn't delivered, the gift is reclaimed. Boomers and Xers learned about the law of two feet as we experienced meetings using Open Space Technology (if the session isn't working for you, leave); for the Millennials perhaps it will be the law of two thumbs (if the session isn't working for you, tell others about it).

This session was not a revolt, train wreck, free-for-all, or a case of the inmates taking over the asylum … or any of the other pejorative descriptors I have seen depicting it. Rather, it was merely a number of participants, whose patience had been tested, saying, "This isn't working for us." Instead of viewing this as bad, we should identify how to more effectively get real-time feedback on the value and relevance of what we are doing.

Leading Learning Take Away

• If what was planned isn't working, concede what everyone in the session knows, and they will help you figure out how to make it worth their continued attention.
• General sessions need someone who serves as a real-time conscience of the audience, a planner or moderator who can make real-time adjustments.
• Event planning should include due diligence about potential unexpected scenarios involving participants' use of social media backchannel communications like Twitter, Meebo, and the like.

Jeffrey Cufaude is a former higher education administrator, meeting planner, and association executive. He currently writes, speaks, and facilitates on a variety of individual and organizational leadership issues. Learn more about his work at www.ideaarchitects.org. To submit topic ideas and feedback on the Leading Learning column, e-mail jeffrey@idea architects.org.

Leading Learning is sponsored by Freeman, www.freemanco.com.