Naturally, the way you end a presentation will depend on the setting and subject matter. Are you pitching an idea to your boss? Are you participating in a group presentation at school? Or are you presenting a business idea to potential investors? No matter the context, you’ll want to have a stellar ending that satisfies your audience and reinforces your goals.
So, do you want to learn how to end a presentation with style? Wondering how to end an informative speech? Or do you want to know how to conclude a Powerpoint presentation with impact? We’re here to help you learn how to end a presentation and make a great impression!
How to End a Presentation: 3 Effective Methods
Every presentation needs a great beginning, middle, and end. In this guide, we will focus on crafting the perfect conclusion. However, if you’d like to make sure that your presentation sounds good from start to finish, you should also check out our guide on starting a presentation in English.
Though there are many ways to end a presentation, the most effective strategies focus on making a lasting impression on your audience and reinforcing your goals. So, let’s take a look at three effective ways to end a presentation:
1. Summarize the Key Takeaways
Most presenters either make an argument (i.e. they want to convince their audience to adopt their view) or present new or interesting information (i.e. they want to educate their audience). In either case, the presentation will likely consist of important facts and figures. The conclusion gives you the opportunity to reiterate the most important information to your audience.
This doesn’t mean that you should simply restate everything from your presentation a second time. Instead, you should identify the most important parts of your presentation and briefly summarize them.
This is similar to what you might find in the last paragraph of an academic essay. For example, if you’re presenting a business proposal to potential investors, you might conclude with a summary of your business and the reasons why your audience should invest in your idea.
2. End with a CTA (Call-To-Action)
Ending with a Call-To-Action is one of the best ways to increase audience engagement (participation) with your presentation. A CTA is simply a request or invitation to perform a specific action. This technique is frequently used in sales or marketing presentations, though it can be used in many different situations.
For example, let’s say that you’re giving an informational presentation about the importance of hygiene in the workplace. Since your goal is to educate your audience, you may think that there’s no place for a CTA.
On the contrary, informational presentations are perfect for CTA’s. Rather than simply ending your presentation, you can direct your audience to seek out more information on the subject from authorities. In this case, you might encourage listeners to learn more from an authoritative medical organization, like the World Health Organization (WHO).
3. Use a Relevant Quote
It may sound cliche, but using quotes in your closing speech is both memorable and effective. However, not just any quote will do. You should always make sure that your quote is relevant to the topic. If you’re making an argument, you might want to include a quote that either directly or indirectly reinforces your main point.
Let’s say that you’re conducting a presentation about your company’s mission statement. You might present the information with a Powerpoint presentation, in which case your last slide could include an inspirational quote. The quote can either refer to the mission statement or somehow reinforce the ideas covered in the presentation.
Formatting Your Conclusion
While these 3 strategies should give you some inspiration, they won’t help you format your conclusion. You might know that you want to end your presentation with a Call-To-Action, but how should you “start” your conclusion? How long should you make your conclusion? Finally, what are some good phrases to use for ending a presentation?<br>
Examples of a Good Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe that we can increase our annual revenue this year. We can do this with a combination of increased efficiency in our production process and a more dynamic approach to lead generation. If we implement these changes, I estimate that annual revenue will increase by as much as 15%.
The example above shows a good conclusion for a business presentation. However, some people believe that the term in conclusion is overused. Here’s how to end a presentation using transition words similar to in conclusion.
Transition words help your audience know that your presentation is ending. Try starting your conclusion with one of these phrases:
- In short
- To summarize
- Overall
- Finally
- In closing
- Lastly
However, transition words aren’t always necessary. Here are a few good ways to end a presentation using a different approach.
- Summarize Key Takeaways: There are two things that I’d like you to remember from today’s presentation. First, we are a company that consults startups for a fraction of the cost of other consultation services. And second, we have a perfect record of successfully growing startups in a wide variety of industries. If anything was unclear, I’d be happy to open the floor to questions.
- Make a Call-To-Action: I am very passionate about climate change. The future of the planet rests on our shoulders and we are quickly running out of time to take action. That said, I do believe that we can effect real change for future generations. I challenge you to take up the fight for our children and our children’s children.
- Use a Relevant Quote: I’d like to end my presentation with one of my favorite quotes: “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
As you can see, your conclusion does not need to be very long. In fact, a conclusion should be short and to the point. This way, you can effectively end your presentation without rambling or adding extraneous (irrelevant) information.
How to End a Presentation in English with Common Phrases
Finally, there are a few generic phrases that people frequently use to wrap up presentations. While we encourage you to think about how to end a presentation using a unique final statement, there’s nothing wrong with using these common closing phrases:
- Thank you for your time.
- I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today.
- I’ll now answer any questions you have about (topic).
- If you need any further information, feel free to contact me at (contact information).
We hope this guide helps you better understand how to end a presentation! If you’d like to find out more about how to end a presentation in English effectively, visit Magoosh Speaking today!
