when your message matters: four ways to make it stick.€¦ · niques to make sure that your...

Sharon Bowman 775-749-5247 [email protected] www.Bowperson.com © 2005 1

You may be a corporate trainergiving crucial information to agroup of employees. You may beteacher lecturing a class full ofstudents. You might be telling aco-worker or friend somethingyou consider really important. Oryou may be a parent, hoping thatthe information you give yourchildren will be remembered andheeded.

Whatever situation you findyourself in, and whenever theinformation you’re sharing is im-portant enough, you want tomake sure the folks listening toyou remember what they hear.

Yes, you might just cross yourfingers and hope that they “gotit.” After all, they heard it, right?

Or you might not even worryabout it. You did your job bytelling them the information.Now it’s their job to rememberand use it.

Or you might ask, “Do you haveany questions?” And you makethe assumption that they under-stood what they heard you saysimply because they have noquestions to ask.

OR - You can use one of thefollowing simple, easy tech-niques to make sure that yourlisteners really heard and under-stood your message.

These techniques take no morethan a minute or two of time, andyet they help your listeners move

When Your Message Matters:Four Ways to Make It Stick.

By Sharon L. Bowman, MA

Professional Speaker and Corporate TrainerDirector, The Lake Tahoe Trainers Group

Owner, Bowperson Publishing & Training, Inc.

P.O. Box 564, Glenbrook, NV 89413Phone: 775-749-5247 Fax: 775-749-1891

E-Mail: [email protected] Web-Site: www.Bowperson.com

When Your Message Matters: Four Ways to Make It Stick.


the new information into long-term memory, which is importantwhen your message really mat-ters.

Don’t be embarrassed by askingthe listener to do one of thesememory techniques. Simply ex-plain that you want to make surethey don’t forget the importantinformation - these simple ac-tivities will help them rememberinformation longer.

1. Use a catchy slogan. We areconditioned by television to thinkin sound-bites, one-liners, andslogans. Make up a short sloganthat captures the heart of yourmessage, or that reminds peopleabout the information they heard.Then repeat the slogan a fewtimes as you talk, and have yourlisteners repeat it also. Accordingto advertising research, when aslogan is repeated a minimum ofsix times, it begins to move intolong-term memory. Think “Justdo it!” “Fly the friendly skies.”“Got milk?” and so on.

Invite your listeners to create theslogans that will help them re-member the information.

As the friend or co-worker withwhom you’re sharing informa-tion, to think of a catchy phrasethat would help him rememberwhat he’s heard.

If working with your own kids,do the same: encourage them tomake up ways to remember whatyou tell them. During theday/week, invite them to repeatthe slogans they create.

2. Write it down. People usuallyremember more information ifthey see it and write it, as well ashear it. So print out the importantpoints on a chart or other largesheet of paper (large enough foreveryone to read as you talk). Orprint important facts on indexcards and pass out the cards toyour listeners. Better yet, invitelisteners to jot down the impor-tant points or key words on indexcards, a handout, or scratch paperwhile you talk.

If talking one-on-one with afriend or co-worker, hand thatperson a pen and blank indexcard and say, “This is profoundso write it down!”

You can do the same with chil-dren. Say, “Let’s write this downtogether so we won’t forget it.”



3. Post a reminder. If you areteaching or training, remember topost important informationaround the room (on walls, ta-bles, floors, hallways, doors)where learners can see and read itoften during the class or training.

If talking with a friend or co-worker, invite that person to postthe index card he has written on,or the page of informationyou’ve given him, on a bulletinboard, wall, desk, mirror, com-puter, door - anywhere the personwill be likely to reread it.

The same applies to your trainingparticipants. Tell them to post theimportant things they’ve learnedin places where they will reread,remember, and use the informa-tion later.

Your kids can do the same withtheir reminders. They can choosethe place they wish to tape thereminder so that they will see itdaily.

4. Teach it to another. The bestway to remember anything is toteach it to someone else. Invitelearners to do just that. Theyform pairs or triads with the folksaround them, and then take turnsexplaining the important pointsto the others.

Your friend or co-worker canteach another person what youshared with him. Or you can say,“Now pretend that I don’t knowanything about this topic. Whatwould you tell me? What do Ineed to know?” And then listento what your friend says andparaphrase back what you hear.

As for your children, have themteach each other, teach you, orteach a friend about what youjust taught them. If no one isaround, and your child is youngenough, have her teach a pet orstuffed animal the new informa-tion. Make it a game by saying,“Dolly needs to know what Itaught you. Can you teach her?”

Final Thoughts. Making up aslogan, writing it down, posting avisual reminder, teaching it tosomeone else: all simple ways tomove important information intolong-term memory. When yourmessage matters, and you wantlisteners to remember what theyhear, use one of these quick, easymemory techniques to make yourmessage stick.



Author and traveling teacher SharonBowman helps educators and businesspeople “teach it quick and make itstick,” - fine-tuning their information-delivery skills and turning their passivelisteners into active learners.

Over 50,000 copies of Sharon’s 6popular teaching, training, and moti-vation books are now in print. Lookfor her newest book, published byPfeiffer, a division of John Wiley &Sons, titled: The Ten-Minute Trainer!150 Ways to Teach It Quick andMake It Stick. It is available onwww.amazon.com.

For more information about SharonBowman and her books and training,log onto www.Bowperson.com, oremail her at [email protected].

For book orders, go towww.trainerswarehouse.com,www.amazon.com, or call BowpersonPublishing at 775-749-5247.

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