Here I show a customized ending to a keynote for my Australian client.

One of my biggest challenges when I keynote is convincing the audience that I do NOT have an innate ability to remember things, it is not a ‘natural’ ability…it is an application of systems that ANYONE can learn, adapt and apply to their business. Adapting these systems allow you to stand out from your competition.

Watch the video, it’s just a couple min’s, it will show you the untapped power of our brains.

Funny, unique and interactive in his entertaining conference keynotes and workshops, Bob Gray reveals the untapped potential in each of us. His empowering systems and their many applications in the business world give participants immediate ‘walk away’ value. Book Bob Gray today as your next conference keynote speaker.  Watch Bob in action.

The post Client Customization appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.

They say that a good deal of success in life just comes down to who you know. That’s certainly true, but I might amend that to include the people you’ve met and can remember.

If that seems like a small distinction, it isn’t – most of us meet hundreds, and maybe thousands, of people who could help us live better lives in dozens of different ways, if only we could make the right connections and associations at the right times. In other words, if we could recall the name of that great contractor we met, the recommendation for the dentist we got, or who the boss’s nephew was again, more things would tend to go our way.

That’s why it’s important that you make the most of holiday parties this year. It’s a virtual guarantee that you’re going to meet someone you’d like to know, or at least remember, at a later date, but most of us aren’t as strong with names and faces as we would like.

With that in mind, here are some quick tips for remembering the names and faces of people you meet at holiday parties this season:

Make a quick image association. This is one of the easiest memory techniques to learn, and one of the most powerful. When you meet a new person, associate their name with some image in your mind; perhaps they remind you of someone you know or someone famous. Or simply associate them with someone you know or someone famous who has the same name. Hold it firm for a moment or two. The stronger the picture is, emotionally speaking, the easier it will be to recall later.

Remember where you are when you meet someone. If you can recall where you were when you met someone, or who you were with, you stand a much better chance of recalling their name later. So, take a quick mental snapshot of your location and associate it with the new name.

Spell their name. Spelling their name forces you to hear it, most times we don’t actually forget a name, we just don’t remember it in the first place, and this is usually because we don’t hear it.

Say or repeat their name. Use the name once or twice in your initial conversation. Say the person’s name, either out loud in conversation or quietly to yourself. Then, remind yourself again at a later time of their name, and it will likely stick in your memory.

These are only simple techniques, of course, but they work. In my keynotes and workshops, I teach attendees to quickly memorize names and faces in rapid succession, and you can easily learn to do the same. Best of all, if you practice these techniques regularly, the names won’t just stay with you, but you’ll be able to recall them later, and maybe even for years to come.

Imagine how convenient it would be to remember the names, faces, and details of everyone you met at holiday parties, industry events, and social gatherings!

The post Are You Ready to Make the Most of Holiday Parties? appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.

” Bob Gray has a humorous, entertaining approach to improving memory and other business skills. memoryedge.com ”

Check out the full article by Loren G. Edelstein here.

The post Bob Gray named one of the Best Keynote Speakers by Meetings & Conventions Magazine appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.

One of the easiest ways salespeople, self-employed professionals, and just about anyone else can get ahead is to enhance their memory. Learning to remember important details about clients, executives, coworkers, and other contacts can be just the ticket. These details include names and faces, of course, but could also be things like their birthday, spouse’s name, children’s names, even the name of their dog – ask any dog lover!

For a long time, getting this kind of information together, much less remembering it, required a lot of work. You might have to make detailed notes after a conversation, keep a filing system, or even put together a set of index cards with the person’s photo, if you could even find one. That meant that your post-networking event routine could turn into something resembling an FBI profiling chart.

With that kind of hassle involved, it’s no wonder very few people took the time to try. All of that has changed with the rise of social media, however, meaning that there is literally no excuse for not knowing what you should about your most important customers or contacts. With a simple look through someone’s Facebook or LinkedIn profile, for example, you can enhance your memory and remember the details

Enhance your memory with information like:

What their face looks like
The names of their spouse and/or children
Their hobbies and interests
What city or college they come from
What sort of positions or careers they worked at in the past

… and the list could go on and on. While I’m certainly not advising you to engage in cyber stalking, what I am recommending you do is start to build a mental profile – and maybe even a quick set of reminders that you can look over at regular intervals. You can then apply a memory system so you can recall this information quickly and easily. It’s not so difficult to enhance your memory after all.

