Be memorable (for the right reasons!)

If you want people to remember what you say, it’s useful to know how their memories work!

So, here’s a quick memory exercise for you…

Read the list of words below. Only read it once. Remember as many as you can. I’ll ask you some questions about the list later on.

Here goes…

Hen

Bus

Brown

Hit

Potato

Then

Car

Then

Under

Balloon

House

Then

Disneyworld in Florida, USA

Crossword

Then

Blunt

By

Then

Flute

High

Tar

Horse

Tailor

Without looking back at the list of words, now answer these four questions:

1. What were the first five words?
2. What were the last five words?
3. Which word was repeated?
4. What was the holiday destination?

The answers are:

1. Hen, bus, brown, hit, potato
2. Flute, high, tar, horse, tailor
3. Then
4. Disneyworld in Florida, USA

These four questions represent how people’s memories work. People tend to remember one/more of:

1. The first things they see/hear
2. The last things they see/hear
3. Things that are repeated
4. Things that stand out in some way

(Often, people tend to be worst at the second question – in other words, they are least good at remembering things they have most recently seen).

So, how do we use this knowledge?

Well, when you have a key message that you want people to remember, say this message in each of these four ways:

1. At the start – say it early, put it in your opening paragraph, your opening slide, your title, etc
2. At the end – repeat it at the end
3. Repeat the key message throughout
4. Make it stand out in some way. Use an analogy, a personal story to reinforce it, a captivating visual, humour etc… anything that makes it stand out

And definitely do NOT do what many people do – mention your key point only once (so, not repeated), somewhere in the middle (so, not at the start or end) and in a way that looks the same as everything else (so not outstanding)!

Action Point

For your next important communication:

1. Identify your key point(s)
2. Work out the best way to phrase it, so it has maximum impact
3. Say it at the start, end, repeat it and give a ‘stand-out’ reinforcement