Use these 3 strategies in your conclusion to:
- recapture your audience’s attention
- get your audience to focus and remember your key points
- help your audience connect with you and your topic
- end your presentation powerfully
One: Include a Call to Action (CTA)
Is there something you want your audience to do or think after your presentation. Do you want them to take action? Tell your audience exactly what you want them to do with a Call to Action.
Here’s my example:
“After you finish today’s lesson, please take 2 minutes toleave a comment about your experience with presentations. You can share your thoughts or ask questions in the comments section at the bottom of this lesson – it’s the perfect place to join a discussion on this topic.”
A couple useful expressions to help you introduce your CTA is:
- To close, I’d like to ask you to do this one thing…
- And finally, before you leave the conference today, please take two minutes to…
Two: End with a Powerful/Inspirational Quote
Is there one thing you really want your audience to remember? Or is there a specific feeling you want your audience to have after your presentation?
Using a powerful quote can help you do that.You could introduce a great quote or interesting statistic with:
- I’d like to finish with this powerful/interesting/wonderful/inspiring/ quote from …
- And finally, let’s finish up today’s discussion with this surprising/useful/shocking/hopeful statistic …
Here are some example quotes that might help people be prepared to take action or to think differently.
But remember! Always match the quote or statistic to your topic:
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”– Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.”– Alexander Graham Bell
Three: Add a Surprising Fact or Statistic
Is there something you’d love for your audience to think about after your presentation? Is there a statistic or fact that will help someone remember your key points?
A surprising fact can also help re-engage your audience, it will snap their attention back to you.
For example:
Did you know that the human brain’s capacity is limitless – that’s great new right? BUT … did you also know that a person is likely to remember only 25% of a presentation after 24 hours?
Uh oh. That is why it’s SO important to have a powerful ending! Remember: the key is to find a statistic or fact that connects directly to your topic.
