Spaced Learning

Educators distinguish between distributed learning and massed learning. Distributed learning, occurring over time, is the more efficient method because it allows for absorption and understanding. Distributed learning is a synonym for Spaced Learning ; massed learning is a synonym for cramming.

Every schoolboy and schoolgirl in America has heard the story about how Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope. The implication is that he dashed off the classic speech with little or no advance preparation.

There are several variations of this tale. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Lincoln at Gettysburg , Garry Wills describes several other lesser known versions of the same story that have Lincoln "considering [the speech] on the way to a photographer's shop in Washington, writing it on a piece of cardboard as the train took him on the 80-mile trip penciling it on the night before the dedication, writing it on the morning of the day he had to deliver it, or even composing it in his head as Everett [the prior speaker at the Gettysburg ceremony] spoke." ^[1]

^[1] Wills, Garry, Lincoln at Gettsyburg: The Words That Remade America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992).

Maybe the appeal of these stories comes from the fact that so many businesspeople prepare their own presentations in this fashion. Charles M. Boesenberg, now the CEO of NetIQ, was the president of MIPS, a semiconductor design company, and a participant in the road show for its public offering in 1989. When Chuck later became the CEO of Central Point Software, he retained my services for his IPO road show. I introduced Chuck to the same story techniques you've been learning here: the Framework Form, Brainstorming, Clustering, and Flow Structures.

Halfway through the first day of the program, Chuck broke into a big grin and said, "At MIPS, we did all of this in the taxi on the way to the airport to begin our road show!"

Chuck is not alone. Whenever I ask my clients if they ever whip their own presentations together at the last minute, I usually get a round of sheepish grins. Their variations on the theme include:

"Oh, I didn't have time to do my presentation, but I'll wing it!"

"I'm running late in a meeting, can you deliver my pitch for me?"

"I won't have time to work on this, so have Marketing put something together."

Finally, there's the approach that, unfortunately , far too many businesspeople use: "Let's see, I can use three of Tom's slides, six of Dick's, and four of Harry's." Remember my name for this method is "Frankenstein-body- parts ."

If any of those approaches sounds familiar, it might make you feel better to believe that Abraham Lincoln produced his masterful Gettysburg Address in much the same way. However, just the opposite is true. Garry Wills gives the lie to what he calls that "silly but persistent myth" by detailing the complex history of Lincoln's creation of the Gettysburg Address. Wills describes how it arose out of a background of popular 19th century interest in classical rhetoric, Lincoln's own immersion in literature and the Bible, a lifetime of study and practice, and his admiration for the oratory of Daniel Webster. Wills adds about Lincoln, "He was a slow writer, who liked to sort out his points and tighten his logic and phrasing . This is the process vouched for in every other case of Lincoln's memorable public statements."

Just for good measure, Wills also tells us that Lincoln combined Verbalization with Spaced Learning: "This surely is the secret of Lincoln's eloquence: he not only read aloud , to think his way into sounds, but wrote as a way of ordering his thoughts."

Wills then puts the improvisation myth about the Gettysburg speech completely to rest. He cites several specific pieces of historic evidence indicating that Lincoln organized his information and ideas in Washington at least two days before the speech and continued to work on the text at multiple points along the way to the Gettysburg site. Then, on that memorable day of November 19, 1863, Lincoln rose "with a sheet or two" to deliver it. All of this for a speech that was just 272 words long!

From the sublime oratory of Abraham Lincoln to the mundane hobby of puzzles: Veteran crossword fans know that when they become stuck with a puzzle, they put it aside briefly . When they return to it a while later, they are unstuck. Presenters who recognize the value of Spaced Learning report that when they revisit their presentation or speech after a brief interval away from it, they can quickly see half a dozen ways to improve it. This is the result of seeing the presentation from a new viewpoint, or perhaps the result of letting the unconscious mind process the material while the conscious mind is otherwise engaged. Moreover, the result of this fresh perspective creates a greater command of the presentation and makes the presenter feel as well as appear more confident.

With all of these advantages to Spaced Learning, why do so many presenters relegate preparing their presentations to the last minute? Most businesspeople, like you, are constantly overloaded, pressured, and rushed. However, if you accept the view that every presentation is a mission-critical event, then those excuses are not valid.

We're all familiar with Andy Warhol's comment that everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes. I'd extend Warhol's observation to say that every presenter has 15 or 30 or 60 minutes whatever time is allotted or assigned to get the audience to Aha! Wouldn't you want every single one of those minutes to be all that it can be? Wouldn't you want to employ every single tool and technique at your disposal to grab your audience's minds at the beginning, navigate them through all the parts, never letting go, until you deposit them at Point B?

You can do it all, and you can be all that you can be, through the power of Spaced Learning.

By the way, I practice what I preach. Most of the material in this book has evolved over the course of 15 years since I started Power Presentations, except for the section you've just read. I decided to write it after I read the Wills book. It took me 37 drafts written over 3 days, not counting the additional drafts I did with input from my editorial consultant and publisher.

If you've benefited from reading this chapter, you can thank Spaced Learning. You, too, can use the same tool to your own advantage.