Purdue University

This year Purdue University ranks as the No. 23 school in the Midwest. The public research university in West Lafayette, IN, is the flagship of Purdue’s five-campus system. Known as the “cradle of astronauts,” Purdue has sent 23 alumni into space. Students can choose from over 200 undergraduate majors and more than 80 master’s and doctoral degree programs. The university offers plenty of ways to get involved outside of the classroom, too—there are almost 1,000 student organizations on campus. Around 43% of freshmen receive grants from the school averaging $7,208. Purdue has 450,000 living alumni. Traditions include Grand Prix, a go-kart race between student teams that raises money for scholarships, and Spring Fest, a yearly two-day festival that attracts thousands of participants. The university’s varsity teams, nicknamed the Boilermakers, are members of the Big Ten Conference and have won four team and 27 individual national championships. Notable former Purdue alumni include Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, former Bechtel leader Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. and NFL star Drew Brees.
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First the bad news. Yoga does not significantly boost your memory. Very good for you in many ways I practice it (a little, not enough) and recommend it to all and sundry – but not a memory booster.
You’re waiting for some good news. It is this: you can boost memory significantly by engaging in proprioceptive activities. Why is that good news, for speakers? Because you can, by extension, boost your audience’s working memory by getting them to engage in proprioceptive activities.
Working memory is important because it is the stuff that allows you to pay attention, form arguments and respond to the debate swirling around you. Very useful for your life in the boardroom or the organization.
And very useful for public speaking. You can’t give your speech if you can’t remember it, and you can’t respond in the moment to things like Q&A, or cranky audience members, or new ideas without a strong working memory.
And then, as I suggested, you can’t get your audience to remember what you’ve said if its working memory is moribund.
Once again the bad news. What are proprioceptive activities? Well, one of the best is climbing trees. Not something that is easily arranged unless you’re speaking to your audience in a forest.
Proprioceptive activities are those which increase the body’s awareness of itself in space. Walking a maze, navigating a cocktail party with a glass in one hand and a plateful of canapés in the other. Avoiding your boss when you see her coming down the hall by ducking into the copy room. Climbing a tree.
The effect is non-trivial – a recent study showed that climbing a tree and other such proprioceptive activities increased working memory by 50%. That’s huge. And it’s quick – the effect is pretty much instantaneous.
The key is physical “activities that make us think,” as the study’s author, Dr. Ross Alloway, notes – and he expands: “By taking a break to do activities that are unpredictable and require us to consciously adapt our movements, we can boost our working memory to perform better in the classroom and the boardroom.”
So what proprioceptive activities could benefit speakers? Well, the research suggests that exercise that involves motion, and particularly unpredictable motion, before a speech, would benefit your working memory, quickly and significantly. So, a quick walk around the conference hall before your speech, perhaps. Or, if there’s a backstage area, go explore that. Talk to the lighting and sound folks and tour their space, if you are permitted to do so.
And finally, for the really hard part. How about your audience? After all, if the audience doesn’t remember the speech, you might as well not have given it. So increasing the audience’s working memory before – or even during – the speech would make sense because you’d be increasing the likelihood that they will be able to absorb your presentation successfully.

Can it be done? It suggests a very particular kind of activity would make sense, either at the beginning of the speech, or mid-way through, if you can work it naturally and thematically into the talk. Get the audience to stand up, find someone they don’t know, and interact with them. Navigating the space, with all those other people doing the same thing, while looking for a strange face, will require the audience member to engage in proprioceptive activity.

That activity could potentially fit well with a number of talks and presentations. Not all, but many.
What other proprioceptive activities could you ask the audience to engage in to increase its working memory? What’s at stake is a 50% boost in their ability to retain your speech, so get to work.
Purdue University--West Lafayette is a public institution that was founded in 1869. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 29,440, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 2,468 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Purdue University--West Lafayette's ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, 62. Its in-state tuition and fees are $10,002 (2014-15); out-of-state tuition and fees are $28,804 (2014-15).
Purdue University's West Lafayette, Indiana, campus is the main campus in the Purdue University system, which encompasses four other campuses throughout the state. Nearly 20 percent of students are affiliated with Greek life, and Purdue offers a wide range of activities and organizations. Performance groups include the "All American" Marching Band, four jazz bands and two symphony orchestras. The Boilermakers, Purdue’s athletic teams, compete in the Division I Big Ten Conference and are well known for their dominant men’s and women’s basketball teams. The Boilermaker Special, Purdue’s official mascot, is a railroad locomotive cared for and maintained by the student-run Purdue Reamer Club. Although no students are required to live in university housing, about one-third of undergraduates live on campus.
Purdue is made up of 12 schools and colleges, many of which serve both undergraduate and graduate students. Professional and graduate programs include the well-ranked College of Engineering, Krannert School of Management, College of Education and College of Pharmacy. Purdue’s esteemed School of Aeronautics and Astronautics within the College of Engineering has acquired the nickname "Cradle of Astronauts." One popular university tradition: many students mark the beginning and end of their time at Purdue by running through either of the campus fountains. Notable alumni include legendary college basketball coach and player John Wooden, popcorn entrepreneur Orville Redenbacher and the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong.
School mission and unique qualities (as provided by the school):
Founded in 1869, Purdue is Indiana's land-grant university. It is one of the nation's premier institutions with more than 200 areas of undergraduate study...