Concluding a speech well

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.