Simple Speech Formats To Deliver Clear And Concise Messages

In the fast-paced world that we live in, people want the big picture and they want it fast.

One effective public-speaking tactic that well-known speakers such as Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and Martin Luther King Jr. have used is the “Rule of Three”.

It’s been established that people remember and are more engaged with concepts that are presented in groups of three. Simply put, your audience has the capacity to hold three or four key messages. Give people five, six, or seven things to remember, and they’re likely to tune out.

In a recent interview Pichai was asked about artificial intelligence, and he chose to divide his answer into three parts:

• First, “A.I. is an opportunity to expand our market and allow us to win new customers.”

• Second, “It gives us an opportunity to upsell and cross-sell into our installed base.”

• Third, “I think A.I. helps us differentiate our core products.”

Could he have instead gone into great detail about all the many aspects of AI, and spent a couple of hours rather than a couple of minutes answering? Of course, but he knows the power of this method of delivery.

One of the reasons the rule of three works so well is because the human brain is hardwired for pattern recognition, allowing you to take advantage of a quirk that’s as uniquely human as our desire for stories.

In our Excellence In Speaking Institute, we teach other presentation formats such as:

• Tell ‘Em x 3

• PREP

• SOS

• PPF

• Storytelling

The simplest and most often used template is Tell ‘Em. In the introduction, you tell the audience what you’re going to tell ‘em. In the body, you go ahead and tell ‘em. And in the conclusion, you tell ‘em what you told told ‘em. Simple enough!