The conclusion of a speech. In this lesson, you will learn how to end your presentation with memorable fireworks. A powerful conclusion has four main elements. One, a brief summary of your main points. Two, an epiphany with unforgettable last words. Three, thanking the audience. Four, an opportunity for the audience to ask questions. By the time you reach the conclusion, you have covered a lot of information. The first thing you should do is to summarize the main points that you made earlier. A common mistake that ( - ) presenters make is to end with, "That's all," or, "That's all I have to say." This sounds lazy, boring, and satisfying. It's like a movie with a terrible ending. Repetition is important for comprehension and memory. The audience needs a brief review of what's important. Suppose that you've just finished explaining the effects of air pollution, and offered some solutions for reducing this problem. You can say to review air pollution damages our environment, economy, and bodies. By making the choice to embrace greener forms of transportation and encouraging the government to be stricter with manufacturers, the quality of life will be better for us and our progeny. To summarize, air pollution hurts not only our environment but also our economic and physical well-being. If we embrace greener forms of transportation and encourage the government to be stricter with manufacturers, we are helping ourselves and our families. In conclusion, air pollution negatively impacts our environmental, economic, and physical health. We must adopt greener forms of transportation and encourage the government to be stricter with manufacturers. In a nutshell, air pollution kills, for humankind to survive and thrive, green transportation and manufacturing laws must be espoused. After reviewing the main points, offer an epiphany. These are the last words that you will say about your topic, it needs to be memorable. End with a bang, a grand finale of fireworks, there are many techniques to choose from. A common technique is to synthesize the main points that you summarized. Show how everything connects together or how it becomes a domino effect. Looking to the future is popular too, what will happen in 10, 20, or 50 years. You can demonstrate with a prop, hold up an object such as your car keys and remind the audience that these car keys are the same keys to my lungs. That's why I bought an electric car that doesn't rely on gasoline. Quotations and slogans are also very effective. You could quote a famous person or you could create your own fun, catchy phrase like, "No pollution is the best solution." Then you can make a call for action, ask the audience members to do something. If you want the audience to show the government that they support your ideas, this would be a good time to pass that petition for people to sign. If you use the hook in the introduction of your speech, use a tieback. Refer back to the same story, statistic, or picture that you used in your opening remarks and say, now you know why this happens. These are just some ideas. The possibilities are endless, no matter what techniques you choose, end on a positive note. You want the audience to feel happy at the end, not sad, fireworks are exciting, not depressing. After your firework ending, don't move, keep smiling, but stay absolutely still for at least a few seconds. The audience will start clapping. Then you can thank the audience for their time and tell them how they can get more information about this presentation topic. For instance, if you're using a presentation tool like PowerPoint, you should quickly show a list of the sources that you cited during your speech. You can say things like, "For more information, here are some interesting books and websites." "Do you have any questions or comments?" "I now like to open the floor for questions and comments." In this lesson, you learned that a powerful conclusion includes a brief summary, a memorable epiphany, a sincere thank you, and time for questions. If you end with these four elements, you'll be celebrating your victory with spectacular fireworks.