The benefit? Well, let me put this scenario to you. How often have you bumped into a client outside of a prearranged appointment, where you don’t have the luxury to reacquaint yourself with all their personal information, say at the supermarket, and you find yourself ducking down the next aisle to avoid them because you can’t remember their name? Well, now when this happens, you’ll have the confidence to ask how their spouse is doing, or whether they are still hitting the golf course on the weekends. Doing so makes you seem more sharp and professional and their estimation of you is immediately raised. Recalling important information about a client or customer is after all the foundation of all relationships, and in any client-based business, a good relationship eventually spurs into referrals.

Isn’t that worth the effort for a few minutes a week using social media as an easy info-gathering tool? Try these tips out and enhance your memory.

Bob Gray is a popular keynote speaker and memory expert. You can find out about his speaking availability, rates, and other information by contacting his office directly.

The post Why Social Media is Making it Easier to Enhance Your Memory appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.

When I’m brought in as akeynote speaker for various conferences and events, I always enjoy talking to the attendees and audience members afterwards. Most of them don’t realize how powerful their memory truly can be, and it’s a joy to be able to teach them a life- changing skill.

One thing that I’ve noticed over the years, however, is that a lot of people don’t necessarily realize that it truly is a skill. Many tend to assume that I was just born this way, with a special mental gift for reciting names, numbers, and so on.

That’s actually not true – my memory skills are the result of practice, not any genetic gift or mutation. My first exposure to memory training came when I was about six or seven years old when I discovered a memory technique in a magic book, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

As much as I strongly advocate children learning these systems, adults can also learn, adapt and apply these systems to help them move ahead in their careers. They can be mastered and applied in a surprisingly short period of time (a topic I’ll cover in a coming post). But, if you really want to give children a head start in life, why not give them a boost with memory training?

I’ve seen myself how well it works. My own daughter was only about four years old when I started teaching her the Chain memory system, used for recalling items in a specific sequence. We played a game where several items were placed on a table, and she had one minute to try to remember all the items. A sheet was placed over the items, then I would take one item away without her seeing, then the sheet was taken away and she had to try to remember which item was missing. By initially “chaining” or “linking” the items together in a crazy story, she simply had to retrace the story in her head until she reached the missing item. This was a fun way to introduce her to the foundation of all memory systems, which is chaining visual images together in a creative way. Those tools to this day help her succeed in school, and will be a big asset to her in her coming career. I teach this same method, and more, to professionals to recall information like speeches, presentations, model numbers, prices and client names.

Here are a few things you should know about teaching memory to kids:

1. Somewhere around four years old is when I started with my daughter. Kids don’t have to be very old to learn the basics of memory improvement; the sooner the better. Arm them as soon as possible in order to take out the laborious rote memorization from the learning process. But it’s also never too late; I have taught people in their seventies!

2. Enhanced memory systems are more than “tricks.” Occasionally, teachers and administrators ask if I am teaching children more than simple tricks and gimmicks. I am, but that’s not even the point: Anything that helps kids be more knowledgeable and confident at school is a good thing, and that can carry over throughout the rest of their life. If they can remember the things they need to, who cares what you call the systems they use? All knowledge is memory; if you can find a fun, creative way for children to both store and retrieve information, then that’s a good thing in my book, no matter what you call it. Once they can do that, then you as a teacher can show them what to do with that knowledge.

3. You don’t have to be a parent to help kids with memory. I have spoken at many teachers’ conferences and other educational events. I’ve seen myself what kind of impact teachers, professors, and administrators can have on the lives of young people. You can help them take the first steps to improve their memory, and improve their lives in the process. Make memorization fun.

To learn more about an incredible memory system for recalling numerical information, which I adapted to help my daughter remember the Multiplication Tables, check out my book: Turbo Tables.

Or, contact my office to find out about my fees and availability as a keynote speaker for your next event.

The post How to Give Kids a Lifelong Skill appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.

Over the years, I’ve had the chance to hold memory presentations at dozens of colleges and universities, and have always enjoyed the experience. Not only do students have a lot of fun learning about memory, but they’re amongst the people who need it the most. Sharpening your memory can do wonderful things for your grades and testing ability, of course, but it’s also a good skill to help you throughout the rest of your professional career.

