Q: What weighs three pounds, has more than 1,000 trillion connections and controls your annual meeting? A: Your attendee's human brain. This thinking muscle affects your conference success more than you realize. Yet, often we plan meetings and events without thinking about the impact of our meeting design on the attendee's brain. For example, talking heads, passive listeners, audience engagement, active participation or something in between? What is the best way to provide education at conference and events? Which juices the brain? Today's brain science has identified several critical strategies to consider during the conference planning process. Implementing these will create sizzle and substance for your brain-friendly conference.

1. Science Of The Brain: New Ways To
Engage Adult Learners
1

2. 2

3. 3

4. 4

5. 1. Compare & contrast information,
education & learning.
2. Identify Six Brain-Friendly
strategies for presentations.
3. Discuss how to apply these
strategies to meetings and
education.
5

17. Roadways

20. We can’t pour info into
listeners’ brains

30. Is there a difference between
education & information?
30

31. A cellular process
Eric Kandel, Nobel Prize, 2000

35. Teaches skills in critical thinking
problem solving
collaboration
decision making
evaluation
analysis

36. an active process that takes place in the
working memory as the learner abstracts
meaning and connects with existing
knowledge in long-term memory

37. an active process that takes place in the
working memory as the learner abstracts
meaning and connects with existing
knowledge in long-term memory

38. must be given time
for making meaning & connecting
new info with knowledge in long-term memory

39. 1. Attending to information, words & visuals
2. Providing context & meaning-making

40. 1. Attending to information, words & visuals
2. Providing context & meaning-making
3. Connecting & comparing
4. Integrating into long-term memory

41. Hear It or Learn It?

42. Talking Head

43. Talking Head
Passive Listener

46. of Academy activities
1991 Berkley Study

47. 1991 Berkley Study

48. Bligh, 2000

49. Bligh, 2000

50. People usually forget
90% of what they
learn in a class
within 30 days.
Majority of loss
occurs within
hours of class.
German psychologist &
memory researcher
Hermann Ebbinghaus

51. Brain Friendly Strategy #1
Talking Trumps Listening

52. Your brain can hold 5 pieces of information for
for 30 seconds.

53. It must be repeated to move to working memory
or it disappears.

54. The brain neuron is waiting for a repeat signal
of info or it resets.

55. If repeated, it moves to working memory for 60
minutes or more.

56. Talking increases retention
Talking builds relationships

57. Talking elicits feedback
Talking enhances self-worth

58. Brain Friendly Strategy #1
Talking Trumps Listening

59. How do this impact conferences &
education?
1. Talking trumps listening.
59

63. The brain does
not pay attention
to boring things

64. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
Chunking content trumps information dumps
10 minutes

65. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
Content should be chunked in
10 minute segments

66. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
Anchor 10 min segments with
Stories
Relevancy
Problems content solves

67. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
10-20 minutes of content
then 10-20 minutes
discussion

68. Brain Friendly Strategy #1
Talking Trumps Listening

69. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
Chunking content trumps information dumps
10 minutes

70. Tractor Pastel Airplane
Green Quickly Jump
Apple Ocean Laugh
Zero Nicely Tall
Weather Countertop
70

71. Group 1: determine number of
letters that have diagonal lines in
them and the number that do not.
71

72. Group 2: Think about the meaning
of each word. Rate the word on a
scale of 1-10, 10 most like.
72

73. Tractor Pastel Airplane
Green Quickly Jump
Apple Ocean Laugh
Zero Nicely Tall
Weather Countertop
73

74. Write down as many of the
words as you remember
74

75. Tractor Pastel Airplane
Green Quickly Jump
Apple Ocean Laugh
Zero Nicely Tall
Weather Countertop
75

76. Brain Friendly Strategy #3
Meaning Trumps Content
76

77. Brain Friendly Strategy #1
Talking Trumps Listening

78. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
Chunking content trumps information dumps
10 minutes

79. Brain Friendly Strategy #3
Meaning Trumps Content
79

82. Fight
Flight

83. 1. Can I eat it?
2. Will it eat me?
3. Can I mate with it?

