(Read “Part 1″ here)

My wife and I love movies. When we were newly married, we would occasionally do what we’d call a “movie marathon”. We’d see three movies in one Saturday—all in different theatres.
• We’d start with a late-morning matinee
• Then see a new release in another theatre during the afternoon
• Followed by a second-run movie that evening in the local “discount” theatre.

In the car on the way home, we would talk about the three movies we’d seen that day and invariably could only name two of them in the moment. Only after racking our brains and digging through our short-term memory for a few minutes would we eventually unearth the title of the third movie. We’d already forgotten.

Like I said, we LOVE movies, yet after over saturating ourselves in that environment, our ability to retain what we experienced became clouded.

The same is true for the people who come to our events. They need a little bit of time and space to process what they are taking in. If they don’t get it, their retention will suffer. We need to give them:
• Ample breaks
• Conversation time and
• Uninterrupted Space to process what they’re taking in

And I’m not just talking about “dinner on your own”.

The moral of the story is this: “Don’t over program. Don’t over schedule.” If you do, your audience will be hard-pressed to remember which “movies” they’ve seen that day. Allow adequate amounts of “process space” and your experience will reap far better results.

People need space. Taking in new ideas, concepts or information requires the brain to not only receive, but also to process. And process requires space.

When it comes to creating events or conferences, attendees need a little bit of time and (dare I say) quiet to be able to process what they are taking in.

Time after time, I encounter event sponsors who want to schedule every possible minute of every day of an event, in order to maximize the amount of information they can pass on to their attendees. Conventional Wisdom and the bean counters argue, “So much money has been spent on travel, lodging, registration, food, etc. We need to get our money’s worth out of this event. Let’s fill up the schedule with lots and lots and lots of sessions, breakouts, activities, seminars and meetings”. In so doing, they cut out any “free time” that may not appear to have value.

Granted, organizations spend a lot of money to train, educate and motivate their people. But quantity of information does not equal quality. In actuality, the opposite is true. The law of diminishing returns is in full play when we throw too much information or stimulation at people. After a while, the more we pour into their “learning” buckets, even more leaks out.

Which is more useful, for people to vaguely retain two out of ten watered-down points, or to fully embrace four out of four critical points?

Less is more.

(part 2 click here)