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September 14, 2015 at 12:00 AM
There are some great speeches that have gone down in history and that we still recite to this day. But what makes a speech so memorable? Or even more so, what prompts the audience to get into action?
A good talk or public speech is like a good play, movie, or song. It opens by arresting the listener’s attention, develops point by point, and then ends strongly.
The truth is, if you don’t know how to end a speech, your key points may get lost. The words you say at the beginning, and especially at the end of your talk, will be remembered longer than almost any other part of your speech.
Here are three more tips and examples for concluding a speech:
5) Make them laugh
You can close with humor. You can tell a joke that loops back into your subject and repeats the lesson or main point you are making with a story that makes everyone laugh.
During my talks on planning and persistence, I discuss the biggest enemy that we have, which is the tendency to follow the path of least resistance. I then tell this story:
Ole and Sven are out hunting in Minnesota and they shoot a deer. They begin dragging the deer back to the truck by the tail, but they keep slipping and losing both their grip and their balance.
A farmer comes along and asks them, “What are you boys doing?”
They reply, “We’re dragging the deer back to the truck.”
The farmer tells them, “You are not supposed to drag a deer by the tail. You’re supposed to drag the deer by the handles. They’re called antlers. You’re supposed to drag a deer by the antlers.”
Ole an Sven say, “Thank you very much for the idea.”
