President's Tip of the Week

The Classic "Three Supporting Points"
(9/22/08)

Last week, we had several speeches that used the classic three point structure. Here is Andrew Dlugan's explanation of the most effective way to use this structure along with a link to a speech that utilizes it.

"In this outline, you begin by stating a premise in your introduction, support it with three reasons or three supporting points in your body, and then summarize in your conclusion. It doesn't need to be 3 points, but this is a convenient number that fits well with a five to seven minute speech.

"Example: Maile provides an excellent example of clear and parallel structure for a speech with How Dance has Helped Me In the Real Estate Business (video). Her basic structure is:

Opening: "20 pounds and nine years ago, I was a dancer…" which leads into stating 3 dance principles which help in real estate.
Principle 1: Practice Perfect Performance
Principle 2: Visualize the Result You Desire
Principle 3: Get Out and See the People
Conclusion: restate three principles
"This speech was especially strong because of a consistent pattern that was used for each of the three points, along with a parallel structure. The pattern applied was:

Transition: "the second principle I'd like to share…[name principle]"
Lesson from dance: "… as a dancer… [explain principle in dancing context]"
Relate to real estate: "… this technique has also served me well in the real estate arena… [explain principle in real estate context]"
"Maile used this parallel pattern for all three points, and the speech is very easy to understand. The Toastmaster evaluation of this speech (video) is also available."

For an additional example of how to use this structure (as well as a couple other speech structures that will work well for Project 2 in the Competent Communicator manual), visit Andrew's blog.