In this spirit, some are experimenting with new approaches to maximize the return on investment from corporate offsite training events. These events are extremely expensive by most business training standards. They involve flights, hotels, and removing revenue-generating employees from the field for days on end. As a result, it is imperative that the return to the business from these events be maximized.

Frustrated by the dated thinking in this area, some organizations have taken a new tack, aggressively embracing sleep deprivation as a modality for ensuring optimal results from training. This paper examines early anecdotal evidence of the success of this technique, and recommends further more rigorous experimentation to validate these results.

Methodology

The subject (the author) was awakened at 5 a.m. on day 1, awakened at 4 a.m. on day 2, kept at maximum mental activity levels until midnight, then awakened again at 7 a.m. on Day 3.

Training was delivered on Days 2 and 3. In order to maximize the benefit of sleep deprivation, additional factors were introduced:

The methodology of the experiment has been criticized on two counts.

First the subject was allowed some degree of sleep both nights. In the company’s defense it must be pointed out that the only alternative flights between the two cities (on the afternoon of Day 1) would have allowed the subject to sleep in the same city for two contiguous nights and to get at least five hours more sleep on the night of Day 2, thus seriously diminishing the effect of the experiment.