7 Magic Numbers every speaker must know
The concept of a magic number is found in virtually every field from cooking to banking to, of course, math. I suspected speaking should be no different. So, I set out to see if my intuition was right. After deconstructing my (and others) most successful presentations and revisiting all the research, it turns out I was on to something…
In this article, I go over my list of 7 magic numbers every speaker needs to know to be successful in delivering their presentations. Knowing and using these numbers will help you take a lot of the guesswork out of your preparation and empower you to confidently craft seemingly magical presentations. Ready? Let us begin
Magic number one is number 1 on preparation
The first magic number every speaker should know is the number 1. Actually, it is a ratio of 1:1.This magic number simply states that you can expect to spend 1 hour of preparation for every 1 minute of speaking. So, for example, given a 10-minute presentation, expect to spend 10 hours preparing. If that sounds like much, don’t be troubled. When most people hear this magic number, they assume preparation = rehearsal. Not in this case.
What’s in the hour?
To help you see what goes into this magic number, let me give you a few caveats:
The speech is being created from scratch;
The prep time includes brainstorming and conceptualization (i.e. thinking time);
Prep time includes the development of points and supporting points as well as arrangement and organization;
Prep time includes research;
Prep time includes scripting and rehearsal as well as the creation of visual aids (if applicable) etc.
You may now see how reasonable this magic number is. It may still sound like a lot. After all, what I am suggesting here is that you will need the equivalent of a full work week to prepare for a 45-minute presentation. Well, yes. At least to start. The good news is that as you get better, you can bend the magic a bit and see this number start to go down.
That said, it is a very effective guide to helping you determine how much time you really need to put in to produce a magical presentation. It helps you see that, there really is no magic about it – just smart planning and preparation.
Number 2 is 2 legs
All speeches, in fact, all speech stand on 2 legs – content and delivery. I don’t care if they are keynotes, eulogies, performance reviews or the State of the Union address. It all boils down to these two key components – content and delivery. This magic number is the umbrella for virtually all the (effective) public-speaking models and systems.
Knowing this magic number will help you know where to focus. It will also help you avoid errors of omission from ignoring either leg. Otherwise, you may end up with to a lop-sided presentation. You need strong, relevant content and you need appropriate, intentional and effective delivery to be successful.
Magic number 3 - the 3 dimensions of engagement
Engagement is a key aspect of the success of your presentation. As I say time and again, attention is the currency of persuasion.
Attention is the currency of persuasion
Engagement simply means that you hold the audience’s attention for longer making it more likely they will accept (or at least consider) your ideas and take action. The magic number 3 is about the 3 broad dimensions in which you should design your presentation to achieve maximum engagement. They are – intellectual, emotional and physical.
Read more in this article. For now, know this magic number – the 3 dimensions of audience engagement.
Magic number 4 is the 4 kinds of presentations
Presentations have a job to do. They do work. And this magic number is the number of the kinds of jobs a presentation can do*:
Inform (or educate)
Entertain
Persuade
Inspire
Now, most presentations will do a little bit of all of these. However, to be successful as a speaker, this magic number shows you all the different jobs your speech could do so that you can pick the major one you want.
For example, an academic lecture may be inspiring, persuasive and entertaining (it better be to work), but the speaker must remember that the central job is to inform. This will help in preparation. If the speaker gets this twisted, it could mean disaster.
Likewise, even the most entertaining presentations – think stand-up comedy routines – can have interesting informative and even inspirational elements. But the good comedian is careful to remember that her domain is primarily in levity and entertainment. She is delivering a comedy routine, not a sermon.
*Note: Some writers distinguish a set of speeches as “ceremonial speeches” - think eulogies, acceptance speeches, keynotes etc. For me, this is less about the job the speech does and more about the context. In other words, these ceremonial speeches are still doing the same 4 jobs talked about here, but they do so in a very specific situation.
Let us move on to magic number 5.
Magic number 5 – The 5 senses
You know what the 5 senses are – touch, smell, hearing, taste and sight. In your speech, the more you can get the audience to engage these 5 senses, the more deeply your content will be absorbed. It may be difficult to achieve direct and literal stimulation of these senses—short of bringing in catering, colourful tickly feathers, and a ton of air freshener—but you can engage them indirectly using language.
For example, say you are telling a story about a visit to the hospital. You could say talk about how the smell of the pungent disinfectant stung your nose as you watched the scrub-clad staff milling busily back and forth through narrow white corridors.
Did you just hear that story? Or did you also kind of experience it? That’s how your audience will feel too when you engage their 5 senses with deliberate language.
Magic number 6 - The Speaker’s Sixth Sense
Engaging the 5 senses is useful and effective. However, there is a 6th sense that you, the speaker, must develop—The Speaker’s Sixth Sense (S6S).
S6S is my term for your ability as a speaker to pick up on audience “vibes”. That is, to develop and trust your intuition. At an advanced level, it helps you to be aware of how the audience is responding to your presentation so that you can adjust on the fly for maximum impact. Based on the response, you may need to stay a little longer on a point to expound it. You may decide to add more levity or more seriousness as you practice “reading the room”.
The audience will give cues but if you are not engaging your S6S, you just plough through to the end not paying attention only to arrive alone. Don’t do that. Develop your S6S.
Magic Number 7 – The 7 chunks
This magic number represents the maximum number of items that the average person can hold in their short-term memory at any given time. This was demonstrated by George Miller working out of Harvard University in the middle of the 20th century in his very influential paper published by the American Psychological Association titled, interestingly, The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information. What a happy coincidence 😊But why does all this matter to you as a speaker?
Well, it is important to know what you can realistically expect you and your audience to retain in memory. For you, it helps immensely with your speech rehearsal. Instead of trying to memorize all the words, you can use chunks. I cover that more in depth here.
Chunks work for your audience too. It helps you organize your speech so that their memory is not overloaded to the point they forget everything. Instead, you categorize your content into a manageable number of core ideas that the audience will be able to retain and recall easily long after. This article itself is an example of this principle. I hope the effort helps you remember the 7 magic numbers easily. However, I thought you might like a bonus anyway so here it is.
Bonus Magic Number – A pair of 10s
The bonus magic number is a pair of percentages. To be precise, the pair of the first and last 10% portions of your speech – your introduction and your conclusion. Let me explain.
Ideally, you want to spend the first 10% of your speaking time grabbing the audience’s attention, introducing your subject and creating anticipation – this is your introduction. And you want to spend the last 10% reiterating your key thesis and perhaps providing some direction of action for the audience – your conclusion.Here is why this is a magic number – those 2 tenths of your speech are potentially more important than the remaining 80%. I know that may sound crazy but bear with me.
1st and end-tenths
You see, the first 10% determines the tone of the entire presentation. It sets the stage as it were. It is difficult to recover from a poor opening. In the same vein, a strong opening can be ridden like a powerful wave long into the body of your content. So that’s the first magic 10%.
For the end tenth, thanks to a psychological phenomenon called the peak-end rule, the last 10% of your presentation affects, not just what the audience remembers, but how they remember your entire presentation. End well, and it is remembered well. End badly, then not.
In other words, these two 10% pieces are indeed magical as they can make or break your entire presentation. And while really the entire presentation should be considered, if I were you, I’d pay special attention to these crucial bookends.
Wave the wand
So there you go – my 7 (plus) Magic Numbers every speaker should know. Designing and delivering your presentation based on these numbers will be like waving an enchanted wand – amazing, magical and wondrous things can happen. Until the next article, speak with skill.
