Public Speaking Notes

by Kenrick Cleveland

“Rhythm is something you either have or don’t have, and when you have it, you have it all over.” -Elvis Presley

We feel the rhythmic thump of our mother’s heartbeats before we’re even born. They say we can even hear music from the womb. Once we’re born they use lullabies, rocking chairs and bouncing us up and down to calm and sooth. Rhythm lulls and soothes.

When we use the language pattern of repetition in threes, we easily lullaby our prospects with rhythm.

Additionally, symbolically the number three has extraordinary power in our society. The Trinity. Most every major religion on the planet talks about three things, God the father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit.

Another reason repetition in three works, it’s an immediate, subconscious reference to religion. If the people you are persuading are religious, this could have a dramatic impact on them.

Think of this in terms of humanist psychology as well. . . id, ego, and super ego. Conscious, subconscious and super conscious minds.

Here’s an example of repetition in threes: Today, there are a few things that I believe so intensely, that I want to emphasize so strongly, that I believe in with all my soul, that I’m going to do my best to try to take the position of a father who’s giving this information to his beloved son in such a way that he can infuse his heart with the spirit of the message such that it’s really understood through and through and there is a resulting change, such that today, by the time we’ve gone through this process together, you will experience this information in a whole new way.

Not only will you be excited about it, not only will you feel fantastic about it, not only will you have a sense of understanding that you’ve never had before, but you’ll begin to experience how it will work in your life. Now I want you to understand that for me this is a mission, it’s a mission that I live my life for every day. See, my dad taught me something important when I was young, he said, ‘Kenrick, if you love what you do for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life.’

And he also taught me that if you don’t like what you do then every day will be a struggle and a fight. So I realized early on I had to love it and it’s my mission to help people understand these principles just like I do so that they can have a change of life, they can completely accept into their heart a new way of understanding, a new way of dealing with this subject matter and that’s my goal for us today as we talk.

Let’s break this down a little. . .first there’s the religious symbolism–father, son, Holy Spirit.

Secondly, and one of the main reasons repetition in threes works, is you are repeating your message. Repetition helps install anything. It’s simply a convenient way of remembering to repeat the things that you most want to install in people.

Third, when we use a smooth cadence and emphasize the important words, this language pattern uses the rhythms that lullaby, putting our prospects in receptive modes making persuasion inevitable.

Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of wealthy clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies.

Tags: presentations, tips, public speaking