Hermine Hilton teaches memory technique

    On Tuesday evening, memory expert Hermine Hilton -- recently back in the U.S. from a speaking engagement in Nigeria -- provided students with a fast-paced crash course in memory techniques that will help them learn and recall such basic information as addresses, dates, historical facts, and names.

    To read more about Ms. Hilton, click "Hermine Hilton." 

    Calling the brain "the greatest computer," she urged students to "push the save key" by employing a system of memorization that involves consciously associating a word, number, name, or fact with words that sound similar or with relevant data.  For example:  one might remember that the right side of Abraham Lincoln's face or profile appears on the penny by observing the penny and consciously noting to oneself that "Lincoln always tried to do the right thing."

    "You hit your computer's save key by asking yourself, 'What else does that fact make me think of?'"  Hilton explained.

Hermine Hilton with Hill's librarian, Lou Jeffries

 Hilton taught the audience how to count to 10 in Japanese by leading them through an exercise in which each word was audibly associated with an English word or phrase.

    The energetic speaker also recruited 18 students to join her on stage, then proceeded to ask them to state their mother's maiden names.  By associating each name with something that sounded like the name or evoked some kind of image connected to the students' appearance, in a matter of minutes the audience demonstrated that they, too, had memorized each of the students' mothers' maiden names.

    Hilton sold and signed copies of her book, The Executive Memory Guide, for several students after her presentation.