Why are speakers suddenly chugging water out of bottles?

At the IABC International Conference in Washington earlier this week, BBC communicator Russell Grossman took exception to something everyone noticed: Keynote speakers were drinking water out of plastic bottles. "Swugging," as the Brit put it in a blog entry on the IABC site.

"Listen up, you swuggers! Would you do this in the boardroom? Or maybe even that hallowed china is receding."

And to a blog respondent who questioned his right to question the right of people to drink water in public, Russell stuck to his guns: "Sure, people should be able to drink in public. It's the absence of a glass which feels careless, inattentive; even rude."

Of course, not everything is deteriorating: 35 years ago at the first IABC conference many speakers smoked cigarettes and pipes at the lectern.

Full conference coverage appears in The Ragan Report on July 11date. Check the Ragan site on that date . . .