I went to a class (not shooting related), and the woman teaching it had us do an ice breaker (intro yourself to someone you do not know) and then that person introduced you. After all forty people had been introduced to the class, she went back through all forty names and something about each of us. She made the point that it can be done if you really listen. Ever since then, in any group, I do my best to get all names down immediately.
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
I’m very intentional about note taking in meetings with customers. I try to put my notebook away and listen with my hands folded as much as I can, unless the customer is clearly dictating specifications. But at the beginning of the meeting I introduce myself and ask each person to tell me their name and function, and I carefully write it down. This is a little disruptive and I have to watch time management, but it’s necessary now that more often than not people don’t have business cards.
Ignore Alien Orders
The classic mnemonic device for remembering folks' name came from research on visual imagery. You train yourself to establish a visual image based on the name that incorporates the person's face with the image that clues the name. A simple example is Stanley Fish. You visualize his head on a fish. It turns out that since we are such visual animals, we recall visual images well. That is because:
1. A large part of the primate visual brain is designate for vision. If you were just a monkey, it would be about 60%. It's less a percent with us as we added such large frontal areas that make us smart (haha) but we have the large processing areas. There are 20 or more specialized areas for all kinds of visual tasks, motion, color, depth, facial recognition - fascinating structures.
2. The visual images thus are recalled better and faster with less interference that pure verbal tags.
Used to do a week on visual imagery in Cognitive Psychology class. I could also tell how the large Texan psychologist who developed and refined the techniques accidentally broke down the door of a Japanese colleague after a night of imbiding. I'll skip the details.
The use of visual imagery goes back to the Greeks (Method of Loci) but modern neuroscience and recordings figured out the basis.
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
And there I was, thinking you knew my name because you really liked me. This is the most disappointing thing I've heard since the stripper incident.
Kidding. Great tip.