The idea is simple, after teaching for a few years, and trying as hard 
as I could to teach my students the massive amount of notes on the 
fretboard, I had an epiphany.  I was doing it all wrong.  Like all of us 
learned...just flat out memorizing the notes.  If we got lucky, we would 
memorize the notes at the Position Markers on the 6th or 5th string.

Anyway, after this epiphany I started teaching things a little different.  
I would love to give credit for this to someone, but I have never seen 
it taught like this before. So here it is.  Simply memorize the notes at 
the Position Markers.

Open:     E  A  D  G  B  E

3rd Fret: G  C  F  A* D  G

5th Fret: A  D  G  C  E  A

7th Fret  B  E  A  D  F#  B

9th Fret: C# F# B  E  G#  C#

12th Fret:  Same as open

Once these Land Mark Frets are memorized, work on naming or finding 
notes on the fretboard based on the the closest land mark fret.  If you 
want to know what the note is at the 6th fret on the G string, simply go 
to the 5th fret and work your way down the land mark note on the G String
...in this case a C, then raise it a half step and you have your answer...a C#/Db.

Not saying this is the cure for cancer or anything.  But I noticed that after 
I started teaching like this, my students could actually navigate the fret 
board...and I could do so much more efficiently as well.