Improve Your Audience’s Memory with One Simple Technique

I was recently thinking about some of the criteria that goes into making a speech effective. Of course there are many factors. Does the audience connect with the speaker and do they comprehend the content, are a couple of good examples. Another is, “Is the speech memorable?”

If I tell you something today and ask you to repeat it tomorrow I have less than a 50% chance of you remembering it. I can increase that percentage by engaging you – either visually or physically. For instance, I could show you images on a PowerPoint type presentation or get you actively involved during the presentation.

These can be effective to a point – however when I speak, I am really trying to communicate my thoughts to you. I need to make sure that those thoughts are easily understood.

Now I’m not saying that they need to be easily understood by everyone – just everyone in your audience. If you’re presenting a Ph.D. thesis, then obviously there is going to be a degree of background knowledge required of your audience. It wouldn’t be appropriate for an individual with no history in the field to have an immediate grasp of the material because then you would be talking down to your core audience. If however, you are speaking to a group of laypeople, using a vocabulary and concepts that they are not familiar with, then your speech is going to be ineffective.

In previous articles I have explored these concepts by stating that you need to make sure that your speech is appropriate for your audience. One way to do this is to strive to have the audience members be astounded with how smart they are as they grasp the concepts you are sharing – rather than being astounded by how smart you are. To accomplish this, give your audience the information they need – not more, and not less.

Today I want to go a step beyond and talk about another small change that can have a big impact on people comprehending and retaining your material – that is, communicating in concrete terms. People process information in a visual manner – that is, as something is described they visualize it. This means that abstract statements take longer to process and are more difficult to remember. 

Let’s examine a couple of mission statements as an example. 

Our first mission statement is very abstract – it would take our audience some time to process.

 “The ABC Corporation exists in order to augment investor and market value whilst provide a service to our patrons through a diverse assortment of logistical and secure facility services.”

Our second mission statement is very concrete and visual. It is:

The ABC Corporation moves and protects stuff for our customers. We are a business, and as such, we expect to make a reasonable profit for our owners.

First of all, I acknowledge that both examples are extreme – but that is done intentionally to illustrate the point I’m making. Which of those two statements will an off the street audience member remember tomorrow? Chances are, it’s the second one. An individual can picture the stuff being moved and protected. S/he can picture a business expecting to make a profit. The statement is easy to remember.

The first statement is so open ended and academic that there is no real visual connection. It will take the audience members time to process – first to understand what is being said, and then to translate it into a series of images that they can remember.

This concept is so easy – yet people rarely use it. They often feel that introducing a level of abstraction will increase the perceived value of what they have to say. Unfortunately, it often has the effect of reducing the audience’s comprehension and retention.

If you want your audience to remember what you have to say, put in terms that they can not only understand, but also visualize.

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