Do your work with your whole heart and you will succeed—there is so little competition!
—ELBERT HUBBARD
A good talk or seminar is like a good play, movie, or song. It opens by arresting the listener’s attention, develops point by point, and then ends strongly.
The words you say at the beginning, and especially at the end of your talk, will be remembered longer than almost any other part of your speech. Some of the great speeches of history have ended with powerful, stirring words that live on in memory.
For example, during World War II, Winston Churchill stirred the nation with his tribute to the pilots of the Royal Air Force, who were fighting and dying in aerial combat with the German Luftwaffe: “Never in human history have so many owed so much to so few.” Here is some advice about how to create a strong ending.
To ensure that your conclusion is as powerful as it can be, you must plan it word for word.
When you ask yourself, “What is the purpose of this talk?” your answer should involve the actions that you want your listeners to take after hearing you speak on this subject. When you are clear about the end result you desire, it becomes much easier to design a conclusion that asks your listeners to take that action.
The best strategy for ending with a bang is to plan your close before you plan the rest of the speech. You then go back and design your opening so that it sets the stage for your conclusion. The body of your talk is where you present your ideas and make your case for what you want the audience to think, remember, and do after hearing you speak.
It is especially important to tell the audience what you want it to do as a result of hearing you speak. A call to action is the best way to wrap up your talk with strength and power. Here is an example: “We have great challenges and great opportunities, and with your help, we will meet them and make this next year the best year in our history!”
Whatever you say, imagine an exclamation point at the end. As you approach the conclusion, pick up your energy and tempo. Speak with strength and emphasis. Drive the final point home. Regardless of whether the audience participants agree with you or are willing to do what you ask, it should be perfectly clear to them what you are requesting.
There is a simple formula for any talk: Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Then, tell them what you told them. As you approach the end of your talk, you say something like, “Let me briefly restate these main points . . .” You then list your key points, one by one, and repeat them to the audience, showing how each of them links to the other points. Audiences appreciate a linear repetition of what they have just heard. This makes it clear that you are coming to the end of your talk.
As you reach the end of your talk, you can say, “Let me tell you a story that illustrates what I have been talking about . . .” You then tell a brief story with a moral, and then tell the audience what the moral is. Don’t leave it to them to figure out for themselves.
Often you can close with a story that illustrates your key points and then clearly links to the key message that you are making with your speech. Here is an example.
Once upon a time, many years ago, two friends from the East decided to go west and make their fortunes prospecting for gold. They staked a claim in what appeared to be a promising area and began digging. For one full year, they worked seven days a week digging deeper and deeper on their claim, but all they found was worthless rock. Tired and discouraged, they sold their claim to another prospector for a few dollars, packed up their bags, and returned to the East to get new jobs and start new lives.
They learned later that the prospector who bought their claim brought a mining engineer out to the property to assess its value. After some study, the engineer concluded that there was gold in the ground but that the other prospectors had been digging in the wrong direction. He predicted that if the new owner dug in a different direction, he would find gold.
Just two feet from where the two prospectors had given up the new miner hit a mother lode of gold that yielded more than 40 million dollars over the next few years. The two young miners had given up too soon largely because they did not have the expertise of a mining engineer to guide them.
When the two young men heard what happened, they made a decision that changed their lives and ultimately made them very successful. They resolved that for the rest of their careers they would try a little harder, dig a little deeper, and hire the services of the best experts in any business venture they entered into.
Ladies and gentleman, we are digging for gold as well. The potential ahead of us is unlimited. Let us share our knowledge with one another as a team, dig deeper, try harder, and never give up until we achieve success.
You can close with humor. You can tell a joke that loops back into your subject and repeats the lesson or main point you are making with a story that makes everyone laugh.
During my talks on planning and persistence, I discuss the biggest enemy that we have, which is the tendency to follow the path of least resistance. I then tell this story:
Ole and Sven are out hunting in Minnesota and they shoot a deer. They begin dragging the deer back to the truck by the tail, but they keep slipping and losing both their grip and their balance.
A farmer comes along and asks them, “What are you boys doing?”
They reply, “We’re dragging the deer back to the truck.”
The farmer tells them, “You are not supposed to drag a deer by the tail. You’re supposed to drag a deer by the handles that God has provided. They’re called antlers. You’re supposed to drag a deer by the antlers.”
Ole and Sven say, “Thank you very much for the idea.”
They begin pulling the deer by the antlers. After about five minutes, they are making rapid progress. Ole says to Sven, “Sven, the farmer was right. It goes a lot easier by the antlers.”
Sven replies, “Ya Ole, but we’re getting farther and farther from the truck.”
After the laughter dies down, I say, “The majority of people in life are pulling the easy way, but they are getting further and further from the ‘truck’ of their real goals and objectives.”
