Priming

Here is another technique for remembering people's names.

If you know that you are about to go into a situation where you may need to remember people's names, you can use a technique called "priming." To do this, you will need a list of the people who you might encounter. If you are going to a high school reunion, you could flip through your yearbook. If you are going to a company party, you could scan through the company directory. Studies show that if you have "primed" your memory with all the potential names, you will be much more likely to recall a particular name when you encounter that person at the event.