Convene - February 2016

“Immediately you knew you were in a
different space,” said Janet Sperstad,
CMP, program director for the Meeting
and Event Management Degree Pro-
gram at Madison Area Technical Col-
lege in Madison, Wisconsin, “and your
shoulders come down from your ears, a
smile breaks out, and dopamine levels
naturally increase, just by walking into
that room.”
Sperstad would know. She became
so interested in the connection
between how immersive experiences
like face-to-face events transform
behavior that she earned an executive
master’s degree in neuroleadership
from the NeuroLeadership Institute.

She has since become an advocate for
building more mindfulness elements
into meetings.

“People often correlate event design to cool furniture and interesting seating styles, because it’s a very physical thing we know and can all talk about,” Sperstad said. “They’re not wrong about these elements, yet event design goes beyond that, integrating our senses and our brain’s networking systems, like attention and novelty detection, as well as including the whole spiritual and wellbeing side of it.” .

Kate Mulcrone is Convene’s web editor.

Senses &
Sensibility

Janet Sperstad, CMP, who builds neuroscience into the event-design classes she teaches at Madison Area Technical College, has a unique take on mindfulness at meetings. “It’s heightening the senses and it’s bringing attendees’ consciousness up and their threat levels down in order to foster more holistic thinking,” she said. “The mind includes the human spirit and so much more. The brain is just the thing inside of our noggin, an organ inside of our head like our heart in our body.” Our senses play a role in long-term memory, so “meditative” touches within a meeting environment have a dramatic effect. “Someone may not remember the content,” Sperstad said, “but they might be able to visually remember the room, or scent.” Citrus-based scents brighten the senses, while lavender lends an air of relaxation. Cool lighting and blue and green color palettes create a soothing environment that’s conducive to learning. Sperstad also suggests looking beyond the meeting venue to ensure that partner hotels have quiet rooms with operable windows, so that attendees can breathe fresh air in the morning and evening.

Also: “Do not have a speaker over lunch,” Sperstad said. “Attendees need to be fully present, enjoying the meal and making connections with the people at their tables. This is a time for the brain to shift into neutral and relax.”