Great post, Harold! I've long been an advocate of "less is more" (although I don't always practice what I preach) and of trying to get people to interact with the materials in ways that push them past their boundaries. At one day-long session I did not bring any handouts. Instead, I had the group create their own and share with each other. What was interesting was the degree of resistance and complaint I got because I didn't just give them handouts. They didn't WANT to work at learning as much as be entertained (hopefully) at my session. What was also interesting was that the complaints showed up on my "smile sheets," where I received lower ratings than I usually do with this group, even though several said that they'd actually learned MORE at this session! Crazy!

Anyway--I applaud and appreciate your plan for 2008 and I'm looking forward to seeing where it takes you.