Boardroom Etiquette - curse of the phone

I was sitting next to a FTSE 250 Chief Executive at dinner recently, and the discussion turned to things that drive you nuts about non-executive directors.

His (yes, it was a 'him,' as are 96% of FTSE CEOs) pet peeve was NEDs checking their phones during board meetings. His own approach was to leave his phone outside the room, assuming that if anything truly urgent came up, he would be alerted.

But he was shocked that so many of his board colleagues thought nothing of checking messages during presentations or debate. And of course it's not just board meetings - we all see the same behaviour every day in internal meetings.

So, question: what should chairs do about it? I humbly suggest some options:

• Deliver a verbal ticking off to anyone on their device.
• ￡10 cash penalty, paid to the company's charity of the year.
• A cinema-style announcement at the start of every board meeting that this is a phone-free zone.
• Recognise that we're all addicts, and build in more five-minute phone and loo breaks.
• Give up, and discreetly check email when the discussion gets really dull.

Your preferences please.