How to remember names with ease…

It was the end of the weekend and I had to hand a pack out to each of the attendees of the weekend course we had been running.  I was standing in the middle of the group looking at the name on the top pack…I had to now pass it to the person…I had just spent a weekend with them…but there were 20 of them was my excuse…’oh no, this is going to be very embarrassing’ I told myself.  How is it going to look if I remember some people’s names and not others…

I used to be notoriously bad at remembering peoples names.  It can be so useful to remember peoples name.  Imagine seeing someone for a second time and being able to recall their name with ease.  Having your name remembered by someone can lift you and enable you to feel more valued by that person.

Since that moment standing in front of the group passing out the named packs and die of embarrassment I have since learnt a technique that has helped me enormously.  I tested it afterwards at a weekend where we had about 40 people.  After having a brief conversation with each person I had all their names logged easily.  The others co-leading the weekend were still struggling at the end of the weekend.

This is the way I do it:

1. When speaking to them and you have their name think of someone else you know with the same name.
2. Put a feature of the other person you know with the same name on to the person you are speaking with.  For example, perhaps you are talking to a Douglas and you know another Douglas with a beard, imagine the Douglass you are talking to has the same beard.  It could be a beard, hair style, glasses or anything.
3. If you cannot think of someone you know with the same name, you might be able to think of someone with a very similar name that will be close enough to jog you memory for the actual name.
4. If you cannot think of a feature think of someone else with an association with the persons name.  For example if you are talking to a Mike you might picture a microphone on the top of his head or something like that.

This is a very visual way of doing it, there are others. For example if you are more of an auditory person you might find it useful to use their name as often as you can after being introduced and you may find that works for you.

Remembering peoples name be useful to you with the season of parties upon us!  Impress others with your recollection of the names of the new people you met!