How often have you been at a networking event or facilitating a meeting and forgotten somebody’s name? It’s not only embarrasing, but can harm your credibility, especially if you are a leader or manager.

Here are our top tips for making sure you remember people’s names in important situations. A host of other useful articles and tips are available in our new Leadership Skills resources section. For really comprehensive coverage of Leadership Skills we also offer a 2-day Leadership Skills training course.

Whilst forgetting someone’s name can be a disaster, the other side of the coin is that remembering their name can be very positive. Remembering their name will let someone know that you think that they are an important part of the team and that their efforts are not going to waste. So taking the trouble to learn someone’s name is a task well worth doing. But what if there are a lot of people in your team? Or perhaps you have trouble remembering names in the first place? Well never fear, if you learn this simple technique you will soon be finding it a lot easier:

LAER.

LAER is an acronym for the four step method shown below:

Listen and look for any unique characteristics that person may have, for instance any defining mannerisms or fashion styles that person may have. If you do find that a person does have any of these then make a mental note of them. Similarly make sure you actually get their name in the first place and don’t be afraid to ask them to repeat it again if you didn’t catch it the first time.

Associate a person and their name to a picture or scenario that is easy to recall. Added visual stimulus makes it easier for the brain to remember information and so if you do this right you should find it a lot easier to remember a person’s name. If the person has a very complicated name that is difficult to pronounce then you may have to break their name down into its different syllables and make a picture or scenario out of those rather than the name as a whole.

Exaggerate the mental picture that you have for a person’s name, the more absurd and a departure from day to day life it is the more likely you are to remember it for those very reasons. Also, if you can, it is a good idea to try and make it funny in someway as well, as this will also help you to remember.

Repetition; repeating a person’s name is one of the best ways to remember it. This doesn’t just mean repeating it under your breath a few times as the more you use that person’s name in conversation the better you will remember it as well. One easy, non conspicuous way to do this is by introducing them to other people.

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courses, Facilitating Groups, Facilitation Skills, LAER, leadership skills, leadership training, management skills, management training, Remembering Names, Remembering Peoples Names, techniques, Tips, top tips, training

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