Imagine it's 2:15pm on the second day of a three-day conference, and half the seats are empty. The audience is checking their watches, staring blankly out the window, or burying their head in the phone. The morning machine gun of panels and breakouts has ground attention spans to dust. It is a scene an event producer would want to avoid. The instinct is to blame the audience - they didn't get enough sleep, they're not morning people, they didn't bother to read the program guide to realize how important this session on retirement planning is. A tired, bored or distracted audience is a reason to review the design of the event. Speaker choice and pacing are useful places to start.

1. Map the energy curve before you book a single speaker

Before booking any speaker, draw it as a curve: expected energy level, session by session, hour by hour. Where do you expect the highs (opening keynote, big reveal, closing session) and the lows (post-lunch, late Day 2, breakout-heavy)? Use this as a planning document, not a prediction of how every attendee will feel. If the schedule looks tiring, do not expect one speaker to carry the whole event.

Review what comes before and after their slot, and ask whether the audience will have room to absorb what they hear. The goal is a curve that trends upward overall, with the final session as the highest point on the chart. Plan this before logistics, before catering, before you touch the run-of-show template.

2. Sequence sessions by energy, not by topic

An agenda can easily end up organised solely around content logic - placing the marketing talks together, the technical sessions in clusters, and similar formats next to each other. But that's not the way to do it. For instance, two 90-minute panels in a row may test the room's patience, even if the topics look compelling on paper. Instead, alternate intensity: a high-energy keynote followed by a smaller fireside chat, followed by a workshop, followed by a keynote. Look carefully at consecutive sessions that ask the audience to sit and listen in the same way.

Use that review to shape the speaker brief. If a slot follows a demanding run of sessions, look for someone who can involve the audience as well as deliver information. When comparing motivational and inspirational speakers, ask how they would adapt to that specific point in your programme. Watch a full sample session if available, rather than judging only a highlight reel. Does the speaker's subject connect with your audience's work, questions or ambitions? Energy is useful, but it needs a reason to matter to the people in the room. Share the audience profile and intended outcome before discussing a booking.

3. Build a specific countermeasure for the Day Two dip

The second day of a conference can feel demanding after travel, conversations and a full opening programme. Treat a possible "Day Two dip" as something to plan for, not a universal pattern. Look at your own event feedback and the shape of the agenda before deciding where a change of pace would help.

The solution is not trying to push more and more content into the program, but instead injecting more energy and excitement. The morning is one possible place to try this, depending on your schedule. A powerful video that recaps highlights from the previous day and sets the right mood for the day could be a great solution. Alternatively, a surprise guest that sparks interest or an interactive activity with the audience can all help to make the second day of the conference more enjoyable.

4. Never schedule a passive lecture immediately after lunch

A post-lunch session deserves a format that gives people a reason to participate rather than simply asking them to sit through another long talk. So, it's not a good idea to schedule a slow, information-dense lecture during that time. Instead, plan something that engages the audience and keeps them active.

This might mean an interactive keynote presentation, a workshop format that requires attendees to stand up and rotate, or even a short outdoor activity immediately after lunch. If a critical, content-heavy session absolutely must run, consider whether it would fit better in a morning slot, and use the post-lunch slot for something participatory instead.

5. Engineer an engagement trigger at the ten-minute mark

Treat the ten-minute mark as a prompt to review the format, not a scientific deadline for losing attention. Ask what the audience will be doing at that point. If they are still only listening, consider whether a question, example or brief discussion would help them engage with the subject rather than interrupt the speaker's flow.

For a longer session, discuss possible points for audience participation - a live poll, a rapid-fire Q&A moment, a call-and-response line, a quick partner discussion - and you need to tell your speakers this in the clearest terms during pre-event briefings. Ask for a run of show that identifies useful opportunities for interaction, then agree the timing with the speaker.

6. Deploy novelty exactly where the curve is lowest

Return to the energy curve you sketched out in strategy one. Now, locate the bottom point of that curve. This is where novelty is working its hardest. Consider a change of format that makes sense for the audience and the subject. An unannounced element - a guest nobody expected, a short live performance, a sudden shift in format from lecture to interactive game - can give people a fresh reason to look up and take part.

Note the emphasis on unannounced. An unannounced element can feel different from a session everyone already expects. Keep at least one live element of surprise in reserve for that slot. Note that "surprises are coming!" in your marketing material or app is both self-contradictory and cheats you out of novelty's energy. The promise of surprise or delight isn't surprising or delightful. Keep the detail under wraps if surprise is part of the intended effect.

7. Hand energy management to a real emcee, not a name-reader

Do not reduce the emcee role to a quick briefing on who speaks when. Ask that person to pay attention to the room and discuss in advance what they can adjust. A longer introduction may suit one speaker; a brisk handover may suit another. Agree who makes those calls so changes feel deliberate rather than improvised. This person should be briefed on the full energy curve, not just the run-of-show times.

Give them permission to adjust between-session pacing on the fly. The gaps between sessions are where a room either holds its energy or loses it, and that's entirely the emcee's territory.

8. Build structured peer interaction into the schedule

Give attendees opportunities to contribute as well as listen. Peer-to-peer interaction can make room for questions and experiences that a keynote alone may not reach. Facilitated roundtables, competitive challenges between teams, speed-networking blocks between keynotes - all of these convert an audience from spectators into participants, and participants get a chance to connect the subject with their own experience.

Place these blocks deliberately between high-content sessions, not as filler at the end of the day when people are already checking out. A short structured networking block before a keynote is one option to compare with a coffee break; choose according to what the audience needs at that point.

9. Cut content to create deliberate whitespace

During planning meetings, the inclination is to increase the number of sessions, speakers, and value for each registration dollar. However, this approach leads to attendees feeling tired by the second day of the event. An agenda with no free time gives attendees little space to reflect, talk or take a break.

Strategic breaks function as a time for nothing. For example, a short walk outside, a table with real food (not just pastries), or five minutes of free time to refresh focus. These give people a different way to spend the interval between sessions. Review your draft agenda. Find at least two places where you can cut a session entirely rather than shorten it. Make each cut against the purpose of the event, keeping the sessions that contribute clearly to it.

10. Save the highest-wattage keynote for the final slot

Think about what you want attendees to take away from the final session. A closing keynote is a chance to connect ideas they have heard across the programme and leave them with something useful to do next. Choose a speaker who can make that connection, rather than assuming the biggest name will provide the strongest ending.

That means your closing keynote isn't just another agenda item - it is an opportunity to shape the conversation people carry away. Save the biggest name, the most emotionally resonant speaker, or the most dramatic format for last. Build toward a crescendo rather than tapering off. Close with a clear call to action and a shared sense of momentum, so the room leaves talking about how the event ended rather than how it dragged.

Some of these changes may fit the existing budget; others need to be costed before you commit. They require treating the agenda as an engineering problem instead of a content list, and giving as much strategic weight to sequencing and pacing as you already give to speaker selection. Use the review to give each speaker a clear job within the programme, then check whether the event delivered what you intended.