Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.
Learning objectives.
Theilr – blank dossier – CC BY-SA 2.0.
So far this chapter has focused on how to go about creating a clear conclusion. We discussed why conclusions are important, the three steps of effective conclusions, and ten different ways to conclude a speech. In this section, we’re going to examine an actual conclusion to a speech. Please read the sample conclusion paragraph for the smart dust speech.
Today, we’ve explored how smart dust may impact all of our lives in the near future by examining what smart dust is, how smart dust could be utilized by the US military, and how smart dust could impact all of our lives sooner rather than later. While smart dust is quickly transforming from science fiction to science fact, experts agree that the full potential of smart dust will probably not occur until 2025. While smart dust is definitely coming, swarms of smart dust eating people as was depicted in Michael Crichton’s 2002 novel, Prey , aren’t reality. However, as with any technological advance, there are definite ethical considerations and worries to consider. Even Dr. Kris Pister’s Smart Dust Project website admits that as smart dust becomes more readily available, one of the trade-offs will be privacy. Pister responds to these critiques by saying, “As an engineer, or a scientist, or a hair stylist, everyone needs to evaluate what they do in terms of its positive and negative effect. If I thought that the negatives of working on this project were larger than or even comparable to the positives, I wouldn’t be working on it. As it turns out, I think that the potential benefits of this technology far outweigh the risks to personal privacy.”
Now that you’ve had a chance to read the conclusion to the speech on smart dust, read it a second time and try to find the three parts of an introduction as discussed earlier in this chapter. Once you’re finished analyzing this conclusion, take a look at Table 11.2 “Smart Dust Conclusion” , which shows you how the speech was broken down into the various parts of a conclusion.
Table 11.2 Smart Dust Conclusion
Today we’ve explored how smart dust may impact all of our lives in the near future by | |
The first part of the conclusion is a restatement of the thesis statement. | |
examining what smart dust is, how smart dust could be utilized by the US military, and how smart dust could impact all of our lives in the near future. | |
Following the thesis statement, the speech briefly reiterates the three main points discussed in the speech. | |
While smart dust is quickly transferring from science fiction to science fact, experts agree that the full potential of smart dust will probably not occur until 2025. While smart dust is definitely in our near future, swarms of smart dust eating people as was depicted in Michael Crichton’s 2002 novel, , isn’t reality. However, as with any technological advance, there are definite ethical considerations and worries to consider. Even Dr. Kris Pister’s Smart Dust Project website admits that as smart dust becomes more readily available, one of the trade-offs will be privacy. Pister responds to these critiques by saying, “As an engineer, or a scientist, or a hair stylist, everyone needs to evaluate what they do in terms of its positive and negative effect. If I thought that the negatives of working on this project were larger than or even comparable to the positives, I wouldn’t be working on it. As it turns out, I think that the potential benefits of this technology far outweigh the risks to personal privacy.” | |
In this concluding device, we see not only a referral to the attention getter (Michael Crichton’s book ), we also see a visualizing of some future oriented factors people need to consider related to smart dust, which is then followed by a direct quotation. | |
Notice that in an informative speech this type of conclusion is appropriate because we are trying to inform people about smart dust, but would you want to end a persuasive speech in this fashion? Definitely not! | |
However, you could create an entire persuasive speech advocating for smart dust (its many applications are more important than the loss of privacy) or against smart dust (privacy is more important than its many applications). |
Now that you have seen the above analysis of a speech conclusion, we encourage you to do a similar analysis of the conclusions of other speeches. Listen to a speech in your class or online. Does it end with a restatement of the thesis, a review of the main points, and a concluding device? Can you suggest ways to improve the conclusion?
Here is another exercise to try. Consider the specific purpose and three main points of a hypothetical speech. Based on those components, develop a conclusion for that speech.
Stand up, Speak out Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
The introduction and conclusion are essential to a speech. The audience will remember the main ideas even If the middle of the speech is a mess or nerves overtake the speaker. So if nothing else, get these parts down!
The speech is almost over and the audience needs closure. The conclusion needs to be a clincher (definitive end to the speech) – “That’s it” is not a conclusion.
Just as the audience has been led through the speech, there must also be a signal to the end of the speech.
The main points and topic are brought together in a logical conclusion.
Psychologically the audience should walk away emotionally touched.
As you decide which of these conclusion styles will work best with your speech, keep in mind your conclusion needs to restate your claim.
