But rapturous receptions for writers like Anthony Beevor, author of a tome on wartime Berlin, show that interest in real books at least matches the appetite for chit-chat.
So far, it's at tech-oriented conferences like this where people are most aware of the "backchannel, " or the real-time electronic chit-chat going on about presentations as they occur.
There is significant evidence that "work sampling, " the use of tests similar to the work being performed, is a better predictor of future performance than the usual job-interview chit-chat.