4 KEYS TO CLOSING YOUR PRESENTATIONS WITH IMPACT

Closing your presentations with impact can open up doors of opportunity because what you say last can significantly affect how your audience feels once they walk away from where you’re presenting back to their busy lives.

You can deliver a wonderful presentation but if the ending is weak, your audience will walk away feeling like the experience wasn’t very strong. So here are 4 keys you can use to strengthen your closing and henceforth your presentation.

1. Signal

Before you close your presentation, you should signal that you are closing. Tell the audience that the end is near. Be more creative than saying, “In conclusion” or “In summary” or something to that effect.

I like to use picture words such as “Let’s wrap this message up” or “As we come to the end” or “I’ll leave you with this…” or “Let’s land this plane and I hope what I now share in conclusion will leave you thinking this presentation was worth the journey”. Whatever you say and do, let your audience know you are closing because here’s what will happen:

They will listen again!

That’s right. People have been trained to know that your closing means you are most likely going to reiterate your message and so their antennas go up and they often begin to take notes.


2. Re Cap

As you move into your closing, make sure you call back to each of the major points you made for each segment of your topic.

Important Point: You can either re cap first or signal first depending on what makes better sense for the flow of your speech.

 

3. Questions & Answers (Q & A)

Never end with Q & A. Why? Because people most remember what they hear first and what they hear last. Your overall message needs to be the last words / picture in their ears.

It is okay to have a Q & A, but ideally this should be facilitated throughout your presentation. Or, at least about 95% of the way through your presentation before you get to signal and re cap. 

 

4. Focused Message

Finally, once you’ve completed Q & A + signaled that you’re closing + re capped your major points, it’s time to move into your focused message.

Just like you should have been doing throughout your entire presentation as you transition from one point to the next, it’s extremely important to tease people before you tell them.

Tease your audience by letting them know at the end of your presentation, WHAT you want audience to THINK / DO + HOW your presentation is RELEVANT / BENEFICIAL to them or their business etc.

BY closing your presentations with impact will significantly open new doors of opportunity.