Your ending is even more important than your beginning. You want it to be strong and clear. It’s sad but true—your audience may not remember anything else! You need to [...]]]> Here is a sneak preview of some of the content of my 3-day workshop, “Create an Outstanding Presentation.” It comes from Day 1: Content.

Your ending is even more important than your beginning. You want it to be strong and clear. It’s sad but true—your audience may not remember anything else! You need to summarize your points and end on an up note.

A nice technique is to refer back to something you said at the beginning, and finish it. It could be a story that you left incomplete or a situation. For example, you could talk about another customer’s problem at the beginning, but not say what happened. Then, at the end, you could provide the happy ending to that story. Or, if you start with a shocking statistic, you could state how your solution will make that statistic less shocking. Let’s say you start by saying, “It costs six times more to sell a product or service to a prospect than to an existing customer.” You could end by saying, “With our software, you’ll sell more at less cost by maximizing your existing relationships.”

One problem dealing with is questions and answers. The question and answer period dilutes your ending and can even spoil it. Therefore, when it’s over, you should repeat your ending, in a slightly different version, along with your request for action.

What suggestions do you have for ending a presentation?