How can the US Marines help you communicate your message effectively?
I am asked is how to write a speech.One of the best ways I have found when writing a speech to both plan a speech and to present your information is the Rule of Three. Used extensively by Barak Obama in his speeches, and also by John F Kennedy, I find it an invaluable tool. I have recently taught it to my daughter who used it in her first history essay at school.
I am asked is how to write a speech.One of the best ways I have found when writing a speech to both plan a speech and to present your information is the Rule of Three. Used extensively by Barak Obama in his speeches, and also by John F Kennedy, I find it an invaluable tool. I have recently taught it to my daughter who used it in her first history essay at school.
Developed by the U.S. Marine Corps to help aid the delivery & retention of information, the Rule of Three carefully segments your information into three key headings. Each key heading may contain three sub headings. Each sub heading will contain three points and so on rather like a very well ordered family tree. This approach is, as I have said, excellent for laying out your ideas as you give a presentation and for your audience to recall the information that you deliver to them. One additional benefit of the Rule of Three is that it gives you a framework that is a lot easier to remember when you are up there delivering your speech.
Research by the Marine Corps suggests that the human brain can cope with learning three points but struggles thereafter. For those of you who are sceptical try remembering a list of 12 items on a shopping list from your partner! Most of us will struggle.
So the Rule of Three is great for organising your presentation.
It is also a highly beneficial way of helping your audience to identify which points are crucial and which are interesting but less important. For those of us who enjoy cooking, we are aware that not all 12 items on that shopping list are of equal importance. Let's take a simple recipe; Spaghetti Bologna's. The recipe that I use requires 11 ingredients.
It is also a highly beneficial way of helping your audience to identify which points are crucial and which are interesting but less important. For those of us who enjoy cooking, we are aware that not all 12 items on that shopping list are of equal importance. Let's take a simple recipe; Spaghetti Bologna's. The recipe that I use requires 11 ingredients.
The chances of me (or my other half) remembering all 11 ingredients when I pop down to the supermarket are pretty small. If you are anything like me, you remember all the minor ingredients but forget the spaghetti! Thinking about it, there are only three core ingredients - mince, tomatoes and spaghetti. As long as I remember these we can produce a dish that might not be a classic but is certainly Spaghetti Bologna's.
That's the same with your speech. The rule of three allows you to logically structure your flow; it allows you to remember your points more easily, but above all, due to it's hierarchical nature you will definitely cover the crucial main points.
