Public Speaking NOW

An audience may forget much of what is delivered in a speech, but most people will at the very least remember your opening and closing. The following information shows just how to close a speech that have people leaving the experience with your message firmly planted in their minds.

This is often neglected when identifying tips to prepare your speach

with a Tie-In to the opening:

How did you open your speech, how to close a speach? With a story, a joke, a quotation, a question, a statistic? However you opened your speech, see if you can plot a way to close the speech similarly. Create a complete and tidy package out of your speech by tying in your ending with your beginning. Refer back to your original story, joke, quote, question, or statistic. Or, alternatively, present a second story, joke, quote, question, or statistic that is a direct follow-up or in some obvious way related to the one you started with.

with a Summary of your key points:

Some time in the writing of your speech you came up with the key point or points you intended to convey. Whether or not you explicitly state those objectives in the introduction or body of your speech, you most certainly can benefit from summarizing those main ideas in a clear and concise manner (such as bullet point or outline form) at the speech’s closing. Put another way – tell them what you just told them, only now in a bite-sized manner.

by Personalizing it:

To really bring your speech home, bring it home. Make it personal. If you haven’t already done so, put yourself into your speech. Show your audience through your own personal experience how the message of your speech applies to you in your life. That’ll better enable them to see how your message applies to them. It’s never too late to open up to your audience when giving a speech, even if that opening up comes at the closing.

with a Call to Action:

Some of the most effective speeches of all time compel the listener to take some sort of desired action. Particularly suitable for promotional, political, fundraising, and other persuasive speeches, a call to action is a way to direct the energy you’ve built up in the audience into a relevant and decisive action. Call your senator. Sign up for the next workshop. Make a donation. Have that all-important discussion with your child, spouse, boss. Whatever the call to action, it’s a powerful way to turn any speech into a powerful instrument of change.

No matter how to close a speech, make sure that it is clear that you are finished, most commonly and acceptably accomplished by a humble, “Thank you”. The audience wants the same respect and appreciation that you do, and giving it to them is incredibly easy. Just remember to thank them for their time and attention, and they’ll be happy to take fond memories of your speech and your prevailing message with them when they return to their regular lives.