So, for all of my college-aged readers out there, here are three quick tips that I always include in memory presentations to help you earn better grades and exam scores:

1. Know the difference between learning and studying. You are in college to learn, with the goal that you’ll hopefully graduate as a well-rounded person who understands key concepts and ideas well enough to succeed in your chosen profession. When you study, on the other hand, you’re typically trying to retain important facts and ideas to pass an exam. Learn to recognize the difference (between concepts and facts), and devote your attention accordingly.

2. Use both halves of your brain. Don’t just study by making lists; instead, try drawing “mind maps” with colored pencils, doodles, and other forms of pictures and imagery. While this might not seem like the most creative thing in the world, it actually engages the right half of your brain as well as the left, making key facts and details that much more real and memorable.

3. Follow the right study plan. Although all-night studying is a bit of a time-honored tradition in some circles, the fact of the matter is that it just doesn’t work very well. Just because a particular way of doing something is popular, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best.

With that in mind, repeat after me: No last-minute cramming! Studying a little at a time at fairly frequent intervals is better than studying for long periods at less frequent intervals. Thirty minutes of study every day over a week will produce better results than a week of neglect followed by a 5-hour cramming session. You’ll be less stressed, and get much better results.

4. Do not use rote memorization. Instead of using constant repetition, read something and then try to recall it. Research shows that you only gain another 7% comprehension from a second read through material, and only an additional 1% on the third. So this valuable time spent on rereading is way out of whack for the results you can expect to gain from it.

Instead, make notes in colored pens about what you are reading. Then, ask yourself questions about what you have just read.

Try to make your studying the last thing you do before going to bed and revise the material in the morning.

Interested in having Bob Gray come and do a memory presentation at your school or university? Call or e-mail our office today to check dates, fees, and availability.

The post Why Bob Gray Memory Presentations are a Perfect Match for Students and Universities appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.

I will be completely upfront in telling you that I think any person, in any occupation, can strongly benefit from improving his or her memory. It’s just one of those skills that carries over into so many parts of your personal and professional life that it would be hard to overvalue.

With that being said, however, one of the groups that I tend to work with most often are salespeople. If ever there were a set of professionals who could use a memory presentation to make more money right away, it’s these hard-working folks who turn ideas into commission checks.

How can a stronger memory multiply your sales income? Here are just a few of the most obvious ways:

By helping you to remember every key point in a sales presentation. Using this system can assist you in not only recalling key points, but also delivering them in the correct sequence. Too many times salespeople give a dynamite presentation only to remember 30 minutes later that they forgot a key point. This leads to lost credibility . . . and potentially lost sales.

By helping you to remember customer names. Is there anything worse than sitting face to face with an important prospect – or seeing them at a convention or social setting – and not being able to remember their name? Putting names together with faces is the top challenge that salespeople ask me about, and it’s also one of the easiest skills to teach.

By letting you build stronger relationships with clients and colleagues.There is more to building rapport with customers than remembering names, of course. The more you can recall about their spouse, children, career background, and so on, the easier it is for your buyers to feel like they know and like you.

By giving you an edge with product knowledge and account details. There is also a professional component to your memory. When you have key product features, prices, part numbers, and other details available off the top of your head, you look and feel more confident. In addition, you are able to move sales forward more quickly.

By keeping you on top of what your competitors are selling. If you are able to master your competitors’ products as well as your own, you can counter nearly any objection. It isn’t enough to know about your industry – you need to be able to remember all key information at a moment’s notice to make it worthwhile.

To find out more about memory training for salespeople and my entertaining keynotes and seminars, contact my office today.

The post Why a Strong Memory Can Multiply Your Sales Income appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.

Unfortunately, many people don’t feel confident in their public speaking skills. What’s worse, they have trouble remembering the key ideas they want to convey, which only makes their anxiety worse.

Luckily, there is a very simple and easy-to-use way to remember what you need to say during a presentation, and I’m going to share it with you today. Here is how it works:

First, outline the major steps or points you want to make. Be thorough in this process, ensuring that you have made a note of everything that has to be covered in your talk or presentation.

Then, represent these key points with a visual image. If the start of your presentation is about “fundraising,” for example, visualize a gigantic collection box or plate. If the next point is about “strategy,” visualize a chess piece, and so on.

