The research, plainly
Einstein and McDaniel's prospective memory research separated remembering facts from remembering intentions — and found future intentions surviving mainly when tied to distinctive cues that appear at the moment of action. No encountered cue, no remembered intention.
The receipt: Einstein & McDaniel, 1990
What it means for events
Don't just secure the intention — install its trigger. 'When the Monday pipeline review opens, that's your signal' plants the cue inside the attendee's real week; the commitment without a trigger is a message in a bottle addressed to no one.
Where to run it
Commitment design
Every plan names its cue: an existing meeting, a calendar alarm, an object placed on the desk.
Physical anchors
The card that goes on the monitor, the object that goes in the bag — designed to be encountered, not filed.
Digital triggers
Ship the calendar invite in the room: the Day-14 block, accepted before departure, is a cue with a timestamp.
Seen in the wild
Related concepts
Now use it
Score your own event against principles like this one — or make the whole vocabulary official.
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