Best place to sit in a meeting

I suspect there is an old thread or cast that touches on this, but I'll be darned if I can recall it.

Here goes. I recently had an opportunity to attend my first senior management meeting in my new region -- engaged in active listening, marveled at those (including some junior people) who used blackberries while the head was speaking, and generally felt pretty MT. Our meetings are held with tables in a U shape (basically a rectangle with one of the short ends lopped off). Is there an optimal position to select where you have the best vantage point to observe the participants? I noticed that studying the listeners was equally valable to studying and listening to the speakers. It's pretty cool to be part of a community where the level is so high I would even be thinking about something like this. Kudos!!!