An important part of being a cooperative conversationalist involves considering common ground, or the knowledge and beliefs shared between interlocutors. Models of conversational common ground have typically assumed that language users rely upon special-purpose representations or processes to derive beliefs about shared knowledge. In contrast, I suggest that common ground can emerge instead on the basis of ordinary mechanisms of memory encoding and retrieval. On this account, a routine consequence of interaction is the establishment of partner-specific associations that allow other individuals to serve as cues for the automatic retrieval of relevant information from memory. I examine the implications of this memory-based view in the context of audience design, which refers to the extent to which speakers tailor utterances to the communicative needs of particular addressees. I will present the results from two projects that illustrate how memory-based considerations influence aspects of language production relevant for audience design. These findings support the claim that conversational common ground is mediated in part by domain-general cognitive processes.