It is no secret that I am terrible with names. In fact, I often joke that everyone should wear a name badge, not just at conferences or fast food establishments, but also at school, work, and soccer games. Think about how much easier life would be if, when running into a soccer mom at the grocery store, you weren't left fumbling for her name.
Enter NameCatcher, an app created by a mom just like me (I know, I met her for the first time last week), which is designed to help the user remember names, as well as other important pieces of information.
Starting out, I admit I was a little overwhelmed by the blank slate that I was presented with (it would probably benefit from having one sample name already entered). But I decided to give it a try last weekend at my son's soccer game, and immediately saw the potential benefits to my poor, overtaxed brain.
You start by entering a parent's name (first, last, whatever you can capture), as well as other details that will help you find the person again including categories (soccer, school, cub scouts); reference hints (coach, son's name, hair color) and any additional information you might want to keep track of (kids names, working or stay-at-home, etc). It also allows you to "tag" the listing with a location so that you can pull up a list of people you met at a certain place (such as the middle school soccer field). If you have a photo, or can take a snapshot, you can also add a picture to the record.
Trying it last weekend, I found the process of inputting the names was helpful as a device to move information into my long term memory, although figuring out how to create the entry without seeming like I'm texting or ignoring the person was a challenge.
When I find a spare moment, I'm actually planning on sitting down with the app and our school lists to enter all the people I "must" know before I see them again.
At 99¢ this inexpensive app (available for the iPhone platform only) is a high tech way to help the name challenged like myself.
What do you do to remember all the names?
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Need help remembering names? There's an app for that.
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