All good things come in threes - even in business communication
Why three of all things? You could guess three times...
This mystical number has appeared in almost all cultures and religions around the world for thousands of years. In the Bible, it is the three wise men from the East who bring three sacred gifts to the infant Jesus. After Jesus' death, it takes three days until the resurrection. And the Trinity is formed by God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the Buddhist faith there are Trinatna and in the world of the gods of ancient Greece there is talk of three Parcae, three Graces, three Gorgons and three Furies. Even Apollo's beautiful Phytia sat on a three-legged chair. And the dreaded hellhound Cerberus had three heads. This numerical value also plays a major role in the Jewish religion and can be found in the Kabbalah - the secret doctrine - and in many fairy tales the three plays a role as a hidden message. In Rumpelstiltskin, the queen has three attempts to guess his name. In most fairy tales, the protagonists also have three wishes. This is not just the right thing for a little three-cheese high. In esoteric thinking, one speaks of "Body, mind and soul" and transactional analysis is about the adult, parent and child ego. The three is said to have a highly protective effect, it stands for stability. Anyone who has ever sat on a three-legged chair knows why. And as banal as it sounds, every speech and every presentation consists of three essential sections: Beginning, middle and end.
The symbolism of three in the presentation
The great orators of antiquity invented the so-called rule of three (tricolon). It stands for three limbs, which were used extensively. Even today, it is one of the most elementary stylistic devices in speeches, presentations and texts. Behind this is the basic division into three parts: Introduction, main body and conclusion. In the argumentation, you can structure the pro and con arguments according to the rule of 3. List the advantages, disadvantages and trade-offs - or according to the philosophical triad: thesis, antithesis and synthesis, but the rule of 3 not only works as an organizing principle, it can do much more. Even the ancient rhetoricians combined the tricolon with other stylistic elements. The combination with an intensification (climax), such as in the advertising slogan, was and still is popular: "Good, better, Paulaner." The climax is a sequence of words or sentences that show an increasing intensity of statement and increases in stages. The less important becomes the most important or the smallest becomes the largest. This reinforces a statement immensely, this dramaturgy creates tension in the presentation, which sounds like this in TV advertising: "My house, my car, my boat." Or think of the catchy advertising slogan for a famous chocolate bar in square format: "Square, practical, good." This is the best proof of how powerful this stylistic device is. The most striking effect of the climax is the increase in tension. In addition, it fulfills the function of making a statement gradually more plausible, impressive and attractive. "Mars mobilizes." Alliteration spices up your presentation with a certain linguistic melody and is easy for the audience to remember. It is therefore particularly suitable for appeals, messages or key sentences. The purpose of the rule of 3 is, on the one hand, to emphasize the statement and underline its importance. On the other hand, a list of exactly three elements sounds the most "rounded" to the listener." as researchers have discovered.
3 more rules
a) The 3-second rule: When you read an article, it takes just a few moments and the headline to decide whether you continue reading. It's very similar in advertising: do we immediately get up to get our beer during a commercial break - or do we wait a moment? That depends on what happens in the first three seconds of the ad. Or when buying a book: here, too, the first few seconds often decide what we think of the cover - whether we perhaps flick through it briefly. We make such decisions on instinct in the first few seconds. This also applies to your presentations and speeches. So get off to a strong start. With a short and snappy introduction, you will immediately draw the audience to your side, and attention is highest at the beginning. Don't disappoint your participants with boring introductions. Every actor, every musician, every good speaker knows how crucial the first performance is. The moment of the first impression decides whether the audience goes along or builds a wall of rejection, and the first sentence is particularly important. It often determines whether the audience likes the speaker, whether they are moved by what is said and whether they are prepared to follow the speaker's explanations.b) The 3:30 rule: We form our first impression within the first three seconds. If we are interested in the topic, we spend another 30 seconds to consolidate our opinion. The first three seconds appeal to our emotions - the first impression is formed spontaneously. The following 30 seconds mainly take place in the mind: The listener deals with the content of the offer to determine whether the first (good) impression remains.c) The 3-minute rule: communication scientists and perceptual psychologists have found that attention wanes rapidly after three minutes during speeches. If the topic has not been covered by then or no core message has been recognized, the audience's thoughts go their own way.
My 3 top tips
Firstly: Organize your presentation in blocks of 3The audience can follow your presentation with rapt attention if you form blocks of 3 in your structure. For example, use the following pattern in the outline: past, present and future. Choose a characteristic event and build up a before and after story. A reference to the current situation is often appropriate. You can refer to this, explain the current situation and possible developments. This approach is also suitable for impromptu speeches. The rule of 3 for advantages, disadvantages and trade-offs is suitable for your argumentation. This division is particularly suitable for the discussion part of your presentation. In the third part, round off what you have said by mentioning advantages and disadvantages.Second: Give only three examplesThis is the art of self-restraint. Many speakers think they have to tell everything they know about the topic. Giving lots of figures, facts and figures, cases or examples usually comes at the expense of analyzing individual key points and quickly loses the audience's attention. Therefore, my recommendation is to consistently apply the rule of 3 to the number of cases. If you work with examples or stories for an issue, choose three particularly important ones and present them in detail. This is more interesting for your listeners - they will remember the three examples better than if you list ten things.Thirdly: Use a maximum of three bullet pointsBullet points often kill your listeners' attention. If you're not attentive, you can't remember anything. So if you don't want your audience to "shoot" you should get by with as few bullet points as possible. The maximum number is therefore three per slide, with this in mind: "All good things come in threes!" Because you have to do some things three times to make them work. Good luck with that.*Uwe-Jürgen Günter-von Pritzbuer is a visualization expert and sales professional for emotional communication. He creates customized emotional presentations for trainers, speakers and managers and revises existing presentations. He also offers presentation coaching. He has specialized in sales and leadership for more than 20 years.
