What We're Reading Now

Name Games for Networking

30 April 2013

Allison read several blog posts about how to remember people’s names and used some of the tips to improve her networking efforts at a conference with 950+ people.

Tags: allison read, careers, communication

As a business owner, I probably spend more time networking than most. However, I also network because I like it. I enjoy meeting new people and get a special thrill out of connecting people who I think could be supportive to one another. I know that sometimes people hear the word networking and think, “Oh yuck! That’s all about trying to get a job or being a social climber. I only do it if have to.”

I prefer to think of networking as just another form of communication that supports relationship development which is what makes everything we want for ourselves and others possible. (If you need a nudge to help you think about networking more holistically as well as tips for how to build your connecting skills, check out Power Networking: 59 Secrets for Personal & Professional Success by Donna Fisher and Sandy Vilas.)

When we’re out there making new connections, many of us have a hard time remember people’s names. That’s why I was glad to see this Tweet from my friend, Marcia Connor on 15 April:

@marciamarcia: Remembering a name isn’t always easy. Asking a question usually is. Great @lifehacker tip! <link>

Marcia is one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter. In addition, to sharing her stories and points of view, she also serves as a helpful curator of the Twittershpere. So when Marcia shared this blog post by Thorin Klosowski about how to remember people’s names, I knew it would be helpful.

His tip of asking the person you’ve just met a question comes from an blog post by Jacquelyn Smith of Forbes Magazine. Many networking books I’ve read suggest repeating the person’s name throughout the conversation, but Smith believes it’s more effective to do this if you ask the person a question and while she’s answering, repeat her name to yourself a few times. This gives you a chance to “cement the name in your brain first” before the conversation continues.

I was a bit concerned that I might find myself unable to hear the person’s answer to my question while I was repeating the name, but somehow it all seemed to work out just fine. It’s also a great way to engage the person you’ve just met and learn something interesting that might also help to connect the name to the person’s answer.

 

In addition to sharing this tip, Klosowski also included links to three other lifehacker blog posts. There were many ideas I’d seen before and one that seemed very cool, but more complicated than I could handle. However, I especially liked the suggestion of focusing on the color of someone’s eyes and making a mental connection between the person’s name and eye color which helps you make better eye contact, too. I found that combining this idea with the question asking / name repetition tip at a conference with 950+ attendees over the weekend really helped me to remember more names than usual. How do you remember people’s names?

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