Tell it well
Rule of three
Group your points, examples or reasons in threes, which audiences find easier to follow and remember than two or four.
- Time10 to 20 minutes
- People1 to 6 people
- Steps3
What it's for
Two points feel incomplete and four start to blur. Three gives a pattern and a sense of completeness, which is why slogans, speeches and jokes lean on it. For a talk or a document, choose the three points that carry your argument and let the rest go.
Choosing three is a discipline as much as a technique. Most first drafts have seven points.
How to run it
State the point3 min
The one thing you want people to remember.
List everything5 min
Every supporting point you could make, in the pool.
Choose three7 min3 votes each
Vote, then move the strongest three into the numbered frames.
Tips
- Put the strongest of the three last. Endings are remembered.
- Parallel wording helps: three points that start the same way stick.
Where it comes from
As old as rhetoric. Classical orators used the tricolon, three parallel phrases, and the Latin saying omne trium perfectum (everything in threes is perfect) sums up the idea.
Pairs well with
Kishōtenketsu
A four-part structure with no central conflict: introduce, develop, twist, then bring the parts together.
Sparkline
A talk that moves back and forth between how things are and how they could be, then ends on the better future.
Show, don't tell
Replace a statement about something with a detail that lets the audience see it for themselves.