Designing Meetings that Excite, Enlighten, and Empower your Audience

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Designing Meetings that Excite, Enlighten, and
Empower your Audience

• Presented by Dr. Lawana Gladney

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Session GoalsE? Excite Enlighten - Empower

• Discover how the brain works and what works for
  the brain
• Discover how to design meaningful content
• Learn how to make your meeting more memorable
• Understand how to impress the brain

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Ultimate Meeting Goals

• List your top three goals for your meetings and
  prioritize them.
• 1.
• 2.
• 3.
• What is the number one take away for all
  attendees?

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How about that brain!

• Our brain is bombarded with millions of bits of
  visual, verbal and other sensory data daily. How
  does it decide which data to process and which
  data to ignore?

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How the Brain Works
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Brain Goal
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Sensory Registry

• The brain relies on the sensory register to sift
  out the important data from the unimportant data
  in order to avoid burnout from the overload of
  information.
• Any information that doesn't make it through this
  register is gone for good and has no chance of
  being remembered.
• If the information is unimportant to you it is
  lost and gone for good.

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Short Term Memory

• The short term memory can retain information
  for up to approximately 30 seconds. Long enough
  to look up a phone number and dial it. If the
  information is important it will get passed to
  the next level.
• 832-9754

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Working Memory

• Data in the working memory, it is being
  deliberately and consciously processed. It is
  limited both in the amount of information it can
  deal with at one time and in how long it can
  remain focused on it. We can only deal with 7
  pieces of information simultaneously.

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Demonstration

• Chunking - A technique used to get around this
  limitation and increase the amount of data that
  can be worked on at the same time.
• You have 10 seconds to memorize the following
  letters.
•    XIBMSATMTVPHDX
• X IBM SAT MTV PHD X

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Long Term Memory

• Once the brain has assigned sense and/or meaning
  to the information it moves into the long term
  memory, and once it is in, it is there to stay.

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Brain Stress

• The brain learns best when there is a balance
  between stress and comfort high challenge and
  low threat.
• The brain needs some challenge, or environmental
  press that generates stress as described above to
  activate emotions and learning.
• Stress motivates a survival imperative in the
  brain. Too much and anxiety shuts down learning.
  Too little and the brain becomes too relaxed and
  comfortable

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eonvrye taht can raed tihs rsaie yuor hnad  

• Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100
  can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty
  uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal
  pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a
  rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't
  mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are,
  the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and
  lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can
  be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit
  a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos
  not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as
  a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot
  slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs
  forwrad it.

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Brain Puzzle

• Three people check into a hotel and pay 30 to
  the manager and go to their room. The manager
  suddenly remembers that the room rate is 25 and
  gives 5 to the bellboy to return to the people.
  On the way to the room the bellboy reasons that
  5 would be difficult to share among three people
  so he pockets 2 and gives 1 to each person. Now
  each person paid 10 and got back 1. So they
  paid 9 each, totaling 27. The bellboy has 2,
  totaling 29. Where is the missing 1?

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Brain Puzzle 2

• Matthew Shelborn frequently has to travel for his
  company, which gives him a chance to meet many
  people from all parts of the USA. In April,
  Matthew flew to five different US cities on
  business and he flew a different airline each
  time. During each trip he chatted with the person
  next to him, and no two people he talked to were
  in the same profession.From the information,
  can you determine the date Matthew made each
  flight (each was on a Monday exactly one week
  apart starting on April 2nd), the airline he
  flew, his destination, and the profession of the
  person who sat next to him on each flight?

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Enlightening Content

• Use acronyms and chunking techniques
• Less is more
• Use pictures and graphics anywhere possible
• Write content with learning styles in mind
  visual, auditory, and kinetic
• Include activities
• Content has to be relevant to audience
• Use humor

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Understanding Information Overload

• Yourbrainwillgointooverloadwhenthereistoo
  muchthatispresentedinashortperiodoftimeor
  whentheinformationlookscomplicatedandboring.
  Itislikereadingabunchofwordstypedtogether-Yourbrai
  ndoesnotgetachancetoprocessanythingorputinfoincate
  gories,sobasicallyyourbrainwillshutoffandplaceatte
  ntionandinterestelsewhere.Thusreallearningdoesnoto
  ccur.

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Tips to Avoid Brain Overload

• Avoid cramming information into meetings
• Avoid scheduling too many learning sessions at
  conferences
• Keep information light not heavy
• Make it fun
• Encourage session overview
• Create action plans

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To Excite the brain- you have to touch emotions

• Emotions are critical to learning they drive
  our attention, health, learning, meaning and
  memory.
• Emotions A mental state that arises
  spontaneously rather than through conscious
  effort and is often accompanied by physiological
  changes a feeling.

