How to end a presentation with impact - 8 top techniques - Updated for 2024

Have you ever gone to a fine dining restaurant and savoured every morsel, only to be disappointed with the grand finale, the dessert, which was a total let-down?

Likewise, when you give a speech or presentation, your ending needs to be both fabulous and memorable!

Here’s how to end a presentation so that you and your message leave an indelible impression on your audience.

1. Indicate you are drawing to a close

Explicitly tell your audience that you are now winding your presentation down.

You could say something to the effect of:

“In closing, I would like to say….” or

“In conclusion….”

Now, everyone knows the end is drawing near and they are glued to your last few words…

2. Go the distance

As you approach the end, you may start to speak faster and just want to get the whole thing over and done with.

Don’t be tempted to do this!

Instead, try to take everything slowly and in your stride.

Take a couple of nice, deep breaths.

Try to stay calm and grounded and to last the distance.

Remind yourself to speak at an even pace so your audience can easily understand you and don’t get the feeling that you are rushing and want everything to be over.

3. Be impactful

Whatever you do, don’t just let your speech or presentation abruptly end and fizzle out into nothingness.

“Well, I guess that’s all. That’s about it. Thanks everyone for coming.” Or something to that effect.

This is not a compelling ending.

This is a bland, wishy-washy and totally forgettable way to close your presentation.

Instead, plan your ending to make your closing statements impactful and memorable.

4. Place the “Question and Answer” session in the right place

There is no doubt that A “Question and Answer” session (also termed a Q and A session) is important towards the end of your presentation.

But do not place it at the tail-end of your presentation.

Why, you ask?

Because you don’t want to risk the Q and A leaving a less than stellar impression of you.

Q and A’s are generally uneventful and proceed without a hitch.

But let’s say yours is a bit ordinary.

What if you can’t adequately answer one of the audience’s questions or you don’t feel that you answer a question to the best of your ability?

Or if there is someone annoying in the audience who loves hogging the limelight and becomes a nuisance and you find it hard to regain control of the session?

That’s why you need to slot the Q and A somewhere other than right at the end.

You do not want people remembering your presentation based upon how well you handled the questions from the audience.

You need to end your presentation on YOUR terms and in your unique way.

To create the best possible impression of you and your message.

5. Summarise your presentation.

Motivational speaker, trainer and author, Dale Carnegie, famously said that in delivering any presentation to any audience, you need to stick to the following formula:

"Tell the audience what you're going to say, say it; then tell them what you've said."

Dale Carnegie

Summarising your presentation is the “telling them what you’ve said” part of the quote.

By the time you’ve finished delivering your content, people may have forgotten some of your main points, particularly the points towards the beginning of the presentation.

The end of your presentation is an opportune time to summarise your content, so your main points are fresh in your audience’s minds right up until the very end.

6. Link the ending back to the start.

This is called The "Loop Technique". 

The Loop Technique is a popular technique in which you return to the subject you opened with at the start of your presentation.

Maybe you hint about something that you will cover later in the presentation.

Say a special tip that you will cover at the end.

Or maybe you start your presentation with a funny story but tell the audience you will tell them the punchline at the end.

I love it when journalists employ the Loop Technique in their news stories.

They may write an article or film a story for TV and employ the strategy of linking the ending of the piece back to the beginning.

They may introduce the piece with a story about someone and their struggles with something, for example, overcoming poverty, poor lifestyle choices or a specific illness.

Then, the article or the TV segment discusses this issue in depth, providing further information in the form of facts, figures and evidence.

As the piece concludes, the journalist refers back to the introduction and specifically to that person who was introduced at the beginning.

This is an elegant way to end your presentation.

It also signals to your audience that you have now come full-circle and are winding things up. 

By the way - If you’re interested in techniques to start your speech or presentation with a bang, including starting with a story, please check out this post.

7. Include your Call-to-Action

Every presentation has a purpose – that purpose may be to educate, to inspire, to motivate, to entertain or to persuade.

If your presentation’s primary purpose is to persuade the audience to take some form of action, whether it is to vote, sign up for a great deal or to buy your amazing products or services, then, the end of your presentation is the perfect time, to encourage the audience to do that very thing!

“Vote for me in the next upcoming Council Election if you want to see changes in how your rates are being spent”.

“Sign up today for our 20% off offer – this offer is strictly limited and only available for the next 48 hours”.

And remember - You make your Call-to-action even more compelling when you inject scarcity into it! FOMO (fear of missing out) is very real in many aspects of day-to-day life!

When you end your presentation with a call-to-action that is is front and centre in your audiences’ minds, you maximise their likelihood of taking action, and of you achieving your presentation’s chief purpose.

 8. Learn the last few sentences like the back of your hand

Memorising or at least being very familiar with the last few sentences of your presentation gives you a huge boost of confidence.

You may want to end your presentation with a quote or story.  

My advice is to spend time and energy rehearsing and perfecting your delivery of that story or quote, so it is smooth and seamless on presentation-day.

Your ending will be polished.

Your audience will be impressed.

And you will feel SO proud of yourself for pulling it off!

In Summary

How you end your presentation will go a long way to shaping your audience’s recollection of you and your message.

Just like the dessert in that fine dining restaurant should leave you with a sweet taste in your mouth, what you say at the end of your presentation should leave every member of your audience with a powerful, positive, and unforgettable impression of you.

 © 2024 Susan Weser.  All rights reserved.

Susan Weser is the Founder of Speaking2Win, a boutique public speaking and presentation skills consultancy, based in Melbourne, Australia. Susan’s mission is to demystify public speaking and presenting. She loves to fast-track her clients’ public speaking success, empowering them with the skills and confidence to excel in all their public speaking endeavours.