My Speech Class
Public Speaking Tips & Speech Topics
Jim Peterson has over 20 years experience on speech writing. He wrote over 300 free speech topic ideas and how-to guides for any kind of public speaking and speech writing assignments at My Speech Class.
One of the best ways to conclude a speech is to tie the conclusion into the introduction. For example, you might begin your speech by telling a suspenseful story that relates to your topic, but save the end of the story for the very end of your speech. Or refer back to the same quotation. Or refer to the joke that you told. Any of these strategies will give your speech a sense of connection and closure, and will leave the audience with a great final impression.
If you are delivering a persuasive speech, you might try a slightly different ending because your goal is not just to be remembered, it’s to inspire people to take action. One way to do this is to issue a call-to-action. This means that you specifically tell your audience what actions you expect them to take related to your speech. Another way to inspire action with the conclusion of your speech is to appeal to their emotions. If you create a desired emotion within your audience, and then leave them with that emotion, they will take that emotion with them. For example: If you leave them feeling guilty about not-recycling by painting a bleak picture about the state of the Earth that their grandchildren will live in, then they might recall that emotion the next time they choose not to recycle and alter their behavior.
Leaving a strong final impression is the most important aspect of the conclusion, but their are some other necessary steps as well:
A good conclusion should be about 5-10% of the total speech length. Anything shorter that 5% means that the ending has come too abruptly. Anything more that 10%, and the audience may become restless. This brings up another point: If it sounds like a conclusion, you need to finish your speech in a reasonable amount of time. The conclusion is not the place to add new material.
Speech Anxiety
Writing a Speech
Great information,but need samples to further help us understand
I want to have and example of conclusion please
I accept the Privacy Policy
Vivamus integer non suscipit taciti mus etiam at primis tempor sagittis euismod libero facilisi.
© 2024 My Speech Class
Like introductions, conclusions consist of several elements that work together to make the end of a speech as memorable as the beginning. Conclusions serve to:
As with the introduction, prepare the conclusion after you’ve completed the speech body. Keep it brief—as a rule, no more than 10 to 15 percent, or about one-sixth, of the overall speech. And, just as you should outline the introduction in full-sentence and then key-word form (see Chapter 14 ), do so for the conclusion. Carefully consider your use of language in the conclusion. More than other parts of the speech, the conclusion can contain words that inspire and motivate (see Chapter 16 ).
Signal the Close of a Speech and Provide Closure
People who listen to speeches are taking a journey of sorts, and they want and need the speaker to acknowledge the journey’s end. The more emotional the journey, as in speeches designed to touch hearts and minds, the greater is the need for logical and emotional closure.
One way to alert the audience that a speech is about to end is by using a transitional word or phrase to signal closure: in sum , finally, looking back, in conclusion, as I bring this to a close , or let me close by saying (see Chapter 11 ). You can also signal closure by adjusting your manner of delivery; for example, you can vary your tone, pitch, rhythm, and rate of speech to indicate that the speech is winding down (see Chapter 18 ).
Few things annoy listeners more than hearing a speaker say “in conclusion,” and then having to sit through another twenty minutes of the speech. Once you’ve signaled the end of your speech, conclude in short order (though not abruptly).
Summarize the Key Points
One bit of age-old advice for giving a speech is “Tell them what you are going to tell them (in the introduction), tell them (in the body), and tell them what you told them (in the conclusion).” The idea is that emphasizing the main points three times will help the audience to remember them.
Summarizing the main points in the conclusion accomplishes the last step of “telling them what you’ve told them.” However, the summary or review should be more than a rote recounting. Consider how Holger Kluge, in a speech titled “Reflections on Diversity,” summarizes his main points:
I have covered a lot of ground here today. But as I draw to a close, I’d like to stress three things.
First, diversity is more than equity. . . .
Second, weaving diversity into the very fabric of your organization takes time. . . .
Third, diversity will deliver bottom line results to your businesses and those results will be substantial. . . . 1
As the speaker reiterates each point, audience members are able to mentally check off what they’ve heard during the speech. Did they get all the key points? A restatement of points like the one above brings the speech full circle and helps give the audience a sense of completion.
