Remember Names

Often people will excuse themselves by saying: "I remember faces but not names." The folly of this remark is apparent: If you can remember faces, you can remember names. The trick is to connect the face and name in your mind. Here are some suggestions:

1. Listen intently the first time the name is said. Make sure you have heard it correctly.
2. Repeat the name several times in your mind.
3. Use it as often as possible in immediate and subsequent converstaions.
4. Cement the name together with the face through association. Look for some outstanding feature of the person's face. Then mentally exaggerate that feature or use your imagination to conjure up some indelible image (the more ridiculous, the better).

-Page 80 of "The art of talking so that people will Listen" by author Paul W. Swets