It should come as no surprise that typical conference schedules are packed full of content and activities from early in the morning until late at night; not leaving much time to forge organic connections (or sleep).
Based on feedback from the National Association of Professional Organizers’(NAPO) Annual Conference and Organizing Expo, attendees want more – more content, more opportunities to connect, more events to spend time together – but research suggests that these jam packed schedules are not good for productivity, performance, or creativity.
In the September 2015 issue of Convene, consultant, Juliet Funt discusses the need for more “white space,” or moments for strategic pause, between sessions. This extra time can be an opportunity for attendees to exchange ideas and contact information or to reflect on the previous session and highlight the key takeaways that they’ll apply when they return to work.
Additionally, attendees need time to recuperate, relax, and enjoy their surroundings in order to retain the information they are learning and avoid burn out.
Convene’s June issue included an excellent article, titled “Wake Up!” which takes an in-depth look at sleep deprivation at meetings. One of the key takeaways from the article is that depriving your brain of sleep makes it hard to retain more information because the brain doesn’t have time to form new pathways to learn, process, and remember information.
Lack of sleep also negatively affects the pre-frontal cortex which is where innovative thinking takes place. As Christopher Barnes points out in the aforementioned article, “When people are sleep-deprived, they tend to be irritable, grumpy, easily frustrated, and generally less pleasant to interact with.”
So much for those networking events.
Whether they are sleep deprived or simply burned out from information overload, the risk is the same: attendees are not getting the experience that they paid for. Fortunately, associations have the power to change all of that.
Here are some suggestions for ensuring a rejuvenating experience for attendees
1. Schedule “white space” between sessions
2. Make your early and late sessions optional to meet the needs of night owls and early birds
3. Schedule your general sessions and keynotes around 10:30 AM when research suggests most adults are at their peak for retaining the information
4. Offer a relaxation lounge with nap pods
5. Focus on quality, not quantity
Although there are some sacrifices, such as shorter or fewer sessions, Funt says that in her experience audiences have been very receptive to this mindset. Making these changes requires bold leadership and cultural acceptance. It may not change overnight but implementing slight changes year after year will ultimately lead to happy, well-rested attendees.
