ALA Anaheim: The Late Show

Some speakers deliberately (it seems) begin a program late out of fear it will otherwise run short and as a result they'll be implicitly accused by an audience that it's not getting its money’s worth. Talking to the end also suggests that the speaker had so much more to say but ran out of time. Such a talk has one of two effects on the audience. People observe either, "The subject was getting warmed up, and the speaker just couldn't cram everything in"; or, "At long last that's over."

ALA Anaheim: Exit Strategy

At every session an observer will find that the most coveted place to sit is at the end of a row. It's a position of least effort, though it is hardly a formidable inconvenience to slide to the middle. Body bulk in itself doesn't explain it, for many practitioners were not waist-challenged. Presumably the sitter wants an unimpeded exit strategy should she wish to depart early. Among the reasons for this: the subject or speaker isn't what she hoped, a prior engagement, fatigue, unfathomable eccentricity.

Being at the end corks up the row. People who come in later will have to brush past the end-sitter to get to a seat. It's a dissuader and mild hindrance to those who might otherwise choose that row. On the other hand, some of these later comers might be the ones who'd have wanted to preempt that end seat.