In The News

October 20, 2011
INside Edge Midday Report

NEW APP AIMS TO IMPROVE NETWORKING

Hoosiers Produce iPhone Game

If you need help remembering names of business connections, and Indianapolis entrepreneur has an app for that. Kim Brand has co-developed Names Game, which incorporates Facebook and turns name and face memorization into an iPhone game. Brand recently discussed the idea to launch the app during and appearance on Inside INdiana Business Television.

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October 16, 2011
Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick

Click HERE for full interview.

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October 10, 2011
Indianapolis, IN

Magically capturing names and faces from Facebook, The Names Game creates fun and challenging games to help people connect names with faces.

“I was like 98% of people that would meet someone – then immediately forget their name,” said Kim Brand, co-developer of the Names Game. “It was embarrassing. I discovered most people had the same problem. It is common to hear: ‘I can remember the face but can’t place the name.’”

While more and more people are involved with social networking on-line, millions still network the ‘old fashioned way.’ They belong to groups that meet regularly: service clubs, churches, associations and organizations where friendships develop and business is done. “It’s awkward and off-putting to forget someone’s name – it’s a missed opportunity to make them feel special,” Brand said.

The famous leadership and public speaking expert Dale Carnegie advised: “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” His words ring as true today as they did 75 years ago.

But aside from learning memory ‘tricks,’ no better way to remember names has been developed since the name badge that announce: ‘Hello – My Name Is’ until The Names Game.

Now, with a free Facebook account and the $1.99 Names Game App, anyone can connect a face with the name of up to 500 of their friends and know them by sight.

The game uses Facebook’s group feature to create virtual ‘playlists’ of friends – like playlists of songs chosen from among all the songs on your mobile music player. These groups separate those you already know from those you want to know. Hundreds of millions of groups already exist and Facebook; members can create new ones on the fly at no cost.

The game offers three different modes that allow the user to pick the right name to match up with a given face. There are practice, play and timed challenges. Users can post their results to their Facebook wall and invite their friends to do the same with a push of a button.

One handy feature is the Roster. The Names Game allows users to simply scroll through the names and pictures of all the members of a group. This ‘refresher course’ is especially useful just before face to face meetings. “I can enter a room and feel a lot better about greeting people by name now,” says Brand. “No more quick glances at their name badge – or worse: using the wrong name!”

Brand and his partner John Holtkamp have formed a company called Names Tech LLC to market the game. They are exploring the development of additional products related to Names Game. They will release a version for the Android mobile platform and tied to Linkedin before the end of the year.

The Roster

The Roster is a tool to let you view names and faces without any pressure. But the Roster allows you to do much more!

– Remove a Name from The Names Game –

           Most likely you will download a group that has some people in it that you already know very well. For instance, you will show up in most groups since you are already a member of them. In the Roster you can remove these unwanted names from The Names Game so that they don’t continually appear since you already know who they are.

– View Profiles –

Every single member of a Group that you download has a Facebook Profile. The Roster allows you to access that profile with the click of a button. The profile will appear inside of The Names Game, so you don’t have to worry about the confusion of being taken out of The Names Game experience and into Safari or some other app.

– Get a Bigger Picture –

The Roster allows you to view a magnified version of any member’s picture. This allows you to view his or her face in more detail.

– Send a Friend Request –

If you see someone who you would like to contact, then the Roster allows you to send a Friend Request from within The Names Game.

– Easy Navigation –

The Roster uses swipe gestures to flip between pictures. There is still the option to scroll through the names list, but swiping makes it easy to flip through pictures one-by-one.

The Games

There are 3 different Games included in The Names Game, and each game has 3 different types. The different game styles are used to help you improve at recalling names in different scenarios. Every type of game will rate you on how well you are doing, so you can keep track of how well you know each group.

In practice mode you have no time limit, so there is no pressure.  Practice mode also allows you to remove names from The Names Game, so if you see any member that you do not care to use in The Names Game then you can delete them from the game.

Fast mode gives you a time limit for each picture that is shown. So if you choose to play a 3 second Fast game, then you will have 3 seconds to figure out who each picture corresponds to. This is to help you improve at recalling names as quickly as possible.

In Fast Mode you use all of the names in a group, so if you have a very large group then you probably want to avoid this mode.

Timed Mode gives you a time limit for the entire game, and you need to get as many names correct in that time as you can. So if you choose to play a 15 Second Timed Game, then you will have 15 seconds to get as many names correct as you can.