As part of the virtual Kuala Lumpur Engineering Science Fair (e-KLESF), two insightful webinars and two virtual competitions were conducted on 15 December 2022 via Zoom and Facebook. The first webinar of titled “Power up memory” was conducted by ThinkBuzan’s licensed instructor, Jeyaraman Seenivasagam. Jeyaraman is the former vice president of the Malaysian Association of Professional Speakers. He has been in link with the Malaysia Mental Literacy Movement (MMLM) and UTAR since 2004, through the administration of lifelong learning programmes with and for UTAR. He has trained more than 78,000 people across eight countries. He has also been interviewed by Trax FM, Bernama News and The Star.

The webinar was facilitated by UTAR Centre for Corporate and Community Development Senior Assistant Manager Hemalatha Naranasamy. It provided participants with an opportunity to comprehend the steps on how to work with the brain to remember facts and information in a fast and fun way.

Jeyaraman said, “Everyone is a potential talent. A person who wants to become a genius, before all, needs to understand what a genius brain is all about in terms of how memory works. Learning takes place not just in school or college or from books but also in everyday life. Learners are earners.”

He then shared some techniques to enhance memory from short-term to long-term and presented the formula “IDAM” as one of the foregoing techniques. “The word ‘I’ stands for imagination which is the utmost tool to remember something and it is rather powerful than knowledge; the word D denotes dramatic as the brain loves drama to embrace long-term memory; the word A means associate. Associate connotes learning of linking, mnemonics and homophones systems to recollect definitions and scientific facts, and the word M indicates meaning. Knowing the meaning of a fact or word is important to recall it in the mind,” enthused Jeyaraman.

Other than that, he said, “The execution of the 3R of memory, namely Register, Recall & Retain, likewise will improve the memory. Nearly 80% to 90% of people forget what they have learnt in 24 hours without revision. Spaced repetition will ease the movement of information from short-term memory to long-term memory. Memory is a learnable skill.”

During the webinar, Jeyaraman also conducted a memory test which involved recalling 20 different words conformed to its numbered list; participants managed to recall the words right to their best. Meanwhile, he also proved his strong long-term memory by correctly and impressively recollecting four-digit numbers from a number chart according to their numbered positions with his eyes closed. “I am showing beyond doubt that I am capable of recalling the numbers. This proves that even difficult numbers can be saved in long-term memory,” said Jeyaraman.

Aside from Jeyaraman’s webinar, participants also benefitted from another informative webinar titled “Food talks to your genes”, conducted by Faculty of Science Deputy Dean Dr Phoon Lee Quen. Two virtual competitions titled “Are you a physics genius?” and “Biology competition: How good is your Biology?” were also held. The competitions were facilitated by Centre for Foundation Studies (CFS) academic Lee Chee Heong and CFS academics Nabilah binti Abdul Aleem Sidek, Ting Jen Ching and Heng Sze Lu respectively. The webinars and virtual competitions greatly benefitted and inspired the participants.

To watch the full videos, please visit the KLESF Facebook page.