3 Techniques to Enhance Memory

The following three tactics help improve your audience’s retention of key messages as well as the probability of your audience taking future action.

1 Attention triggers. These are stimuli that attract and keep audience attention in areas where it matters most. During a presentation the brain typically stops paying attention when it has “habituated a stimulus,” meaning we pay less and less attention to things that are predictable. Allow the brain to detect a pattern first, and then break that pattern. For example, consider dropping a stunning photo with a powerful quote in the middle of a sequence of text-heavy PowerPoint slides.

2 Memory magnets. These can be visual elements of text or graphics that make content memorable. Use them to appeal to audiences’ mental models or to build associations. Emotions also drive action and can be memory magnets. When you experience something emotional, the brain encodes a marker. Later, when you see or experience something similar, you remember that feeling. While research shows that the human brain is wired to remember stories, it’s just as easy for the brain to forget them. Simon explains: “How many stories told to you over the past month do you actually remember? ... The question should be what makes for a memorable story.”

3 Decision drivers. It’s one thing to get people to pay attention and remember, but will they act on your messages in the future? Persuasion requires mastering the skill of appealing to human motivational drivers. Those drivers can include things like achievement, efficiency, autonomy, affiliation, prominence, freedom from worry, and other factors. Do some research to determine what drives a particular audience.