

Ask HN:  Why do audience members cheer wildly in technology keynotes? - amichail

Given my experience with academic conferences, I find this behavior in technology keynotes to be downright bizarre.<p>Obviously people don't behave in this way in academia.  What's different here?<p>Are audience members told to behave in this way?  Is it peer pressure?<p>And why do they get all excited over the most trivial of things?<p>Could it be that the more they cheer as a group, the more money they will make (e.g., by getting more people to buy/use the products/services mentioned in the keynote and later their software that is associated with those products/services)?
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chaosmachine
On earth, humans cheer wildly when they see things they like. This could be
anything from a man throwing a ball into a net, to a useful new operating
system feature. It's considered a way to express approval, especially when
gathered in a crowd, where shouting words would be less effective.

See also: booing.

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dmlorenzetti
All the comments posted so far are right-- they explain why people might
cheer. But nobody has really addressed the very real difference between
technology and academic venues (the original poster's question).

I've only been at one academic meeting where people really let loose and
cheered. It was in the late 1990s, at a conference on energy efficiency. A
presenter brought a pretty fancy bike up on stage and talked about riding it
rather than driving. Somebody in the audience shouted out, "Sure, but what did
the bike cost?"

There was a moment of pause while everybody recognized the presenter had
probably a $3000 bicycle up there. But he hoisted it over his head, stepped
back up to the mike, and said, "I'll tell you what it cost... What I was
willing to pay!"

The whole audience erupted in a sustained wave of cheers. It was, as other
commenters have noted, an expression of approval, an outlet for their passion,
and just plain fun.

In some ways, though, I think the setup for that wild cheering was the
conflict that it resolved. If his presentation had started out with "This is
my bike. It cost a lot, but I was willing to pay it..." I doubt anybody would
have cheered. Maybe academic conferences tend to discourage expressions of joy
exactly because they tend to formalize conflict, to steer it down certain
accepted lines? Whereas tech presentations probably have a lot less inherent
conflict that has to be channeled in order to keep it productive?

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ghshephard
Some significant portion of the audience's life is just about to change
significantly - and they can already sense the downstream bliss. I downright
cried in joy the first time I saw OS X terminal.app's ability to dynamically
resize linewraps (phoo on you secureCRT), and Terminal Tabs that detach, no
preset max-column-width, or even line-buffer! I was ready to dance for Joy!
Imagine being hit with a whole host of those features - It would be a hard
person indeed who could hold in all of that emotion.

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dusklight
Here's me hoping you forgot your <sarcasm /> tags

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holygoat
Here's me thinking you don't spend that much time in a terminal :)

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ghshephard
Sounds like an HN Poll for OS X users How many hours a day do you use
Terminal.app (as measured by the total time of day you are looking at the
screen and the foreground application is Terminal.app)

    
    
            A) < 30 Minutes
            B) 30 Minutes - 2 Hours
            C) 2 Hours - 6 Hours
            D) 6-10 Hours
            E) 10 Hours+
    

I'm usually in category D, but I've certainly seen a few E class days.

Seriously, Terminal.app is probably about 50% of the reason I use OS X instead
of Windows XP - I have two keyboards and two 30" monitors sitting in front of
me, so the choice really is mine. (Windows XP wins on the Microsoft Outlook
Calendar + Visio side of things)

And so, if you are spending upwards of 30 Hours/week with an application, and
something just made it even 5% better - wouldn't you want to express your
appreciation at positive changes?

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holygoat
Heh, too true. I often have 10-20 tabs open, in 2-4 windows, and some days
spend 50%+ of my day in Terminal (the rest in Vim/Mail/OmniWeb). I'd go crazy
if I had to use Cygwin, PuTTY, or even XTerm/KTerm/GTerm.

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chwahoo
I've wondered the same thing! During Google's IO conference, the speakers
expected and encouraged applause. Apple conferences are an even stronger
example.

It feels phoney, but perhaps it isn't. I don't think the thought process is
complex enough to involve considerations of financial benefit from cheering.

My theory is that there is a critical mass of "fans" of the company (Google,
Apple, etc), and they are very enthusiastic about new features/products while
the rest of the crowd claps out of reflex/habit.

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amichail
Maybe this critical mass consists mostly of paid plants?

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rufo
No. I've cheered for new features or things I thought were particularly cool,
and if I'm a plant then I'm seriously underpaid.

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hvs
Joy. It's a human emotion.

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bdr
It's fun. Try it.

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aswanson
Amichail, you at once come up with the most poignant and hilarious
observation/questions on this board. This is probably unintentional, which
adds to the level of entertainment. Please continue with these types of
submissions.

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rufo
Because for many of us, technology isn't just our job - it's a defining
characteristic of who we are.

And given that many of us debate operating systems and programming languages,
discuss tools and improvements, and learn new technologies in our off time,
_as fun_ \- well, given all that, I don't think expressing that passion at a
major event is all that peculiar.

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ryanwaggoner
Damn, these comments make us sound like a bunch of robots :)

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jodrellblank
"Geeks cross into uncanny valley. Very close to human behaviour. Described as
'unnerving' by industry pundits".

Server monitoring software that cheers when good things happen, boos when bad
things happen, and gasps when major changes happen, that would be interesting.
Not "play cheer.wav" but something more crowdy and cumulative.

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mattking
why not?

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jodrellblank
Why go to a conference when you could watch the news on the net?

Atmosphere. A sense of belonging, and 'being there'. A band comes on stage and
plays a song you like, you cheer them. A company representative comes on stage
and announces something you like, you cheer them. The events are structured to
be similar.

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herval
hello, Mr. Spock

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gregking
I find the behavior a bit odd myself but liken it to the same extreme passion
that some people exhibit during professional sporting events.

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drhowarddrfine
It's today's TV generation used to seeing and hearing everything wildly
applauded whether it deserves it or not. Every play ends with a standing
ovation. Every homerun requires a 'curtain call'. Every song sung has throngs
screaming to the point where you wonder if anyone is actually listening.

Serious students of the technology are listening, not applauding or "high
fiving" themselves for doing so. It's childishness at best. Low-brow at worst
and more appropriate at some hillbilly bar.

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anigbrowl
Because they're expecting to get a goodie bag at the end of the presentation
and are expressing their desire for it to contain a lot of expensive new
stuff.

