Why Energy Drops After Lunch in Your Event (and How Design Fix That)
A 60‑minute lecture after lunch is a guaranteed energy sink. Swap that single block for one compact “Energiser Sandwich” and you’ll keep brains bold, oxygenated and outcome‑focused.
Why lunch knocks the wind out of your event
Even the best content hits quicksand straight after dessert. Three forces join hands:
Biology – Blood rushes to the stomach to do the heavy lifting of digestion.
Circadian rhythm – Our internal clocks dip naturally between one and three p.m.
Design – We often serve a dense, passive programme right when the body begs for movement.
The first two are facts of life. The third is 100 % fixable and by design.
The small lever that shifts everything: the Energiser Sandwich
Instead of a single sixty‑minute talk, slice the post‑lunch segment into a repeating mini‑flow:
Reset (6 min) : Kick‑start the body with a quick stand‑and‑stretch, a playful poll or a pair‑share. The micro‑move pumps oxygen and primes focus.
Content burst (15 min) : Deliver a tight talk, demo or video. Fifteen minutes feeds the brain just enough before attention slips.
Processing (9 min) : In trios, participants debate, rank, sketch or vote. The act of using the material turns fresh information into personal insight and action.
Run one sandwich and you’ve already halved passive time. Stack two and you fill the hour with movement, meaning and measurable outcomes.
Why this tiny tweak delivers big results
Attention obeys the 15‑minute rule – research and teaching science show that changing formats roughly every quarter‑hour keeps participants switched on.
Doing beats listening – when people use new knowledge on the spot, discussing, ranking or applying it, they remember more and act faster.
Motion fuels cognition – a brief stand‑up resets posture, boosts blood flow and buys you another fresh window of focus.
Proof in the (light) pudding
Last quarter, a global pharma team replaced their usual sixty‑minute keynote with two Energiser Sandwiches. Participant satisfaction leapt from 3.4 to 4.6/5, and 70 % reported applying the new compliance process within seven days—up from 32 % the previous year.
Roadblocks & quick fixes
Fixed seating? Use neighbour‑to‑neighbour chat plus hands‑up voting—zero furniture shuffle.
Speaker worries about depth? Invite them to eavesdrop on the nine‑minute processing round, then clarify unanswered questions.
No fancy tech? Colour cards or paper scorecards beat silent note‑taking every time.
Ready to keep the afternoon alive?
A single Energiser Sandwich can already transform the flow and outcomes of your next meeting block. What if the whole event is well designed. Let’s have a coffee and co‑design yours. Reach out to the Orange Gibbon team today!