Which Three To Focus On?

A presenter in the world of procurement shared with me a psychology tip they’d found works well.

A big fan of rules of three – whether it be a structure like PREP or reminder to talk in triplets – they suggested that when shown any list, an audience will only remember at most three items off it.

Specifically, the first, second and last.

This instantly made me think of a potentially winning piece of slidecraft.

If you’ve a lengthy number of points, then by all means (if you really must…) pop them all on-screen.

But then, have a follow-on slide cunningly prepared.

You can then intro its appearance by mentioning the fact our minds only remember three, tops, from any list.

Then just show the first pair and final one.

Design-wise, there’s plenty of scope to create impact. From greyed-out other lines, to brand colours for highlighting and even enlarging the remaining triple.

So long as you’ve made sure that the trio is indeed your killer three.

You can even cheekily refer back to them later.

In a kind of call-and-response, ‘remember Nos. 1, 2 & [last]..?’

Checking for recall, checking for impact of your key points, keeping your prospect amnesia in check.