How to end your speech with a bang

The end of a speech is just as impor­tant as the begin­ning. It’s your chance to leave a lasting impres­sion on your audi­ence and drive home your key points. A strong finish can help you end on a high note and keep your audi­ence engaged until the very end.

So how can you end your speech with a bang? Here are four tips for a strong finish:

Recap your main points

At the end of a pre­sen­ta­tion, briefly sum­ma­rize your main points to rein­force their impor­tance and help your audi­ence remember them. This can be done through a quick review of the key themes or ideas that you cov­ered during the presentation.

To effec­tively recap your main points, try to use dif­ferent lan­guage than you did in the body of your pre­sen­ta­tion. This will help to rein­force the ideas and ensure that your audi­ence is paying atten­tion. Addi­tion­ally, it can be helpful to empha­size the most impor­tant points by restating them in a slightly dif­ferent way.

End with a call to action

It is also a good idea to leave your audi­ence with a clear take­away or call to action. This could be a spe­cific task that you want them to com­plete, a ques­tion to con­sider, or an action to take. It could be some­thing as simple as asking them to share your mes­sage with others or inviting them to join a cause or orga­ni­za­tion. This will help to ensure that your pre­sen­ta­tion has a lasting impact on your audi­ence and that they are moti­vated to take the next steps.

Round it off

If you used a metaphor or story at the begin­ning of your pre­sen­ta­tion, now is the time to come back to it and round it off. This works best if you design the begin­ning with the end already in mind. Imagine the story or metaphor like a chord pro­gres­sion where you never played the last chord during the pre­sen­ta­tion. Only at the very end you play the home chord and now everyone finally is happy.

Show appre­ci­a­tion

Finally, be sure to thank your audi­ence for their atten­tion and par­tic­i­pa­tion, and encourage them to ask any ques­tions or pro­vide feed­back. This will help to create a pos­i­tive and engaging con­clu­sion to your pre­sen­ta­tion. Don’t just show a slide with „Thank you for your atten­tion.“ on it. Turn off the pre­sen­ta­tion or switch to black. Go in the middle of the stage and say thank you. You really have to mean it.

Bottom line

By fol­lowing these tips, you can end your speech with a bang and leave a lasting impres­sion on your audi­ence. Remember, the end of your speech is just as impor­tant as the begin­ning, so make sure to give it the atten­tion it deserves.