You can close with a poem. There are many fine poems that contain messages that summarize the key points you want to make. You can select a poem that is moving, dramatic, or emotional.
Some years ago, I gave the eulogy at the funeral of a dear friend who had died of a brain tumor. In his youth he had been a pilot in World War II and he had never forgotten his experiences in North Africa. After speaking of the great contributions he had made to his family, friends, and community, I read the poem, “The Airman,” which ended with the words, referring to an airman who had died: “He broke the bonds of earth and touched the face of God.”
It was an excellent way to summarize the essence of a good man’s life and end on a note of inspiration for those in attendance.
You can end a talk with something inspirational as well. If you have given an uplifting talk, remember that hope is, and has always been, the main religion of mankind. People love to be motivated and inspired to be or do something different and better in the future.
Remember, everyone in your audience is dealing with problems, difficulties, challenges, disappointments, setbacks, and temporary failures. For this reason, everyone appreciates a story or poem of encouragement that gives them strength and courage.
For years, I ended seminars with the poem “Don’t Quit,” or “Carry On!” by Robert W. Service. It was always well received by the audience.
When you tell a story or recite a poem, you must become an actor. You have to slow down and add emotion and drama to your words. Practice all of the techniques in this book. Raise your voice on a key line of the poem, and then drop it when you are saying something that is intimate and emotional. Pick up the tempo occasionally as you go through the story or poem, but then slow down on the most memorable parts.
Especially, double the number of pauses you normally use in a conversation. Use dramatic pauses before or after a key part. Use sense pauses at the end of a line to allow the audience to digest the words and to catch up with you. Smile if the line is funny, and be serious if the line is more thought provoking or emotional.
When you come to the end of your talk, be sure to bring your voice up on the last line, rather than letting it drop. Remember the “exclamation point” at the end.
When you say your final words, it should be clear to everyone that you have ended. There should be no ambiguity or confusion in the mind of your audience. The audience members should know that this is the end.
Many speakers just allow their talks to wind down. They say something like, “Well, that just about covers it. Thank you.” This isn’t a good idea; it’s not a powerful, authoritative ending and thus detracts from your credibility and influence.
When you have concluded, discipline yourself to stand perfectly still. Select a friendly face in the audience and look straight at that person. If it is appropriate, smile warmly at that person to signal that your speech has come to an end.
Resist the temptation to shuffle papers, fidget with your clothes or microphone, move forward, backward, or sideways, or do anything else except to stand solidly, like a tree.
When you have finished your talk, the audience members will want to applaud. What they need from you is a clear signal that now is the time to begin clapping.
Some people will recognize sooner than others that you have concluded your remarks. In many cases, when you make your concluding comments and stop talking, the audience members will be completely silent. They may be unsure whether you are finished. They may be processing your final remarks and thinking them over. They may not know what to do until someone else does something.
In a few seconds, which will often feel like several minutes, people will applaud. First one, then another, and then the entire audience will begin clapping. When someone begins to applaud, look directly at that person, smile, and mouth the words thank you.
As more and more people applaud, sweep slowly from person to person, nodding, smiling, and saying, “Thank you.” Eventually the whole room will be clapping.
If you have given a moving talk and really connected with your audience, someone will stand up and applaud. When this happens, encourage the others by looking directly at the clapper and saying, “Thank you.” This will often prompt other members of the audience to stand. As people see others standing, they will stand up as well, applauding the whole time.
It is not uncommon for a speaker to conclude his or her remarks, stand silently, and have the entire audience sit silently in response. But as the speaker stands there comfortably, waiting for the audience to realize the talk is over, one by one people begin to applaud and often stand up one by one.
If the first row of audience members is close in front of you, step or lean forward and shake that person’s hand when one of them stands up to applaud. Somehow, when you shake hands with one person in an audience, many other people in the audience feel that you are shaking their hands and congratulating them as well. They will then stand up and applaud. Soon the whole room will be standing and applauding.
Whether you receive a standing ovation or not, if your introducer comes back on to thank you on behalf of the audience, smile and shake his or her hand warmly. If it’s appropriate, give the introducer a hug of thanks, wave in a friendly way to the audience, and then move aside and give the introducer the stage.
Your ability to speak effectively in every business or social situation can have an extraordinary effect on your life. It can bring you to the attention of people who can help you and open doors for you. It can get you better jobs and get you promoted faster.
Most of all, your ability to give effective presentations, both to small and large groups, will increase your own feelings of self-esteem, self-respect, and personal pride. When you know you can influence and persuade others in a variety of ways, you will have a tremendous sense of personal power and accomplishment.
And the best news of all is that these skills are learnable with practice and repetition. There are no limits!
Your concluding words can have an inordinate impact on your audience. Carefully chosen, your words can cause your audience to think, feel, and act differently than they would have without your influence. Sometimes, you can change their lives.