Developing a Conclusion that is Memorable

The purpose of this lesson is to help you develop a conclusion that will make you and your speech memorable. There is nothing more disappointing when giving a speech and no one remembers you or your speech.

Or what's worse than that is your audience DOES REMEMBER your speech because it was LAME! 

BE MEMORABLE IN ALL THE RIGHT WAYS!!!

Basic Function of Conclusion

• It gives you a chance to summarize main points and goals of your speech.
• It allows you to reiterate the thesis or central idea of your speech.

An Ending Signal that the END IS NEAR!

• Alert your audience that you are coming up to the end of your speech.
• Use transitional words or phrases to help your audience know that the end is near.

Examples of concluding transitional words or phrases:
Finally…
Looking back…
In summary...
In conclusion...
To wrap it up...
To put this all in perspective…
Let me close by saying…
Once you've given the closing "signal" wrap it up and finish.
DO NOT do a "wait a minute, I forgot to say…"

The biggest mistake I see in speeches is poor time management and you (the speaker) realize that you're out of time so you quickly wrap it up.

"Oh it looks like I'm out of times, so I hope you enjoyed the presentation, I know I have, and…..thank you."

Doing this does not create closure for the audience. It would be like if you are watching your favorite show and as soon as you are getting to the really good part, the television just speeds up the ending (kind of like the old VCR days when you could fast forward a tape and see it on the television). It just doesn't have the same affect as watching it in real time speed. 

Summarize the Main Points and Reiterate the Topic and Main Points
REMEMBER the basic outline of a speech is:
1. Get their attention
2. Introduce topic
3. Give the speech (main body)
4. Conclusion
5. Memorable statement.

By reiterating the main points, you help the audience remember the "good stuff" of your speech.

Once you have summarized your speech you need to finalize you speech with something that is MEMORABLE!!!

IMPORTANT!!! The MEMORABLE STATEMENT is the FINAL STATEMENT uttered from your mouth. It is the END of you speech and how you say it is just as important as what you say. Too many people struggle with how to close a speech and error on the side of saying stupid things like, "And that's all I have to say," or "I'm done," or "And that's it." Yes I have heard it all and seen it all. I have seen people just walk away and the audience just looks around for a moment to see if they are done, and there is an awkward moment of silence before the courtesy applause.

Here's a simple HINT: When drawing to the close of your speech lower the pitch and tone of your voice. You can also provide physical nonverbals to let the audience know you are done.

A MEMORABLE STATEMENT is like the Attention-Getter you used at the beginning of your speech.

Here are some things to help you be MEMORABLE!!!

• Use quotations (similar to what you learned in Lesson 14). Quotes can come from poetry, lyrics, and pertinent statements from others.
• Pose rhetorical questions to make your audience think about the speech topic and your speech purpose/intention.
• Tell a story that illustrates or sums up a key speech idea or ideas.
• Use appropriate humor.
• Issue a challenge.
• Make a startling statement. 
• Link back to the introduction to give the audience a sense of having come full circle.

Something else you can consider is Challenging the Audience to Respond

What does this mean exactly? It means that whatever your speech is about you can challenge the audience members to put to use what you have taught them. This applies to both persuasive and informative speeches. 

It is a call to action, whether to explore further what you shared (informative) or to change thinking/habits or go along with what you shared (persuasive).

In closing I would like to sum up some areas to remember when preparing for a conclusion (Hey, did you catch that? I just used a transition statement to move into the conclusion of this lesson).
Ask yourself these questions: Does my conclusion...

• begin with an alert (transitional statement) that the speech is coming to an end?
• actually come to an end when I give the signal? (Remember a conclusion should only take about 6-10% of you speech time).
• reiterate the main points?
• reminds the audience of the speech topic and purpose?
• provide a sense of closure and make a lasting impression?
• provide a MEMORABLE STATEMENT?

With all you have just learned, you must remember that people will often forget what you said, forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel!

When you turn your words into a feeling, you will be memorable!