Reiterate the Topic and Speech Purpose
Another function of the conclusion is to reinforce your message by reiterating the topic and speech purpose—to imprint them in the audience’s memory. In the conclusion to a persuasive speech about the U.S. immigration debate, Elpidio Villarreal reminds his listeners of his central idea:
Two paths are open to us. One path would keep us true to our fundamental values as a nation and a people. The other would lead us down a dark trail; one marked by 700-mile-long fences, emergency detention centers and vigilante border patrols. Because I really am an American, heart and soul, and because that means never being without hope, I still believe we will ultimately choose the right path. We have to. 2
Reminding listeners of your speech purpose links their frame of reference to yours, thus allowing your audience to determine how well they’ve comprehended your central idea.
Challenge the Audience to Respond
A strong conclusion challenges audience members to put to use what the speaker has taught them. In an informative speech , the speaker challenges audience members to use what they’ve learned in a way that benefits them. In a persuasive speech , the challenge usually comes in the form of a call to action . Here the speaker challenges listeners to act in response to the speech, see the problem in a new way, change their beliefs about the problem, or change both their actions and their beliefs about the problem.
A concluding challenge is important because it shows audience members that the problem or issue being addressed is real and personally relevant to them. In the introduction, part of the goal is to show audience members how the topic is relevant to them; the call to action is a necessary part of completing that goal in the conclusion.
Hillary Rodham Clinton makes a strong call to action in her conclusion to an address presented to the United Nations World Conference on Women:
We have seen peace prevail in most places for a half century. We have avoided another world war. But we have not solved older, deeply rooted problems that continue to diminish the potential of half the world’s population. Now it is time to act on behalf of women everywhere. If we take bold steps to better the lives of women, we will be taking bold steps to better the lives of children and families too. . . . Let this conference be our—and the world’s—call to action. 3
What a speech conclusion is meant to do.
The speech conclusion has four basic missions:
Hopefully, your audience will want you to speak for an hour, rather than just five or eight minutes. However, when you transition into your conclusion and use appropriate signposting, your audience realizes that the speech will come full-circle. Usually the first transitional phrase is a “brakelight” of sorts. It lets the audience know that you are starting to wrap up your presentation. You may use a transitional statement to illustrate this such as, “In conclusion…”, “In summary…” or “To wrap things up…”.
Just as you used a mapping statement to preview your main points, now you will summarize your points within your conclusion. Often simply rewording -or even restating -your original thesis statement or preview statement in the past tense will effectively summarize your speech. While this will feel very repetitive to you as a speaker, it is useful in helping the audience understand and retain the information you covered. While you may be tempted to revisit all the details of your speech, this element is best served by a clear concise declarative sentence that restates the main points you addressed.
The conclusion is the last chance you have to speak to the audience about this topic. Depending on your general purpose, this portion of the speech will vary. Informative speaking often creates an interest in the audience to learn more about your topic. It’s best to give the audience a good resource to check out if they want to learn more information. Avoid telling the audience “to google it”. We all know how to do that. Since you’ve done the research, tell us the best one you found. An example is, “If you’d like to learn more about the history of Stillwater, I recommend visiting The Sheerar Museum at 702 South Duncan here in Stillwater.” Persuasive presentation conclusions want to utilize the last opportunity to challenge the listeners to action. This portion gives you a specific opportunity to tell them what you hope they do as a result of hearing your speech. You may say something like, “As you leave here today, I challenge you to pick up five pieces of trash as you walk back to your dorm or car.”
Your speech conclusion is a mental takeaway for the audience, and you will want a strong note of finality . Your conclusion should contain enough memorable words and phrases that will help the audience positively recall the experience – and even recollect certain points that you made. Do not forget to include that “ta-da ” moment. The last statement of your presentation should be thoroughly planned to let the audience know you are done. Many speakers, who do not come up with a strong closing statement, will end their presentation with, “Thank you.” While it is polite to thank the audience, it doesn’t really serve as the best closing statement. You want your final statement to leave a strong lasting impact. It should leave the audience reflecting on your topic and your information. Some speech writers like to reference the attention getter as a nice way to bring the speech full circle by revisiting a story, question, or video clip they used originally to grab the audience’s attention. After your closing statement and applause from the audience, you are, of course, welcome to thank them for their attention and/or attendance.
After hours of diligent research and meticulous preparation, Pistol Pete had managed to weave together a compelling narrative for his speech about the traditions of Oklahoma State University. However, he understood that a strong speech needed an equally powerful conclusion to leave a lasting impression on his audience. So, he sat down once again, this time to brainstorm ideas for a closing statement that would bring his speech full circle.
