Here's an exercise to help stand in the shoes of the people for whom you are designing programs.

You run programs to make a difference for someone else. Let's spend some time reminding ourselves what our audience knows, feels, and can do. What do they want out of your program? What can you learn about them by standing in their shoes for a while?

We recently kicked off a conference strategy session thinking about someone we know comes to this conference. We used sticky notes to come up with everything we believed they would want from this event. We sorted the sticky notes into categories, and that gave us important guidance on how we should design the conference.

Give this exercise a try if you are building a new workshop or curriculum, or if you are refreshing a longstanding event to make it more relevant. These worksheets come from "How to Design for Action."

Boring talks run longer

We believe in research-based learning solutions, here's a finding by Nature. I'll be short: boring talks run longer. That's painful for the folks listening, and it doesn't translate into learning. What can you do? 

• Have clear objectives going into a talk. Ask yourself: what will people know and/or be able to do because they spent time with you?
• Chunk your content into maximum 10 minute sections and pause for engagement. Chunking help here.
• Eliminate the extra stories and explanations. 
  

Don't be boring! What you have to say is too important.