How to End a Presentation – Making a Good Exit

The Closing

Planning the flow of a presentation, a good amount of time is spent brainstorming how the introduction and opening will go. But do you think about how you are going to end a presentation?

As we all know, it is important to capture your audience’s attention right from the start!  A good opening makes them interested in hearing more about the journey ahead, where they will learn and digest the information you present. It is also important to spend ample time planning how you are going to end your presentation.

Once the main story is complete, we all wrap-up with a summary of the different points talked about and provide the audience with an action-benefit statement to help them understand what to do with this new knowledge they have jotted down.  But this is only the beginning of the end.  To truly close you want to tie everything together with a powerful ending.

Here are four ways to make how you end a presentation as memorable as the beginning.

1. Ask a Question

If you have spent the majority of your presentation teaching the audience information, a new skill or system, or just telling your own personal story, you can end the presentation by asking the people in a room a final question. Perhaps that question is centered around the action you’d like them to take once they leave the room or even a question about the presentation and what piece of information or tip was most intriguing to them.

2. Allow Audience to Share

When your presentation is coming to and end, if there is time left ask the audience members to share a story of their own about the topic that you spoke about. Audience participation is a great way for you as the speaker to hear what your audience retained from your presentation and also will make them feel involved and connected to your topic or action-benefit statement.

3. Give More Resources

There will be people in the audience who are curious to hear more about your topic. Point them to different places and resources where they can read more or do more research to continue. Share a combination of texts, video, and even local classes and workshops they can take if they’d like to continue their education on the topic you addressed. 

4. Finish With a Way for Contact

Before leaving the room, be sure to let the audience members know the best way to keep in touch and contact you with questions. Include a slide in your presentation with your contact details or pass out your business card before taking final questions.

While first impressions do matter, final impressions matter too. That’s why it’s also a good idea to spend time planning out how to end a presentation in a way that your audience will feel as though they were impacted and engaged from start to finish.

This information is from our Public Speaking curriculum. If you’re looking for ways to improve your communication skills, register for one of our public classes

Photo courtesy of Terry Johnston.

Other resources:

9 Tips To End A Speech With A Bang

How Do You Close A Speech

12 Ways to Nail Your Presentation in the Last 30 Seconds

The Most Powerful Way to End a Presentation