Pete thought about the essence of his speech – the shared history, pride, and sense of community that OSU’s traditions inspired. His goal was to leave his audience not only better informed about these traditions but also feeling more connected to the Cowboy spirit and to each other.
An idea gradually began to take shape in his mind. Pete remembered a phrase from the OSU Alma Mater that had always resonated with him, “Ever you’ll find us, loyal and true.” This line, he felt, perfectly encapsulated the enduring spirit of loyalty and pride in the OSU community, tying back to the traditions he had highlighted in his speech.
For his closing statement, Pete decided to weave this phrase into his narrative since it lined up well with his attention getter. He would conclude by saying, “As we delve into our traditions, as we sing our songs and wear our colors with pride, we embody these words – ‘Ever you’ll find us, loyal and true.’ This is the essence of our traditions, the heart of our Cowboy spirit. And as we carry these traditions forward, we ensure that the spirit of Oklahoma State University – its unity, its pride, and its enduring legacy – continues to shine bright, now and for generations to come.”
Satisfied with his idea, Pete felt a sense of accomplishment. He had a strong closing statement that not only tied back to his attention-getter but also underscored the core message of his speech. With his closing statement in place, Pete was confident that he would leave his audience inspired and more deeply connected to the traditions and spirit of Oklahoma State University. Does Pete’s final words of his presentation leave an impression on you? Why?
This resource is available at no cost at https://open.library.okstate.edu/speech2713/.
transitional phrase that lets the audience know the speech is coming to a close
clear sentence that restates the preview statement in past tense, outlining the main points that were addressed in the speech
last statement that wraps up your entire presentation and lets the audience know the speech is finished
Introduction to Speech Communication Copyright © 2021 by Individual authors retain copyright of their work. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Learning Objectives
Your conclusion is the last statement you will share with the audience, let’s make it memorable.
So: You are at the end of your speech, and you can’t wait to sit down and be done! You start speeding up your rate of delivery, but your volume goes down a bit because you are rushing and running out of breath. You finish the last main point of your speech and race off to your seat: That is not the best way to conclude a speech.
Just as with introductions, conclusions have specific functions to fulfill within a speech. And just as with introductions, there are a number of types of conclusions. In this section of this chapter, we will look at these functions, discuss the relationship between introductions and conclusions, and offer some strategies for preparing and delivering an effective conclusion.
The basic structure of a speech is not linear but circular. Speeches should not take you on a straight line from A to Z. Speeches should take you in a circle from A to Z. Speeches start at the top of the circle with the introduction, work their way all around the circle, and end up back at the top with the conclusion. All the parts fit together and flow together in this circle, and the conclusion takes you right back to the introduction—with an enhanced understanding of the topic.
A speech does not just stop—or, to be more precise, a speech should not just stop. A speech, effectively structured and delivered, should move smoothly from point to point and then to the conclusion. One of the most important functions of the conclusion is to prepare the audience for the end of the speech.
Throughout the speech, you have been providing the audience with verbal and nonverbal cues to where you are going in the speech. As you move to the conclusion, you need to continue to provide these cues. You can use language cues (“now that we have seen that we can solve this problem effectively, we can review the entire situation”), movement cues (physically moving back to the center of the room where you began the speech), and paralinguistic cues (slow the rate of the speech, use more pauses) to help prepare your audience for the end of the speech.
When you prepare the audience for the end of the speech, you let them know that they need to be ready for any final comments or appeals from you, and that they should be prepared to acknowledge you as a speaker.
Depending on the type of speech you are presenting, you may be asking the audience for something. You may be asking them to act in a certain way or to change their attitude toward a certain person or topic. You may be asking them to simply understand what you have had to say in your presentation. Regardless, one of the tasks of the conclusion is to leave the audience motivated positively toward you and the topic you have been presenting.
Psychologists and sociologists (as well as communication scholars) know that there is both a primacy and recency effect in presenting the information. [1] Essentially, people tend to better remember information presented first or last—they remember what they hear at the beginning of the speech or at the end. In presenting your appeals to the audience, you can take advantage of the recency effect to increase the likelihood of your audience acting on your appeals.
“LBJ at the University of Michigan” by Cecil W. Stoughton. Public domain.
Former President Lyndon Johnson, in a speech announcing a major policy initiative known as the Great Society, concluded his speech with a series of challenges and appeals to his audience.
