I’ve had the pleasure of leading several presentation training workshops for companies around Europe this month. Standing out from all the good performances I’ve seen and heard from my trainees, one glaring weakness has shown up time and time again: the absence of a strong close. In fact, some otherwise good presentations have had no close at all. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t rate as a close for me. Nor does ‘I hope you’ve enjoyed this presentation’.

Research into audience / speaker interactions and audience memory suggests that there are two parts of your presentation which the audience will remember particularly well: your opening and your close. We’ve discussed the importance of good openings before, including the need to provide your audience with a destination (you’re the tour guide, remember?). But what about your close?

In one of the most helpful handbooks on tools for concise messaging (How to Get Your Message Across in 30 Seconds or Less), the author Milo O. Frank suggests that there are two main options for closing your presentation. One is the ‘action close’ in which you encourage your audience to take action on some issue you have raised in your presentation (I use these action closes for fundraising presentations, for instance). The other is the ‘reaction close’ where you return to your main theme or claim at the end of your presentation. You don’t ask anyone to take concrete action, but you leave the audience with a reminder of your main theme so that they can reflect upon it and ‘react’ to it. For instance, I have a presentation about how to create luck which I often deliver at company events. I vary the length of this presentation to suit the particular needs of my audience, but two things I never change are my opening and close. They are exactly right for the program. My reaction close consists of a well-known quote about luck from a famous historical figure which exactly confirms the claim I make in my program – namely, that we can steer our own luck ourselves (as opposed to fate over which we have no control). The audience is then left to reflect on how they can create more ‘luck’ in their own lives.

For every presentation you make, I suggest that you decide well ahead exactly how you want to end, i.e. with a call for action or reaction. When you’ve decided, build it into your presentation. Write out those closing words so that you can deliver them without notes and leave the stage on a warm round of applause. Above all, please don’t waste the opportunity to make a positive, lasting impression on your audience by neglecting to prepare your close.