Know When to End a Speech
Do you know what is more important than a well-crafted opening to a speech? Knowing when and how to end it!
Conclusions are incredibly important because that’s where you are giving your “call to action.” And, if your call to action is buried in a long-winded goodbye, you’ve just blown the whole speech. Yes, sometimes there are many different creative ways to end a speech. But, you should pick the best one and leave it at that.
Have you ever watched a Saturday Night Live sketch that was dragging on and on, like they didn’t know how to end it? As you were watching you’d think, “it used to be funny, now it’s not” because it just seemed to go on way past the joke. That’s what many speeches are like. They go on way past the powerful ending. What you want is something perfectly timed.
(Just FYI, yes, I’m a huge fan of Saturday Night Live. When the sketches are dead on and end at the right time they are masterful. But, when they go on and on past the joke it gets boring. Just don’t let that happen to your speeches.)
Posted: October 27th, 2008 under Public Speaking Tips.
Tags: end a speech, speech conclusions