Learning at Work Day 2009 - Memory Improvement with Bardic Performances

Learning at Work Day 2009 - Memory Improvement with Bardic Performances

Learning at Work Day 2009 took place on Thursday 14 May. I’ve done talks on Reiki for the last few years and this year it seemed time for a change. After moving over to performing new poems from memory in 2009, I had an idea to do a talk about memory improvement, using bardic performances for the demonstrations. The idea was accepted and I did two three-hour workshops on the day. I started by talking about myself and how the memory work had started and come back as a result of the Bard of Bath competition. Then it was into the performance of an 80-line poem selected by the audience - forwards and backwards. The test continued with everyone in the audience asking questions about all 160 verses of the new poems - number to verse and later, verse to number. This went well and everyone wanted to see how it was done. The first exercise was to learn a list of 10 items, without and then with training. This was part of the Minor System, that also included sequences, journeys and memory palaces. After the break it was a look at some fun common and not so common mnemonics and rhymes. Then it was into the Major System, converting numbers to words and back again, building an ever-expanding grid of memory pegs. We saw how this could be used to memorise a poem, as well as more complicated data like author information and entries from the periodic table. The audience was then invited to pick playing cards from an A4 pack and the sequence was memorised and recalled successfully. There was a brief look at some useful websites and use of Excel to aid memory training. Recommendations were made for three books by Tony Buzan, Derren Brown and Judy Parkinson. And a quote was shown on how Rawlett College students had used techniques from Tony and Derren to significantly improve their scores. It was a lot to take in on the day and I recommended everyone to start small to gain confidence and to allow the system to expand with them. Overall, a manic but enjoyable day. Thanks to Teresa Marsh for taking all the photos.