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How to Close Your Presentation in English Powerfully [+ FREE Presentation Checklist]
May 9, 2018 | Business Professional English , Free Resource , Public Speaking & Presentations
This lesson has been updated from its original posting in 2016.
You’re giving your presentation in English. You have just two minutes left. And it’s time for the conclusion …
Did you know most people only remember the first and last things you tell them? It’s true.
If you are giving a presentation in English, then you definitely want people to remember what you say at the end. And this means your closing must be powerful!
You’ve worked hard on your presentation. You searched for information online. You couldn’t sleep at night. You felt nervous about making mistakes. You spent hours preparing. You reviewed the grammar and vocabulary. You worried about someone asking a question. You practiced and practiced and practiced.
And now it’s the last two minutes. This is the last opportunity for your audience to hear your key points. It is the last chance you have to help your audience remember your comments.
A closing in a presentation should be short and clear. It should summarize your key points. And, most importantly, it should be powerful.
In today’s lesson, you’re going to learn about 3 ways to make your closing more powerful. Plus you’ll learn useful key expressions you can use in your presentation.
3 steps to a powerful closing in your presentation.
Lesson by Annemarie
3 Strategies to Close Your Presentation Powerfully
Use these 3 strategies in your conclusion to:
- recapture your audience’s attention
- get your audience to focus and remember your key points
- help your audience connect with you and your topic
- end your presentation powerfully
One: Include a Call to Action (CTA)
Is there something you want your audience to do or think after your presentation. Do you want them to take action? Tell your audience exactly what you want them to do with a Call to Action.
Here’s my example:
“ After you finish today’s lesson, please take 2 minutes to leave a comment about your experience with presentations. You can share your thoughts or ask questions in the comments section at the bottom of this lesson – it’s the perfect place to join a discussion on this topic.”
A couple useful expressions to help you introduce your CTA is:
- To close, I’d like to ask you to do this one thing…
- And finally, before you leave the conference today, please take two minutes to…
Two: End with a Powerful/Inspirational Quote
Is there one thing you really want your audience to remember? Or is there a specific feeling you want your audience to have after your presentation?
Using a powerful quote can help you do that. You could introduce a great quote or interesting statistic with:
- I’d like to finish with this powerful/interesting/wonderful/inspiring/ quote from …
- And finally, let’s finish up today’s discussion with this surprising/useful/shocking/hopeful statistic …
Here are some example quotes that might help people be prepared to take action or to think differently. But remember! Always match the quote or statistic to your topic:
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. “Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.” – Alexander Graham Bell
Three: Add a Surprising Fact or Statistic
Is there something you’d love for your audience to think about after your presentation? Is there a statistic or fact that will help someone remember your key points?
A surprising fact can also help re-engage your audience, it will snap their attention back to you.
For example:
Did you know that the human brain’s capacity is limitless – that’s great new right? BUT … did you also know that a person is likely to remember only 25% of a presentation after 24 hours?
Uh oh. That is why it’s SO important to have a powerful ending! Remember: the key is to find a statistic or fact that connects directly to your topic.
Useful Language to Close Your Presentation
Summarize Your Key Points & Close Your Presentation
- That brings us to the end of the presentation. I’d like to summarize by saying …
- That concludes my presentation. However, I’d like to quickly summarize the main points or takeaways.
- And on that final note, that concludes my presentation.
- To quickly recap, I’d like you to remember these key points …
- To summarize …
- In conclusion …
- I’d like to bring this presentation to a close with …
- I’d like to close this talk with …
- So, this concludes the focus of discussion today. To end, I’d like to highlight …
- This concludes [name/title of the section] so let’s move on to the final comments.
Thank Your Audience
- I sincerely appreciate your attention today/this evening/this morning.
- And that brings us to the end. I’d like to thank you for your time and attention today.
- Thank you so much for your interest and attention.
- At this time, I’d like to have my colleague speak so I’ll finish up by saying thank you for your attention.
- I can see that our time is just about up so to finish I’d like to say thank you.
- I sincerely appreciate that I’ve had this opportunity to present to you.
