There is this memory expert named Harry Lorayne... you can look for his books on Amazon, but suggest searching the web for free information first.
"Tricks" to memorization have been around since ancient times. The Greeks worked on this alot.
There are several methods, and I won't try to explain all of them, but I'll list and give a short description of the ones that I found helpful. The "key" idea to memory is basically to associate something you know with something you want to remember. The association between the two should be imaginitive... bizarre, overblown, crazy... anything that will stick out in your mind as "not ordinary", this is what helps you remember it.
The Greeks used a technique called the "loci" method. useful when you're trying to remember a story. So for example, think of the front door to your house, and when you walk in you remember how the first room is arranged and everything in it. So you associate the first thing you want to remember with the first thing you would encounter in the room, like an end table, or a lamp, or a coat rack. and then string the thoughts together in some logical order as the items in the room, when you run out of items go to the next room.
"A" method when you're trying to learn lists of things is called the peg system. There is a lot of stuff on the net abuot this. Basically the numbers one thru 10 have names and sounds. 1- Tie, 2-Noah, 3-Ma, 4-Rye, 5-Law... these are called the peg words... so for the list of word or items you're trying to remember you start with 1 (Tie), think of a huge tie wrapped around an image of the thing you're trying to remember, then you go to the next number/word 2- (Noah), you might think of your idea of what Noah looks like only some bizarre image and then relate that to the next item you're trying to remember...
anyway, just trying to point you in "A" direction to find memory techniques.
Good luck.