Public Speaking for Geeks

(Read the earlier posts in this series here, here, here and here.)

Next up in this series are two videos with Andi Bell (three time World Memory Champion) from the BBC program "How to Improve Your Memory".

In this first video, Bell memorizes the order of 20 decks of cards in ten minutes. He then shows how he encodes the card by translating them into characters, then stores the images in a memory journey around London.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-xl7_hdWZo]

In this second video, Bell teaches the host of "How to Improve Your Memory" how to create his own memory palace out of his home.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NROegsMqNc]

This second video shows how really simple the technique of creating a memory palace out of home or memory journey out of a path through town is very simple to do. Remembering the locations is the easy part for most people. Learning to quickly create vivid, bizarre images can take a bit of practice.

Take a recent presentation you built. Write down the opening statement, the three main points ( and examples for each) and the closing statement. Now create a memory palace. For this exercise, I suggest using your home. Start your path in your bedroom, then work a path through the entire home until you have eight spots for your memory palace. Use halls, bathrooms and closets if necessary. For now, only store one vivid image scene in each location.

Next, work on creating a vivid, bizarre action scene for the opening and closing statement, and one for each of your three main points and three examples. Each of these colorful action scenes should include sounds and a  powerful smell or taste as well.

Try it out. Please post your results and thoughts on the experience in the comments.

More video examples to come…