Nelson Cowan
American psychologist who refined Miller's working memory estimate in 2001, arguing the true functional capacity is closer to 4 chunks.
The Forgetting Curve in Workshops
The forgetting curve describes the rate at which newly presented information decays from memory when it isn't actively reinforced. In a typical lecture-style workshop, where information is delivered continuously without opportunities for…
April 28, 2026
The 80/20 Workshop Engagement Ratio
The 80/20 engagement ratio is a session-design principle stating that participants should be actively working with material for approximately 80% of a live session, while the workshop leader guides, clarifies, and coaches for the remaining 20%.
April 28, 2026
Cognitive Load
Cognitive load is the total amount of mental effort a participant's working memory is being asked to carry at any moment during a workshop. Working memory is the brain's real-time processing system, and it has a hard capacity ceiling.
April 28, 2026
Value Proposition
A value proposition in a learning context is the participant's felt answer to one question: why does this matter to me right now? It is not the marketing value of the workshop, and it is not the presenter's enthusiasm about the content.
April 28, 2026
How People Actually Learn
A workshop can end with glowing feedback and produce almost no behavior change a week later. That's not a motivation problem on the participant's side — it's a memory-science problem on the design side.
April 28, 2026