This is an off subject to Air Traffic Management, but given my background as trainer, I thought I have something to share:
The question that this entry tries to discuss is how to react to the fact that while you are presenting members of the audience might be doing something else.
First of all, I think that every presenter should accept it as a fact of life that while presenting, be it face to face or remotely, some members of their audience may become distracted, not pay attention, start multi-tasking and not fully pay attention to what you are saying.
Then the real answer to what should the presenter do is, I guess, the usual: It depends.
It depends on a number of items so I’ll try to give some of the variants that come to my mind
- On liberalism:
The liberal theory states that an individual should be free to do what they want as long as this does not have effects on society. Well, taking this to the presentation / training arena, to me it would mean that as long as through the act of doing something else while a presentation is going on, the attendant is neither hampering others from focussing on the subject nor, [properly] participating to a collective exercise, for example in the case of a work shop, thus slowing down the learning process of their colleagues, then they are responsible for their learning and for their doing. They are therefore allowed.
This assumes that the audience is adult, in case of minors, the question may be different.
The assumption leads to number 2:
2. The power struggle:
What can be formally done by the presenter to control depends on the power balance between the audience and the presenter.
Assuming that the presenter is seeking to limit multi tasking: If the presenter has more power than the audience, for example because they are endorsed by someone senior in the organisation [such as in the case of the presentation being part of a corporate event] then they can set ground rules and be able to enforce them.
If, however, power tilts to the other side, there is little one can formally do to enforce ground rules [if they have been established at all] except in case of number 1, above, where the multi-tasking of one affects the participation of another.
3 A coin has two faces.
Finally, my third item considers the presenter putting themselves in the learners’ boots. This will help better understanding the situation and evaluating what could be done.
We all have been attending presentations, and I would say the one who has never drifted away, throws the first stone!
Some of the reasons:
a. As Mollybob rightly says [ http://mollybob.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/multitasking-learners-opportunity-not-threat/ ] attendants have been multi tasking long before the age of iphones and connected laptops,: some were writing shopping lists, others letters to their lovers.
b. All of us have been to conferences where 20 presentations were squashed on the one day agenda.
c. All of us have endured a truly boring presentation at least once in their lives.
d. All of us have found themselves in the middle of a conference wondering what on earth they were doing there, like when you discover you are in the wrong movie theatre 5 minutes into the film.
So what can a presenter do about this?
Assuming that they would like to control multi-tasking here area few tips that have worked.
i. Embrace the fact that people will be tempted to multi-task. If this is an issue for you and/or for the success of the presentation, tell them about it in the beginning of the presentation. If your power balance allows you, think about ground rules. If not consider the following: Tell them to take a piece of paper [or a notepad file for the tech-savvy ones 
] and consider for a few minutes the things they ought to do and not directly related to the presentation and write them down. They have their shopping list. They will not forget to buy the milk on the way home. Now they can relax and get back to the presentation. If during the presentation something else of utmost importance comes to their mind, they should add it to the list, but they should agree not to act on it during the presentation.
ii. Engineer your presentation depending on its place on the agenda: If you notice that your presentation is behind a series of others and that the last time the audience would have taken a break would be more than one hour before the start of your presentation, then try to ask the organisers to fit a break. [again, it depends on your power balance]. If this is not possible, be inventive: for example shorten your presentation, thinking that it is probably reap more value to have a punchy presentation than a longer one where everyone is thinking of the break coming up. Anyways every situation demands its solution, so the bottom line is to be aware of the context and adapt to it.
iii. Be entertaining yet to the point and informative, include interaction, keep the audience hooked…. You need to make them feel that they should not miss the next thing you are going to say or do. Everyone has their style of doing this. Asking questions, telling stories, engage with the audience, ask them to change positions prior to the start, etc. etc.
So in disguise of a conclusion I would say that multi-tasking is natural and is not new. It is possible not even on the increase but the fact that instead of in-mind side thoughts now we have iphones and laptops, the phenomenon is more visible . The question should not be around stopping it or embracing it but around engineering the event to control and make the best out of the fact of life that people will drift into doing more than one thing at a time or something else altogether.
I have mentioned three considerations: that the adult learner should be considered as free of doing what they think is best as long as this does not put others in difficulty, that the margins of what a presenter could do depend on the power balance between them and the audience and that the best things to do come out when we consider the context from the learners’ viewpoint. Then I gave some tips that have worked for me in the past.
I hope my contribution has been of use.
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