3 and Out - A Guide to Closing Your Speech with Impact

If you’ve spent any time with me, you know I love football.  American football.  I spent much of my childhood and adolescent years playing, watching, and studying the game.  I should be a coach, general manager, scout, or something similar.  I’m not saying that I COULD.  I just should.  

I have much respect for the “architects” of football.  I am speaking of coaches.  I have respect for franchise owners and players also, but it’s a much different career from the coach, manager, or scout.

Franchisees are usually known for making a fortune in another industry and occasionally have a media personality.  The players are the stars, the performers, the entertaining talent.  Coaching, scouting, and front office work is about preparing (whether it’s for the draft, the combine, the team’s game, or another team’s game).  Boring, right?

The amount of time that needs to be committed to a coaching career at the highest levels goes much underestimated.  According to verifiedathletics.com college football coaches average 75 hours of work per week.  

I’ve heard many stories of NCAA and NFL coaches sleeping at the office.  I am not promoting such work/life imbalance, but I recognize the time it takes for them to be effective.  I think the COVID-19 outbreak may have assisted a lot of them (and people all over the world) in realizing they can still be productive without being away from family as much as they normally are.

Maybe it’s possible to be a Division I college football coach and have a bed in your office in a healthy way.  LSU coach Steve Ensminger’s office is like a home to him.  He went through quite a tragedy late last year and it seems the bed in his office signifies a home and routine.  

Either way, it’s clear that coaches spend a lot of time working at their craft.  What’s interesting to me, is that they spend so much time preparing for just 60 minutes of action that happens maybe 14 weeks out of the year (more for NFL).   Even in the offseason they are preparing.

I think we can all learn a lesson from this preparation to action ratio.  It could be said that it is even more lopsided if you consider that coaches aren’t actually doing anything during gameplay.  They pick the personnel grouping, make the play call (which could be changed before the play anyway), and just watch.  They have to be as organized as possible and their message has to be short and succinct, yet extremely effective.  

I am not writing to discuss football strategy (although I’d love to, I sense another blog…).  I’m writing to talk about efficiency.  If you’re an offensive football coach, a “3 and out” (the offensive runs 3 plays and has to give up possession of the ball) is bad.  But, if you’re a defensive coach, it is great.  For a communicator, I see a “3 and out” as a powerful short (doesn’t actually have to be three words, but that makes it even better) sentence that closes out a point perfectly.  You’ll notice these scattered throughout my efforts.

I love a good “3 and out” because it can make a long point, speech, video, or any other type of message complete and actionable.  

I can estimate that in about 15 years of business, I’ve heard at least 400 professional presentations (many of them my own).  Ask me how many of them I specifically remember.  I’d guess five.  This is not to say that 395 of them were bad.  In fact, I’ll say 25 of them were not stimulating in anyway and 5 were truly horrible.  The reason though, that only five are memorable is that I didn’t walk away with a complete actionable thought.  I may have been super excited or well educated but when I got back to the office the following Monday what did I do?  I went to work: like I always do…

Recently, I had been cleaning out some drawers in my office and it occurred to me that we waste a lot of paper.  Those numbers are incredible.  The recent conferences I have been to are doing a better job of providing visual tools for the attendee experience, but there are still a lot of name badges, stickers, lanyards (plastic), schedules, posters, brochures, etc.  I had packed multiple spaces with various items from events.  There was so much information.  Too much.

Maybe the shift to a more digital world with assist with this.  But, I think we should also be simplifying our takeaways.  If you can’t wrap your message with a good “3 and out”, consider what you are providing for your audience.  Are you giving a bright, shining speech that gets a lot of laughs and maybe a few tears?  Maybe that’s why you got hired, but the results lie in the takeaways, the final message, what will change the audience’s Monday morning.  

I recently watch the ESPYs.  This time of year is the slowest time in sports and a good time to give away a bunch of awards.  It was much different this year with the sporting world having been mostly shutdown for months, large gatherings not being safe, and racial problems getting much needed attention.  Yet, it provided some sense of normalcy.  

