Comments on: Reader Question – Memorization http://www.productivity501.com/reader-question-memorization/438/ Pieces of the productivity puzzle. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:53:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: ellipsisknits http://www.productivity501.com/reader-question-memorization/438/comment-page-1/#comment-20774 ellipsisknits Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:36:29 +0000 http://www.productivity501.com/reader-question-memorization/438/#comment-20774 I use (well, used, back in school when I had to memorize things) a technique similar to the link you gave, but a little more holistic. I started reading through the entire speech until fluent. Then highlight some of the key words to help you find them faster when you glance. Then cut out everything but the key words. Then see how many of those you can get rid of. At every step, read through again and again until you can recite it fluently with the amount of notes you have left, at which point you'll have a good sense of what you don't need anymore. Usually I stopped with a bulleted list of a half dozen words or so, and didn't worry about verbatim, just ideas (sometimes I stopped with the full text and highlighted words - I only had to look at the keywords, but the rest was there as a safety net, and saved the effort of re-writing). but with more time and effort you could push the technique farther. I use (well, used, back in school when I had to memorize things) a technique similar to the link you gave, but a little more holistic.

I started reading through the entire speech until fluent. Then highlight some of the key words to help you find them faster when you glance. Then cut out everything but the key words. Then see how many of those you can get rid of.
At every step, read through again and again until you can recite it fluently with the amount of notes you have left, at which point you’ll have a good sense of what you don’t need anymore.

Usually I stopped with a bulleted list of a half dozen words or so, and didn’t worry about verbatim, just ideas (sometimes I stopped with the full text and highlighted words – I only had to look at the keywords, but the rest was there as a safety net, and saved the effort of re-writing). but with more time and effort you could push the technique farther.

]]> By: sarasara http://www.productivity501.com/reader-question-memorization/438/comment-page-1/#comment-20753 sarasara Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:05:14 +0000 http://www.productivity501.com/reader-question-memorization/438/#comment-20753 I entered a speech contest - seven minutes in a foreign language in front of 1000 people and five TV cameras. I found that talking out loud while walking helped a lot. I deliberately took another bus to work that made me walk 30min along a noisy road - so I would just read it out loud while walking. The road was so loud nobody would notice - I later also took to mumbling the speech in the gym. It really helped to move - like a little choreography. No doubt you will also have your little gestures with certain words and sentences... (But then I am a kinetic learning type) Another thing that helps you look calm is to look slow from left to right and back to right, scanning the room. I entered a speech contest – seven minutes in a foreign language in front of 1000 people and five TV cameras.
I found that talking out loud while walking helped a lot. I deliberately took another bus to work that made me walk 30min along a noisy road – so I would just read it out loud while walking.
The road was so loud nobody would notice – I later also took to mumbling the speech in the gym. It really helped to move – like a little choreography. No doubt you will also have your little gestures with certain words and sentences…
(But then I am a kinetic learning type)
Another thing that helps you look calm is to look slow from left to right and back to right, scanning the room.

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