The best way to remember names is to actually turn that person's name into a mental image, then tie it to the location where you met them. This gives your brain a mental image of someone's name, and when you see there face again, you'll recall the component cues of their name.
For example, my name is Andy Cook, so you might imagine me standing next to a life sized Raggedy Andy doll wearing a chef's hat + apron. When you see me again, you're likely to remember the image and put the name together. The other nice thing about this technique is that it forces you to stop and commit someone's name to memory instead of letting it go in one ear and out the other.
But I can also, without referencing maps, compass, or GPS, return to places I last visited over 20 years ago.
The spouse will frequently reel off narratives on travel itineraries, despite the number of times I have begged for a calendar or timeline instead. It just goes in one ear and out the other. Arrange it as a map, however, and I have no problem.
It would be great if I could figure out some way to map names and faces to locations, but nothing I have tried ever seems to work, beyond actual cubicle or office locations. And then, if you move to a different spot in the same office, I might forget who you are.
Point is... I was super-focused on paying attention, and poof my "Hi, George. Nice to meet you. Wait, what was your name?" problem was gone... though only for that day.
"You can repeat the person’s name back to her while you’re talking to her, Harris says, “although the best strategy is simply to show more interest in the people you meet."
I've tried this with no luck, I will still forget a person's name within 60 seconds.
It almost seems like I have a portion of my brain missing, and I've always been like this for anything involving memorization. Going over a list of names on a regular basis helps, but very little. However, my spatial recall seems to be much better - if I have a seating plan for example, for some reason I can easily associate a person with where they sit, but I simply cannot remember their name even if I deal with them fairly regularly.