Speed reading
TRAINING BY
ROGER CLAESSENS & ELÉONORE SNYERS
The Newsroom
Program
1. The technique of speed reading
2. The stages of memorisation
3. Optimal conditions
4. Exercises of the training session
5. Forgetting and searching
6. Data management
What are your
expectations?
What can you
do for yourself?
6
In an interview: “just all talent, no work ”
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Speed reading
Summary of
the
methodology
 Reading = taking a picture of the words
 Use a support for your eyes: pencil, your finger
 Gradually increase the speed of reading WITHOUT sub-
vocalisation
 Learn to see the key words
 In the final stage of the technique, simultaneously look
at two or three lines at the same time
The
methodology
 Do neither vocalise nor sub-vocalise
 Disconnect reading from pronouncing
 It is a matter of extracting information
 Do not regress (return to what you have read)
 Use your peripheral vision
The
methodology
 Take note of the structure of the document (pre-
reading)
 Read again what you have underlined in the
text(repetition is the key principle of memorisation)
 What would be the summary of what you have read?
The
advantages of
speed reading
 You can read more
 Gain time
 Is a good exercise for your memory
 Retrieve information faster
 Help to practice concentration
 Read a document at least twice if you want to
remember what you have read.
The benefits of
speed reading
 80 % of the
information is to
be found in the
first and last
paragraph of a
text + a graph (in
certain cases)
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The down side
of speed
reading
 Inadequate for legal documents
 Not appropriate if you want to enjoy literature
 Not applicable for an important personnal message
 Not appropriate for instructions
14
“Cash is king” is often quoted. Any company should monitor and
manage carefully its cash position, understand and anticipate how
cash is generated. The balance sheet would record any change in
cash over a given period of time; and the change is cash is
between two dates could provide the net cash generated over that
period.
The ultimate goal
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The stages of memorisation
The three
stages of
memorisation
 « On average, adults read about 250 words a
minute and retain only 10 per cent of what
they have read after 36 hours. »
(Source F.T.)
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The art of memorisation
Sensitive memory
1
Short term memory
2
Long term memory
3
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The art of memorisation
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A brief recognition by the mind of what the senses take in
A limited amount of facts that you can hold in the
mind at any one time
Practically limitless capacity
The art of
memorisation
1. ENCODING
A certain number of tasks:
Attention & Association
2. RETRIEVING=
A certain number of tasks:
Recalling & Recognition
PRACTICALLY
LIMITLESS
CAPACITY
Encoding
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 Encode with attention
 Classify and structure the
information
 Establish a link with an
association
 Determine a code of retrieval
▼
 1° An individed attention
 2° A conscious effort of repetition
▼
Speed reading
Encoding -
Focus
« No
multitasking »
An undivided attention
Can you add this column of figures
while you continually repeat the
names of the months of the year ?
 4
 8
 5
 7
 9
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Encoding – An undivided attention
 It is important to remember that the amount of information that can be held in
your short-term memory is very limited!
 Anything that distracts you can displace what currently is in your short term
memory.
 « What am I doing here? »
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Encoding
Our long term memory refers to any information that is no longer conscious thought
but is solidly stored for potential recollection.
It holds multiple information such as:
 What happened last Christmas
 The information you need to drive a car
 The situation of your portfolio
 Unusual circumstances
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Encoding
Unusual
circumstances
Encoding
Ask yourself, « When is it really important for
me to pay attention? »
When important, resolve to focus your
awareness on the task or information at
hand.
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Optimal conditions
Techniques of
memorisation
(for information only)
1. Association
2. Visualisation
3. Active Observation
4. Elaboration
5. Written reminders
6. Auditory reminders
7. Environmental change
8. Self-instructions
9. Story method
10. Chunking
11. First letter clues
12. Create a word
13. Categorisation
14. Search your memory
15. Alphabetical search
16. Review
How to remember
their name?
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Edyta
Gorniak
Lettice
Rowbotham
Carly Rose
Sonenclar
Techniques of
memorisation
 Visualisation = the
process of creating a
mental picture
 A picture speaks a
thousand words
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Visualisation
Techniques of
memorisation
 Some additional comments:
 It is easier to remember things in a familiar
field
 Learning a language is, above all, a matter of
sensitivity to vocal flexibility
 One remembers better when « emotion » is
involved.
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Techniques of
memorisation
 Remember that the brain requires a lot of energy,
think about how you eat
 Motivation is essential, we remember much better
what motivates us
 Forgetting is a necessary process of the good
functioning of our memory.
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Summary of
techniques ues
of
memorisation
& speed
reading
1° Undivided attention
2° Positive expectations
3° Relaxed
4° Organised (Time Management)
5° Good physical condition
6° Sustained activity
7° Confidence
▼
MOTIVATION – CONCENTRATION - PERCEPTION
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Exercises for speed
reading
Exercises
Concentration
Association
Attention
Exercices
Concentration
Association
Attention
The MOMENT called
ZERO
Various texts
From 250 words per
minute to 500 words per
minute 
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Forgetting & searching
Why do we
forget?
 1° Some information never got into the memory
 2° Too much subsequent similar information
 3° Few associations
 4° No proper trigger that retrieves the information
 5° No recent retrieval
 6° Memory changes over time
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The curve of Hermann Ebbinghaus,
showing that one has already
forgotten 50 to 80 percent of what
was read during one hour, the next
day and between 85 and 97 percent
after one month.
Let your
brain search
for
information
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Why do
we forget?
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Data management
Data
management
 Choose the sources which take you the least time and
provide you the required information.
 Leave blanks in your agenda to read information you
consider important
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Data
management
Do you find the information you are looking for quite
quickly?
How is your office organised?
How do you organise the incoming information?
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No excellence
without passion
Intelligence is a
gift of which
the
management is
an art
49
Leavefromhere
thinkingthat
YOUARE
AWESOME
Happy
reading times
Your personal slides on
WWW.ROGERCLAESSENS.BE
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