The Rule Of Three
Listen to any good speaker and you’ll probably find them using this golden rule time and time again. Even Julius Caesar used it! “I came I saw, I conquered. Simply stated, the rule of three says that three key messages is the optimal number for maximum audience recall.
Why three and not four or two or seven? Well, the psychologists have studied this in depth and beleive that most people can only keep five plus or minus two pieces of information in conscious awareness at any given time. That’s why we have to break long phone numbers down into three and four digit groups to make them easier to remember. In practice however, three seems to work best when it comes to presentations.
There are various ways in which this principle can be applied to presentations. I’m sure you will be able to think of lots so here are a few to get you started.
- Try dividing your presentation or story into three acts. A beginning, a middle and a conclusion.
- Apply the rule two the main body of your presentation and limit yourself to three (or at a push four)main ideas, concepts or messages.
- If you have time, support of each of these messages with three pieces of evidence, examples or steps.
Presenters who ignore this simple but immensely powerful principle do so at their own risk! Clarity and simplicity are key for effective communication and you don’t want to overload your audience with too much content!
