One of the benefits of weeklong industry conferences (besides free beverage tickets) is that your mind often has a chance to wander and observe, bigger picture, your colleagues, clients and competitors in action.

During one of these moments at the 2010 Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City, I noticed that mobility isn’t just the next new thing…it’s how EVERYONE is doing business (or looking like they are).  While sitting in a session watching 80 percent of the people use their PDAs, I recalled the countless conversations I’ve had about teens constantly texting. You know the commentary…

But how different is today’s professional from today’s teenager? During keynote sessions, on the trade show floor, in line at the Starbucks, during networking meetings in the lobby, waiting on the cab for dinner, even during dinner…EVERYONE was on their smart phone.

It begs the question, what are we doing? Checking and responding to email? Downloading that uber-important document? Re-tweeting a great blog post? Getting the latest from Huffington Post? Just looking busy?

What I didn’t see was a lot of genuine listening. That eye-to-eye contact, close body language and copious note taking symbolic of a really juicy think session.

Now I’m not oblivious to the anomaly that is the “industry conference.” We all do our thing at these things, but at R+K, we’re constantly talking with our clients about the importance of listening, especially with the advent of social media and the insights such online platforms can provide into target audiences. We listen to each other, our clients, our clients’ influencers and competitors, and our prospects. And yes, we use 21st century devices to do so, but we also listen to real people and we know when turning off our PDAs helps us turn on our ears and brains.

At the end of the day, we believe great idea making takes listening. It’s how we truly understand what we’re trying to communicate, why and to whom. So how about turning off your phone the next time you’re supposed to be listening. Your ideas might surprise you…oh, and they’ll give you something to text about.

Laura Schmidt is a member of the R+K public relations group. She loves listening to music, birds chirping in the springtime and to people – on and offline. Contact Laura at lschmidt@rkconnect.com.