Next, start to associate or link these images with items of furniture in a particular room in your home. This can be a piano, fireplace, table, lamp, or any other item along a route that you walk frequently. By doing this, you are giving visual “shape” to each of the ideas. It sounds like a simple technique, but it’s surprisingly effective.

So, if the first piece of furniture in your living room is a couch, visualize a huge collection box sitting on your couch. If the second piece of furniture is a piano, see a large chess piece playing the piano. Remember, it’s the ridiculous images that are memorable!

Then, practice your “mental walk” a number of times. As you do, make sure you recall the items of furniture or items along the route in the same identical sequencereinforcing each point or detail with the piece of furniture or landmark. In a short amount of time, they’ll become intertwined in your mind.

Finally, when it’s time for your presentation, simply take the identical “mental walk” through the room or route and recite them back with ease.You’ll be amazed at how well and easily you remember the key points. Best of all, it’s asystem you can use again and again, so it will still be there for you the next time you need to speak in public, too! In fact, if you have many speeches to deliver in a short period, you can simply choose another room or route.

To make your memory more powerful, stop by my blog again in the near future. Or, if you’re looking for a fun and entertaining presentation for your group, contact my office to check available dates today.

The post How to Turn Your Next Major Presentation Into a Walk in the Park appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.

In this video I share a memory system invented by a genius over 300 years ago. It is the most powerful system in the world today for memorizing numbers. It allows me, in my corporate demonstrations, to recall the populations and areas in square miles of every country on the planet, and also allows me to tell anyone what day of the week they were born. This system in my opinion should be part of every school curriculum for it plays into any subject needing the recollection of numbers, whether that be Math, Geography, Science, Physics or Chemistry. It makes the boring subject of recalling numbers, fun, creative and imaginative. Here I memorize 25 random numbers forwards and backwards, so simple to do once you know just 10 sounds. You can check it out in my book in the store section.

VIDEO

Please share, below. You can also join me on Twitter, Facebook and or LinkedIn for more brain/memory information, links are at the top right of this page.

Keynote Speaker

The post A Birdcage with Underwear….meet Avery Haines appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.

Where did I put my keys?

Did I turn off the coffeepot?

Did I unplug the iron?

Where did I put my glasses?

Did I lock the back door?

I must remember to put that file in my briefcase?

Did I turn off the computer?

And on and on. We can only imagine the amount of time wasted every day throughout the world spent looking for keys, glasses, briefcases and time spent driving back home or to the office to check that the coffee pot or computer has been turned off or the iron unplugged or the front/back door has been locked.

To overcome these aggravating time wasters you have to get in the habit of paying attention to the action of turning off the appliance or locking the door or putting down your glasses. Once you are aware that you are doing it, it only takes a few seconds to form a crazy association of that action which can save you a great deal of time and aggravation.

For instance, as you turn off the coffee pot, imagine picking up the coffee pot and tipping out the remaining coffee over the kitchen counter, or picking up the pot and smashing it on the counter. That is all you will need. As you are driving to work and wonder if you turned it off, you immediately visualize the coffeepot and instantly conjure up the image you created. If no image comes to mind, obviously you left it on and need to go back.

Each and every time you place your glasses down; conjure up an image between your glasses and where you are placing them. You place them on the microwave after reading the defrost time of a lasagna, see yourself opening the microwave and imagine hundreds of pairs of glasses flying out. Or imagine opening the microwave and a large pair of glasses have melted, same with car keys or any other item.

Each time you lock a door, imagine sticking your finger in the keyhole to lock it, or your eyeball, or your foot.

When you place the important file in your briefcase, imagine opening your briefcase and a gale force wind blows out scattering the file across the office.

As you are completing the action, say aloud, “I am locking the door,” “I am unplugging the iron,” you might want to try this one if you live alone or once the family has already left for the day!

Have you ever had a great idea strike you in the middle of the night and you tell yourself, “I must remember that in the morning” only to have it disappear once you wake up? Well the next time this happens, take something from your bedside table and place it on the floor beside your bed. When you wake in the morning, the item on the floor will remind you of the thought.

So remember, get into the habit of becoming aware of these actions, and simply form a silly association.

Please share, below. You can also join me on Twitter, Facebook and or LinkedIn for more brain/memory information, links are at the top of the page.

Bob Gray CSP HoF

Keynote Speaker

The post So where did I put my car keys? appeared first on Funny Motivational Speaker, Entertaining Humorist - Bob Gray.