Defaults — the research, and how to use it at events

The research, plainly

Johnson and Goldstein's famous organ-donation comparison: countries with opt-out consent showed rates near 90–100%, while culturally similar opt-in neighbors sat far lower. Same humans, same stakes — the default did almost all the work.

The receipt: Johnson & Goldstein, 2003

What it means for events

Every choice at your event has a default, designed or accidental. Pre-booked follow-ups, pre-built agendas, pre-checked sessions — the path of least resistance is the path most traveled, so build the path you want on it.

Where to run it

Meeting programs

Pre-schedule the post-event 1:1 for every qualified attendee — 'reply to move it' beats 'reply to book it' by miles.

Agenda & registration

Default attendees into the recommended track; let them customize out. Blank schedules produce blank attendance.

Follow-up cadence

Enrollment in the Day-3/10/30 sequence is automatic at registration, with a clean opt-out. The drip is the default.

Seen in the wild

The pre-scheduled-meetings model at major trade shows — where the calendar arrives already populated — is defaults doing what booths never could: attendance by inertia instead of intention.

Related concepts

FrictionEvery extra step loses people. Every removed step keeps them.Implementation Intentions'I'll do it' fails. 'I'll do it Tuesday at 9, at my desk' works.Loss AversionLosing $100 hurts about twice as much as winning $100 feels good.

All 115 concepts in the Library →

Now use it

Score your own event against principles like this one — or make the whole vocabulary official.

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