How you end a speech is important because of recency bias:
“Recency bias is a cognitive bias that favors recent events over historic ones. Recency bias gives ‘greater importance to the most recent event’, such as the lawyer’s closing argument a jury hears before being dismissed to deliberate.”
There is a good article by Jennifer Herrity at Indeed [Career Guide] on March 16, 2023 titled How to conclude a presentation: Tips and examples. She lists ten tips:
1] Summarize the key points
2] Echo the core message
3] Present a call to action
4] Use a powerful quote
5] Ask a rhetorical question
6] Tell a story
7] Give a visual image
8] Acknowledge others
9] Use a short, powerful sentence
10] Make them laugh
Toastmasters International has an item in their Better Speaker Series titled Concluding Your Speech [Item 271A, October 2016] that lists six techniques:
1) Use a quotation
2) Tell a short story or anecdote
3) Call for action
4) Ask a rhetorical question
5) Refer to the beginning of the speech
6) Summarize your main points
One difference from Ms. Herrity’s article in the inclusion of referring back to the beginning. I mentioned this in a blog post way back on March 22, 2011 titled Speech geometry: lines, circles, forks, and combs.
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