| What Do People Really Remember? |
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Is it your rousing speech on strategic direction? Is it the animated feature of your PowerPoint deck? Is it your cool new interactive media display? Nope. It’s more basic than that. Think “A” …and “Z.” Start…..Finish What’s the first thing you remember? The beginning. What’s the last thing you remember? The end. Is it really that simple?
Yes! According to Adult Learning research, what people remember most is how a session starts and how it ends. That doesn’t mean that the middle should just be mush. But it does mean that you know where to invest extra attention. Your best investment to pay attention to the beginning of every meeting, strategy session or workshop…and to pay close attention to the end. A few weeks ago, I facilitated a 3-day planning session. I tried an experiment. I skipped writing out the agenda. I wanted to try something else. And I just wanted to see what would happen. The group almost killed me.They were so upset. They had expected to walk in and see a totally prepared agenda. To not have to think. They wanted all neatly laid out ahead of time. Instead, I made them work. I designed a process to gather their ideas about what should be on the agenda. We built the agenda together. OK. I agree. This way of starting can be risky. You might get a lot of flack from a group–especially if they like to know all the details in advance. But it’s worth it because it builds a much deeper level of buy-in in a group. If you’re looking for a different way to capture the attention of a group…watch how you start. The start sets the tone for the entire session… By the way…this can be as simple and basic as starting on time. People remember and they appreciate that you respect their time. Now, the other side of the package. The end. People remember the end. What’s the take away message. What’s the feeling and tone of the end. What’s the commitment to action? Leave time for debriefing the session. Make sure that you allow the group to give input about the process. This feedback helps you get better every time you lead a planning session with your group. People feel included not only in the task, but also respected in the process. And just like the beginning, Did you end on time? It can be that simple. For a fast tune-up in your meetings, focus extra attention on the beginning and the end. You’ll be delighted with the rave feedback you receive |
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