For better or for worse, your generation has been appointed by history to deal with those problems and to lead America toward a new age. You have the chance never before afforded to any people in any age. You can help build a society where the demands of morality, and the needs of the spirit, can be realized in the life of the Nation.
So, will you join in the battle to give every citizen the full equality which God enjoins and the law requires, whatever his belief, or race, or the color of his skin?
Will you join in the battle to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty?
Will you join in the battle to make it possible for all nations to live in enduring peace — as neighbors and not as mortal enemies?
Will you join in the battle to build the Great Society, to prove that our material progress is only the foundation on which we will build a richer life of mind and spirit?
There are those timid souls that say this battle cannot be won; that we are condemned to a soulless wealth. I do not agree. We have the power to shape the civilization that we want. But we need your will and your labor and your hearts, if we are to build that kind of society. [2]
“President Johnson poverty tour” by Cecil W. Stoughton. Public domain.
The appeals were significant in that the speech was delivered as a commencement address at the University of Michigan, at a time in American society when college and university students were protesting many government actions.
When Demosthenes was asked what were the three most important aspects of oratory, he answered, Action, Action, Action. – Plutarch
A conclusion is structural in function. Just as the introduction must include a thesis statement, as well as a preview of the main ideas of the speech, the conclusion must include a restatement of the thesis and a review of the main ideas of the speech. The review and restatement are mirror images of the preview statement in the introduction. Structurally, the restatement and review bring the speech back to the top of the circle and remind the audience where we started. Functionally, they help cue the audience that the end of the speech is coming up.
Let’s go back to the thesis and preview example. The example was from a speech on ethanol, and the sample thesis was “So right now let’s see how dependence on fossil fuels costs you money and how the use of ethanol as a supplement will save you money and save the world from energy obsolescence.”
In the conclusion of this speech, one effective method to summarize and wrap-up is to simply restate the thesis and preview—but in the past tense, since we have now heard the speech.
Today we have seen how dependence on fossil fuels costs you money and how the use of ethanol as a supplement will save you money and save the world from energy obsolescence. We learned first why we as a society are so dependent upon fossil fuels in the first place, and then secondly we found out what causes this dependence, and third, we saw how ethanol as a fuel supplement will help end this dependence, and finally, we discovered how simple it is to implement this solution and make the world a better place for all of us.
By restating the thesis and reviewing the main ideas, you once again take advantage of both the primacy and recency effect, and you create a complete and coherent structure to your speech.
“BP Oil Flood Protest in New Orleans” by Derek Bridges. CC-BY .
With conclusions, however, there are some additional forms you may wish to use, and there are some variations and adaptations of the introductions that you will want to use as you prepare your conclusions.
Earlier in this section when we discussed introductions, it was argued that stories are quite possibly the most effective form of introduction: Stories appear to be almost “hard-wired” into our individual and cultural make-up, and stories have a built-in structure. Stories, then, also make excellent conclusions, and can be used as conclusions in at least two ways. First, you can complete the story that you started in the introduction. Remember: You stopped right before the climax or denouement, and now, you can finish the story. Alternatively, you can retell the story, and this time the story will reflect what the audience has learned from your speech. Either method provides coherence and closure to the story and the speech.
Humor also remains an effective type of conclusion, but the same dangers with the use of humor discussed in the section on introductions applies to the conclusion. Still, effective use of humor leaves the audience in a receptive frame of mind, and, so long as the humor is relevant to the speech, provides a positive reminder to the audience of the main purpose of the speech.
There are several other ways to end a speech; here are some alternative ideas to help finalize your speech and leave the audience with something to consider. There is no right way to end a speech; however, there are ways in which to connect better with your audience and the context of your speaking event. You can brainstorm a few and narrow them down to the best one!
Ideas for informative clinchers:
Key Takeaways
Conclusions are just as important as any other part of the speech.
Garlick, R. (1993). Verbal descriptions, communicative encounters and impressions. Communication Quarterly , 41 , 394 – 404. ↵
Johnson, L. (1964, May 22). The great society. Speech posted at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/sp eeches/lbjthegreatsociety.htm ↵
Public Speaking Copyright © by Dr. Layne Goodman; Amber Green, M.A.; and Various is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Speechwriting
Starting and Ending Your Speech
One of the most fundamental components of any public speech is having a strong introduction and conclusion. Your introduction gives the audience their first impression of you. This is your best chance to build credibility. You need to grab the audience’s attention, introduce your topic, and preview how the speech will unfold. The conclusion needs to reiterate your main points and help the audience see how all your main points work together. Additionally, even if the audience got a bit lost or disengaged in the middle, a strong conclusion will leave them with an overall positive reaction to your speech.