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How Emotions Work in the Brain

• Emotions are encompassed in the part of your
  brain called the limbic system. The hippocampus
  is important in memory and learning, while the
  limbic system itself is central in the control of
  emotional responses.
• Emotions you want to elicit in a meeting.
• acceptance, admiration, amazed, amused, awed,
• calm, certain, cheerful, compassionate,
  comfortable, convinced, content, determined
• ecstatic, elated, enlightened, enthusiastic,
  excited, empowered
• festive, happy, hopeful, inspired, joyous,
  jubilant, lighthearted
• peaceful, playful, pleased, secure, smart,
  optimistic, positive, proud, relaxed, relieved,
  respectful, trusting, satisfied, , sharing,
  tender, thrilled, understanding, warm

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Igniting the Five Senses

• Sight lighting, décor, props, color
• Touch- centerpieces, manuals, paper, trinkets
• Smell- aroma fans, plug ins, air filters, meals
• Hearing- music, AV, Sound bites, speaker
• Taste- meal, centerpieces

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Color your Meetings

• There is power and emotion wrapped into color.
  It is a powerful psychological tool. By using
  color psychology, you can send a positive or
  negative message, encourage sales, calm a crowd,
  or make an athlete pump iron harder.

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Red

• Physiological Effect Red has been shown to
  increase blood pressure and stimulate the adrenal
  glands. The stimulation of the adrenals glands
  helps us become strong and increases our stamina.
  Pink, a lighter shade of red, helps muscles
  relax.
• Psychological Effect While red has proven to be
  a color of vitality and ambition it has been
  shown to be associated with anger. Sometimes red
  can be useful in dispelling negative thoughts,
  but it can also make one irritable. Pink has the
  opposite effect of red. Pink induces feelings of
  calm, protection, warmth and nurture. This color
  can be used to lessen irritation and aggression
  as it is connected with feelings of love.

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Orange

• Physiological Effect Orange has proven to be a
  stimulus of the sexual organs. Also, it can be
  beneficial to the digestive system and can
  strengthen the immune system.
• Psychological Effect Orange has shown to have
  only positive affects on your emotional state.
  This colour relieves feelings of self-pity, lack
  of self-worth and unwillingness to forgive.
  Orange opens your emotions and is a terrific
  antidepressant.

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Yellow

• Physiological Effect Yellow has proven to
  stimulate the brain. This stimulation can make
  you more alert and decisive. This color makes
  muscles more energetic and activates the lymph
  system.
• Psychological Effect Yellow is a happy and
  uplifting color. It can also be associated with
  intellectual thinking discernment, memory, clear
  thinking, decision-making and good judgment. Also
  aiding organization, understanding of different
  points of view. Yellow builds self-confidence and
  encourages optimism. However, a dull yellow can
  bring on feelings of fear.

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Green

• Physiological Effect Green is said to be good
  for you heart. On a physical and emotional, green
  helps your heart bring you physical equilibrium
  and relaxation. Green relaxes our muscles and
  helps us breathe deeper and slower.
• Psychological Effect Green creates feelings of
  comfort, laziness, relaxation, calmness. It helps
  us balance and soothe our emotions. Connection
  with nature Yet, darker and grayer greens can
  have the opposite effect and remind us of decay
  and death and can actually have a detrimental
  effect on physical and emotional health.

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Blue

• Physiological Effect Blue proves to lower blood
  pressure. Blue can be linked to the throat and
  thyroid gland. Blue also has a very cooling and
  soothing affect, often making us calmer. Deep
  blue stimulates the pituitary gland, which then
  regulates our sleep patterns.
• Psychological Effect We usually associate the
  color blue with the night and thus we feel
  relaxed and calmed. Lighter blues make us feel
  quite and away from the rush of the day. Like
  yellow, blue inspires mental control, clarity and
  creativity. However, too much dark blue can be
  depressing.

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Purple

• Physiological Effect Violet has shown to
  alleviate conditions such as sunburn due to its
  purifying and antiseptic effect. This color also
  suppresses hunger and balances the body's
  metabolism.
• Psychological Effect Purples have been used in
  the care of mental of nervous disorders because
  they have shown to help balance the mind and
  transform obsessions and fears. Indigo is often
  associated with the right side of the brain
  stimulating intuition and imagination. Violet is
  associated with bringing peace and combating
  shock and fear. Violet has a cleansing effect
  with emotional disturbances.

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Brown

• Psychological Effect Brown is the color of the
  earth and ultimately home. This color brings
  feelings of stability and security. Sometimes
  brown can also be associated with withholding
  emotion and retreating from the world.

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Black

• Psychological Effect While comforting and
  protective, black is mysterious and associated
  with silence and sometimes death. Black is
  passive and can prevent us from growing and
  changing. Can be associated with authority.
• In the western hemisphere black is associated
  with grieving. Black is a serious color that
  evokes strong emotions it is easy to overwhelm
  people with too much black.

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White

• Psychological Effect White is the color of
  ultimate purity. This color brings feelings of
  peace and comfort while it dispels shock and
  despair. White can be used to give yourself a
  feeling of freedom and uncluttered openness. Too
  much white can give feelings of separation and
  can be cold and isolation.

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Gray

• Psychological Effect Gray is the color of
  independence and self-reliance, although usually
  thought of as a negative color. It can be the
  color of evasion and non-commitment (since it is
  neither black nor white.) Gray indicates
  separation, lack of involvement and ultimately
  loneliness.

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Review

• KIS- Keep it simple Chunks
• KII Keep it interesting and
  challenging
• KIR- Keep it relevant
• KIC Keep it colorful
• KIM Keep it moving