Say it. As soon as you meet someone, say their name to encourage it to stick in your mind. Try saying their name three times over the course of your conversation. People like hearing their name and will like you more if they know you know their name–and you’ll like imprinting their name in your mind so that you can easily call it up when you see them.
Ask for business cards (This is especially important to do at an interview so that later you don’t misspell the name of the person you’ll write a thank you to. You might even consider using an app like ScanBizCards to scan each business card in to your phone and create a new contact out of it.)
Create a seating chart. If you’re at a conference or workshop, create a chart of the tables in the room with names of where each person is sitting. Try to call up names as each person speaks, using the chart to check and see whether you’ve gotten it right.
Connect with who you’ve met on Linkedin and Facebook. This way if you forget their name in the future, you can look them up. This also may increase your chances call them up to inc chances of future interaction