Final impressions at the end of a speech are what determine our memory of the person. Life is throwing so much information at us and at such a manic pace we are easily overwhelmed. We will retain an overall impression of the speaker, for good or otherwise, forever. We can let that be a random selection event or we can plan to have the final impression the one we have chosen in advance.
It is a bit like a restaurant we may visit. We will either record that as a place to revisit or we will determine to drop that one off the list of the many choices we have facing us. The same with speakers. If we are left with favourable impression, then we will look forward to spending time with them and hearing from them again.
Now your talk may not even get off to a brilliant start, but it better have a brilliant finish. The idea of recency is that we tend to remember more of what we heard last, than what we heard first. We have to therefore really work on how we leave the audience. Will we have a call to action, a rallying cry to do something that will grip the audience’s imagination and inspire them to make a change to what they have always been doing?
The ending is where we should commence our design process. That sounds a bit counterintuitive doesn’t it. Normally we think we should start at the start, that is the opening of the speech and then we flesh out what will be the key points and finally we design the wrap up at the end. Actually the order is the other way around. We start with the end, then design the key points we will raise and finally we design how we will open it up.
Designing the ending is no small thing. To get a long argument of a 30-40 minute speech chunked down to a single sentence is hard work. We have to come up with the equivalent of a killer line that encompasses the entire talk and encapsulates the key message for the audience. A take away for the audience that resonates well after the lights had been turned out and the doors locked at the venue.
If we can do that, then the last impression will be positive. We want the audience to mentally thank us for adding something to their business or their life. That exchange of their time for greater value is what raises our value in their minds. This should be our aim and how we finish the talk is the tool to deliver that outcome.
