A Magic Number for Presenters – Speech Key Points
WRITTEN September 12, 2024
Think about the last presentation you attended, whether virtual or in-person. How well can you picture it? Now, consider this: how many key points from that presentation do you actually remember?
In 20+ years of instructing all kinds of presentation skills classes, I have asked this “key points” question to hundreds of participants. Their answers have ranged from “zero” (a little sad) to “five” on the high end. Zero was a much more common response than five. In all those years of asking participants this question, only a handful were able to say they remember five.
The most frequent response?
Three speech key points.
It’s no coincidence that Social Security and telephone numbers are broken into groups (3-2-4 and 3-3-4, respectively). Our brains find it much easier to remember information in groups of three than trying to recall nine or ten digits in a row. This is a crucial insight for presenters, as the goal is to make a lasting impact on listeners.
Presentations must stay focused and only include information that is directly valuable and actionable for the audience. People want to leave a presentation understanding its value and how they can apply what they’ve learned immediately.
To achieve this, the presentation needs to have a clear purpose—what the audience should do with the information. Once the main point, or purpose, is identified, break it down into manageable parts or “buckets” of content. These are your Speech Key Points.
Keep it Simple.
When planning your presentation, keep this question in mind: What is the purpose? What do you want them to do? Then, ask yourself what are the three key points that support that? If any material doesn’t reinforce those key points, leave it out—it’s not worth including.
AN EXAMPLE:
Purpose (what you want the audience to do):
Develop new organizational training initiatives to improve customer service and sales.
Main points:
- Organization has a skills gap in these areas: ____, which wastes time and money.
- Training sharpens skills and increases productivity, loyalty, morale, etc.
- A better trained workforce provides better customer service and presents a favorable image to the public.
Provide training in these areas: ______ to improve customer service and sales.
Once you have the core message or purpose for your audience, and you have organized your presentation into (at most) three key points, you are ready to present. This preparation will make your talk more memorable and your audience will be more likely to take action.
This information is referenced in our Presentation Skills curriculum. If you’re looking for ways to improve your communication skills, register for one of our public classes. Click here for more information.
| Meet blog author and Improving Communications Instructor John Epstein. Click here to learn more. |  |
Other Public Speaking Resources:
Recent IC Blogs:
- Customer Service Beyond Expectations: Soft Skills Unveiled
- A Magic Number for Presenters – Speech Key Points
- Commonly Confused Words
- Public Speaking Skills Are More Than Just Speeches
- Leland Sklar: Listening Is the Essence Of My Job
Stay Connected
Subscribe to the IC weekly newsletter for tips and advice on your communication skills!
Public Classes
Effective communication is empowering. Get started on your path to being more clear, brief, and effective.
Upcoming Classes