84. Fighting
Feeding
Fleeing
Reproductive behavior

85. Brain Friendly Strategy #4
Safety Trumps Learning
Participant must feel safe & not threatened

86. Brain Friendly Strategy #1
Talking Trumps Listening

87. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
Chunking content trumps information dumps
10 minutes

88. Brain Friendly Strategy #3
Meaning Trumps Content
88

89. Brain Friendly Strategy #4
Safety Trumps Learning

90. How do these impact conferences &
education?
1. Chunking trumps info dump.
2. Meaning trumps content.
3. Safety trumps learning.
90

91. IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFBI

92. IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFBI

93. IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFBI
Brain pays attention to patterns

94. IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFBI
Brain pays attention to patterns
Former knowledge hooks content

95. Brain Friendly Strategy #5
IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFBI
Patterns trump new information

96. Brain Friendly Strategy #1
Talking Trumps Listening

97. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
Chunking content trumps information dumps
10 minutes

98. Brain Friendly Strategy #3
Meaning Trumps Content
98

99. Brain Friendly Strategy #4
Safety Trumps Learning

100. Brain Friendly Strategy #5
IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFBI
Patterns trump new information

101. • Death by Bullets
• Powerpointless presentations
• Cognitive Overload
• Too much text on a slide
• White/light fonts on dark slides
• Great way to lull audience to sleep
• Does not stimulate the brain to learn
• Go against brain-friendly strategies
• Decreases learning

102. • Death by Bullets • Powerpointless presentations
• Powerpointless presentations • Cognitive Overload
• Cognitive Overload • Too much text on a slide
• Too much text on a slide • White/light fonts on dark slides
• White/light fonts on dark slides • Great way to lull audience to sleep
• Great way to lull audience to sleep • Does not stimulate the brain to learn
• Does not stimulate the brain to learn • Go against brain-friendly strategies
• Go against brain-friendly strategies • Decreases learning
• Decreases learning • Death by Bullets
• Death by Bullets • Powerpointless presentations
• Powerpointless presentations • Cognitive Overload
• Cognitive Overload • Too much text on a slide
• Too much text on a slide • White/light fonts on dark slides
• White/light fonts on dark slides • Great way to lull audience to sleep
• Great way to lull audience to sleep • Does not stimulate the brain to learn
• Does not stimulate the brain to learn • Go against brain-friendly strategies
• Go against brain-friendly strategies • Decreases learning
• Decreases learning
• Death by Bullets

105. Brain Friendly Strategy #6
Images Trump Words

106. Vision trumps senses in retention & learning

107. Pears

109. Recognition doubles with pictures

110. 50% of brain processing devoted to visuals

111. We see with our brains, not eyes

113. Primarily oral, we recall

114. Primarily visual, we recall
3x as much from listening

115. Primarily oral & visual, we recall
6x as much from listening

116. 116

117. Brain Friendly Strategy #1
Talking Trumps Listening

118. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
Chunking content trumps information dumps
10 minutes

119. Brain Friendly Strategy #3
Meaning Trumps Content
119

120. Brain Friendly Strategy #4
Safety Trumps Learning

121. Brain Friendly Strategy #5
IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFBI
Patterns trump new information

122. Brain Friendly Strategy #6
Images Trump Words

123. Brain Friendly Strategy #7
Answers trump data

124. Brain Friendly Strategy #7
Answers trump data
Think of your content as answers to problems

125. Brain Friendly Strategy #7
Take time to explain the
questions

126. Your brain likes to
solve problems

127. Successfully solving problems
releases dopamine

128. Brain & body flooded with
rush positive feelings

129. Does the content
make attendees
think

130. Brain Friendly Strategy #1
Talking Trumps Listening

131. Brain Friendly Strategy #2
Chunking content trumps information dumps
10 minutes

132. Brain Friendly Strategy #3
Meaning Trumps Content
132

133. Brain Friendly Strategy #4
Safety Trumps Learning

134. Brain Friendly Strategy #5
IRSYMCAWTFIBMKGBFBI
Patterns trump new information

135. Brain Friendly Strategy #6
Images Trump Words

136. Brain Friendly Strategy #7
Answers trump data

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