Every year, ESPN makes sure to highlight the work of the V Foundation.  In 1993, Jim Valvano, its founder gave one of the most famous speeches ever.  There are many reasons it speaks deeply to me (I am a cancer survivor and heard that speech eight years prior to being diagnosed), but many people recognize it because of its call to action.  Its “3 and out”.  

“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up!”  These were, and still are, amazingly powerful words for a man who could barely walk up to the stage.  He passed away less than two months later.

We are in 2020 and those words still hold up.  Fittingly, they came from a coach (albeit basketball).  He knew the value of preparation, and that he had about 10 minutes to make an impact.  A good “3 and out” makes it an actionable message for ages.  

As I write this on a Monday, I realize that Jimmy V, 27 years later, is changing my Monday.  Amazing. 

I’ve never been to the ESPYS (maybe I deserve an all expense paid trip for this plug?), but I haven’t needed to go.  I have no press pass, ticket, brochure, agenda, program.  I don’t need one.  I got the message.  No paper wasted.

Check out Nelson Cruz’s story.  Talk about making a difference.  A well deserved Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award.  More ESPYs plugs, I know.  Sometimes, you have to just take a moment and acknowledge great effort and desire for impact.  After all, that’s why we’re all here, right?  This is called “e-impact”, not “e-recognition” or “e-look at me” (although that has a nice ring).

How do we implement what I am outlining in our own practices?  This depends.  We’re all not frequently hired to talk to large groups.  I think that actually makes it easier to develop effective, actionable closes to your content.  You’re frequently delivering the same presentations (or at least the same general subjects).  

Most people are communicating with smaller more intimate groups about a broader range of topics.  They also have to address their colleagues, team, family, clubs with much shorter notice.  There is not a huge build up to their presentation.  This however, does not mean they cannot practice and prepare to finish strong.  

They say in business planning that you should start from the goals and work backward.  If we apply that logic to our daily communications, we can be more direct and effective.  

Before addressing your audience (no matter how big or small, formal or casual) if you identify what you want them to think, do, or feel, you’re half way to your “3 and out”.  

Determine your actionable close first, and then fill in what you need them to understand so that the close makes sense and makes them feel empowered to take action.

If you were preparing to address your team and had to present a new project for them to participate in, you would need to close with what the project is designed to accomplish.  Fill in the blank.  “Make ____ better.” “Drive more ____.”  “Finish the ____.”  “Create awesome ____.”

If you are delivering to a larger group about a broader topic, you can take your main theme of the presentation and make sure that is covered in the close.  “Live like ____.”  “Always think ____.”

You will be surprised how powerful a “3 and out” is when timely.  It may take you 10 times as long to come up with it as it does to deliver it.  Do the preparation (see what I did there?).  You’re a football coach.

I have found that with practice, like anything, closing your communications well becomes more natural.  You learn your own style.  You learn the style of those you normally communicate with.

This can also be somewhat dangerous.  My wife often tells me I know the right words to say to her when I want something.  Be careful of your motives.  I will assume that your “3 and outs” are with good intention.

If you combine great intentions with great preparation, you are bound for tremendously productive efforts.  

What is important to consider is that one’s preparation is often not recognized.  This is because the more prepared one is, the smoother their performances or efforts tend to be.  It gives the illusion that they are “a natural” at what it is that they do.  

Consider some of the best in different industries (entertainment, technology, sports, marketing, medicine, etc).  They practice.  And practice.  And practice some more.  

If you need proof of how much time it takes to be an expert at something, read Malcolm Gladwell’s, “Outliers”.  It’s a long time.

Maybe, an actual example will be helpful.  How many hours does an actor spend on set?  Seems to be all over the map.  But, it’s a lot more than the run time of the film.

Great intentions are much more easily noticed by an audience.  This is good.   Who cares how much you prepared?  Mostly you.  Display your intentions.  Your preparation is a strong, yet silent “partner”.  

Your well prepared “3 and out” will directly and effectively present your intentions.  

Close with conviction.