Confidence Boosts for Festive social events: Tip 1 – Stimulate your memory

Traumatic stresses (like party panic!), provoke an anxiety reaction in the brain which may inhibit the imprinting of memories. This is why you may not remember names and other important facts you hear when you first meet someone at a social networking event. Be aware of this and ensure you give your memory a helping hand and use these tips.

•  repeat names as often as is appropriate after an introduction and using them again when you say goodbye
• ask how a name is spelt or if it is a diminutive
• make a link in your mind or out loud to another person with the same or similar name e.g.‘I had a very close friend at school who was also called David – he’s also an accountant now
• link the person’s name to a picture in your mind e.g.to remember David from Wales you could see his name on a flag on top of Snowdonia.

 …and if you still forget, just simply admit it with smile and very brief apology. No need to include a possibly off-putting self-put-down such as “I’ve got a terrible memory.”

Adpated from: ‘Confident Networking’ by Gael and Stuart Lindenfield – new edition Piatkus 2010

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