- If there is one thing I would like you to remember from today’s presentation it’s …
Take Questions
- If anyone has any questions, I’d be happy to open up the discussion.
- If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask now and I’ll do my best to answer.
- Would anyone like to ask any questions?
- I would now be interested to hear from you with your thoughts or questions.
- Now let’s move on to some Q&A. (Q&A = Questions and Answers)
Provide Next Steps or Contact Information
- If you would like more information, here is a list of useful resources/websites.
- If anyone who like more information or has questions, please feel free to contact me at: [include contact info]
- Here is a list for further reading on this topic. (Include the list of books or websites.)
Get the complete Presentations in English Series:
Part 1: How to Prepare for Your Presentation in English
Part 2: How to Start with a Great Introduction in Your Presentation
Part 3: How to Organize Your Presentation in English
Part 4: How to End Your Presentation Powerfully
After you’ve watched the video and reviewed the lesson, I’d love to hear from you!
Tell me about the best presentation you ever heard. Who gave the presentation? And why do you remember it? Share what you remember in the comments section below.
And for the bonus question!! Have you given a presentation in English? What tips or advice would you like to share with others? You can add your advice in the comments section.
Thank you so much for joining me!
~ Annemarie
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I’m glad to hear it was helpful!
This was very helpful
Thanks, Ma’am/Sir. This helped me a lot…
Same here ma’am
This is so helpful. Thank you so much
This helped a lot. Thank you so much <3
I accidentally found your page while working on my English video presentation. It’s really helpful. Thanks soooo much 🙂
I’m very glad to know it was helpful!
Hi! I found your page very insightful. Thank you very much!
I’m glad to hear it!
great video series. thank you so much. you mentioned that you had a downloadable checklist in the final video. where could I find this thanks?
Hi Ellie, I’m glad the series was helpful.
When you visit the lesson, there should be an image that pops up with an opportunity to get the download. If you don’t see it, please let me know so I can fix it.
Helped a lot! Thank you very much <33
thank you so much
I love your method
Hello, I have a 5 minute oral presentation of a fictional book, w/the main focus on the leadership traits of the characters. I enjoyed the book, and suspect others might, so to that end, is it OK to NOT share the ending? Thank you
Thanks for your help 🙂
Great website. I found a typo in on the presentation closings page “Useful Langauge to Close Your Presentation”.
Good eyes! Thanks so much for the note. We’ve fixed the typo.
Dear Annemarie, thank you so much for sharing.
Dear Annemarie, thank you so much for sharing. I learned so much from your 4 videos and I will work on improving my presentation skills. Love your spirit of excellence. For me as a presenter, its important i am passionate about the topic i share and audience will be able to apply some of the learnings in their life. Thank you Annemarie. I love your voice too. Stay blessed.
I watch continuously watched ur 4 videos and U r a great teacher.Thanks for making such purposeful videos.
I am so happy , I have more form you thank you very much
You are absolutely wonderful and your website is extremely useful and also quit impressive i habe my english A-levels in December i copied this text i sinisterly appreciate that i have had this opportunity to present to you and i also add something * it was a honor for me so thank you ☺️
Thanks, Jasmin! I’m so glad to know my lessons are helpful to you.
hey Annemarie could you help me in ending my presentation on mental health. it is a school presentation for MUN
If you’d like editing help, please see our options for 1:1 classes .
You are my favorite speaker. ☺
Hi Anna, that’s so kind of you. Thank you. 🙂
It’s so useful to us…… I’m so happy by this
I’m glad it was helpful to you, Kalpana.
I was holistically stuck about how to give my first ever presentation, but this gave me an impetus and confidence. Thanks a lot for this exquisite info
Awesome. I’m glad this helped you to move forward.
Thank YOU for tour tips. They are really inspiring. I Will try to put them into practise.
Hi Nancy, Wonderful! I’m glad they’re helpful to you!
It’s so useful to us…… I’m so happy by this
do you have Presentation course
Hi Hammad, I don’t at this time but it’s definitely something I’m thinking about.
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