Applause

Applause is a tricky thing to determine when it is appropriate. Since I am in training now, we have had people come in and talk about the company. They are not performing, they are not spending more than an hour doing the presentation, or making it for that matter. So do they deserve applause? I personally don't think so. But I can see why some people might think otherwise.

If you go to a famous researcher's lecture, they deserve applause. They took their valuable time to show you something awesome they have researched. But the HR people talking about why you shouldn't pee in police officer's car, I don't think they deserve it. Or the guy who talks for 20 minutes about the founding and evolution of the company, I don't think so either.

But some people do, and applause is infectious due to peer pressure. When a few people clap, the whole room is going to, because not clapping turns into an offense to the lecturer, and makes you an outcast. Only if the group is truly stoic can is sustain the claps of one or a few by collectively not clapping, can the applause be halted. And in my experience, that is very rare, and ends in the clappers feeling outcasted and even shamed by their inferior discretion.