Standard memory techniques work well in a wide variety of situations, but they can't cover every situation. Fortunately, with a little thought and work, you can easily develop systems for almost any situation.

When faced with a situation in which a standard memory technique isn't effective, Penn State York offers a great list of basic ideas that will work for almost anything you want or need to remember. Studenthacks also offers some great advice on effective memorizing.

One of the most common challenges to memory is that of remembering people's names. The Self-Help Blog offers starter techniques for remembering names, while Litemind offers a more detailed set of tools for remembering names.

Over at The Learning Annex's One Minute U, Frank Felberbaum, author of The Business of Memory: Fast Track Your Career with Supercharged Brainpower, also offers a brief video to help with remembering names. He's also posted many other great memory technique videos, ranging from how to never forget your keys and glasses, to remembering the important information from books.

Remembering what you read is, of course, very important when you're studying. Here are 7 more ways to remember what you read (hat tip: Schaefer’s Blog).

As you may have already discerned, there not necessarily any one right approach any memory problem. A technique is either effective or ineffective, and the only thing that makes it right is whether it works for you. Plus Magazine's article on remembering numbers, for example, offers a variety of approaches, but only you can decide which is best suited to your needs.

To close, I would love to share with you the idea in this PDF on Memorization from the school district in Danville, Kentucky. After the main article, it shows not only how to teach a memory technique to kids, but how to have them memorize the original 13 colonies without knowing they're doing it! I love approaches like this, because it can develop both learning skills and a love of learning.