If you are making a presentation to potential customers or clients, they want you to provide maximum relevant information, delivered in minimum time and in the clearest possible terms, and centered on their needs and concerns.

Time is the defining aspect of any presentation. This is especially true for a business “pitch.” Few people have the time for a full explanation of a subject. Presenters must reduce and translate the salient data into an easily and quickly understood message.
The 3-1-2 System, the heart of my presentation skills workshop, enables presenters to organize their thoughts in the optimum manner to implant their message in the collective mind of their audience, and to Get to the Point. It is not classroom theory; it is a proven method I developed in facing hundreds of demanding, even hostile, audiences while detailed from the Army by the White House to the State Department, in order to explain, defend and debate controversial issues. It worked for me, and it will work for you.
Most people prepare their presentations using a 1-2-3 Method, developed in the order of how they will deliver: (1) Opening, (2) Body and (3) Conclusion. This is the method to organize our thoughts we have been taught since elementary school.

Unfortunately, this system may lead to various false starts, because the presenter is trying to place the ten gallons of knowledge he or she has on the subject into the eight-ounce glass of the presentation.

Additionally, this method is not flexible. It forces the presenter to make changes on the fly. This results in a time-pressed presentation lacking coherence. The traditional system of organizing our thoughts is simply not geared to 21st century presentations.

Let’s see how the 3-1-2 System can help you “Get to the point.”
Place the 30-60 second “Bottom Line” of your message on a 3x5card. This phrase should be the intersection of the audience’s needs and your objective.  Mark this card with a “3.”

Now, insert in front of this phrase words that signal the close of your presentation, such as: “So, in conclusion” or “Let me leave you with this thought.” You now have the words with which you will close with “punch.”

This is your closing argument, to borrow a trial lawyer’s technique. This phrase can also provide you with a mini-presentation when you find that the allotted time for your presentation has been sharply reduced at the last minute.

Next, take another 3×5 card, mark it “1” and write an opening phrase that will cause the audience to listen because you have hit a psychological “hot button” that screams loudly: “This will benefit you,” or “This will keep you out of trouble.”  A startling statistic or an apt quotation from a well-known (to the audience) figure could also be in this opening as an attention-getter.

You can also include a shortened version of your “3 card” conclusion in your opening statement, and then inform the audience that you will now proceed to show how you arrived at this conclusion, which could be the solution to the problem of your audience.

The audience now knows where you are going, and can, in effect, open “files” on their mental desktop in order to absorb this information. Audience members will know your point at the outset. They won’t have to wait.

Remember that a business presentation is not a mystery novel. You want your audience to know “who shot John” right away, and then proceed to show the evidence. Above all, you want those listening to you to be alerted to the fact that you know what their needs or problems are, and that you are going to provide information that addresses these concerns.

With the 3 and 1 cards completed, you have the parameters of your presentation. You know where you are going and can thus structure your presentation so the customer/audience members know where you are taking them. Take a few cards, marked 2A, 2B, 2C, etc. and list your supporting arguments.

The 3-1-2 System ensures that the most important information you wish to convey is at the beginning and the end. The 3-1-2 System will help you “Get to the point” and avoid the criticism General Halftrack meted out to Lt. Fuzz.

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President Ronald Reagan described Larry Tracy as “An extraordinarily effective speaker.” He was an Army colonel assigned to the State Department at the time, debating controversial foreign policy issues throughout the country. He is now cited as one of the top presentation skills trainers/coaches in the country in publications such as the Information Please Business Almanac and Sourcebook, published by Houghton-Mifflin, Best of the Best, published by Insight Publishing, and What to Say When… You’re Dying on the Platform, published by McGraw-Hill. Larry’s book, The Shortcut to Persuasive Presentations, published by Imprint Books, Charleston, SC, distills the techniques he teaches in his executive workshops, and is the text for the Oral Presentations Course at the Center for Leadership Education at Johns Hopkins University.