Can you imagine how strange a speech would sound without an introduction? Or how jarring it would be if, after making a point, a speaker just walked away from the lectern and sat down? You would be confused, and the takeaway from that speech—even if the content were good—would likely be, “I couldn’t follow” or “That was a weird speech.”
This is just one of the reasons all speeches need introductions and conclusions. Introductions and conclusions serve to frame the speech and give it a clearly defined beginning and end. They help the audience to see what is to come in the speech, and then let them mentally prepare for the end. In doing this, introductions and conclusions provide a “preview/review” of your speech as a means to reiterate or re-emphasize to your audience what you are talking about.
Since speeches are auditory and live, you need to make sure the audience remembers what you are saying. One of the primary functions of an introduction is to preview what you will be covering in your speech, and one of the main roles of the conclusion is to review what you have covered. It may seem like you are repeating yourself and saying the same things over and over, but that repetition ensures that your audience understands and retains what you are saying.
The roles that introductions and conclusions fulfill are numerous, and, when done correctly, can make your speech stronger. The general rule is that the introduction and conclusion should each be about 10-15% of your total speech, leaving 80% for the body section. Let’s say that your informative speech has a time limit of 5-7 minutes: if we average that out to 6 minutes that gives you 360 seconds. Ten to 15 percent means that the introduction and conclusion should each be no more than 1-1/2 minutes.
In the following sections, we will discuss specifically what should be included in the introduction and conclusion and offer several options for accomplishing each.
Intro element 1: attention-getter.
The first major purpose of an introduction is to gain your audience’s attention and make them interested in what you have to say. First impressions matter. When we meet someone for the first time, it can be only a matter of seconds before we find ourselves interested or disinterested in the person. The equivalent in speechwriting of “first impression” is what is called an attention-getter. This is a statement or question that piques the audience’s interest in what you have to say. There are several strategies you can choose from—verbal and non-verbal—to get the audience’s attention. Below are described the most popular types of attention-getters: quotations, questions, stories, humor, surprise, stories, and references. As well as non-verbal attention-getters involving images, sounds, or objects.
Quotations are a great way to start a speech. That’s why they are used so often as a strategy. Here’s an example that might be used in the opening of a commencement address:
The late actor, fashion icon, and social activist Audrey Hepburn once noted that, “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”
If you use a quotation as your attention getter, be sure to give the source first (as in this example) so that it isn’t mistaken as your own wording.
We often hear speakers begin a speech with a question for the audience. As easy as it sounds, beginning with a question is somewhat tricky. You must decide if you are asking a question because you want a response from the audience, or, on the other hand, if you are asking a question that you will answer, or that will create a dramatic effect. We call these rhetorical questions .
The dangers with a direct question are many. There may be an awkward pause after your question because the audience doesn’t know if you actually want an answer. Or they don’t know how you want the response—a verbal response or a gesture such as a raised hand. Another reason direct questions are delicate is this obvious point: what you are going to do with the response. For example, imagine you have written a speech about the importance of forgiving student debt, and you begin your speech with this question for the audience: “How many of you have more than $10,000 in student loan debt?” You would be creating a problem for yourself if just a few people in the audience raised their hand. If you want to use a direct question, follow these rules:
Contrary to a direct question, you could use a rhetorical question—a question to which no actual reply is expected. For example, a speaker talking about the history of Mother’s Day could start by asking the audience, “Do you remember the last time you told your mom you loved her?” In this case, the speaker does not expect the audience to shout out an answer, but rather to think about the question as the speech goes on.
Finally, when asking a rhetorical question, don’t pause after it, or the audience will get distracted wondering if you’re waiting for a response. Jump right into your speech:
“How many of you have more than $10,000 in student loan debt? If you’re like 78% of college seniors, your answer is probably a yes.”
Humor is an amazing tool when used properly but it’s a double-edged sword. If you don’t wield the sword carefully, you can turn your audience against you very quickly.
When using humor, you really need to know your audience and understand what they will find humorous. One of the biggest mistakes a speaker can make is to use some form of humor that the audience either doesn’t find funny or, worse, finds offensive. We always recommend that you test out humor of any kind on a sample of potential audience members prior to actually using it during a speech. If you do use a typical narrative “joke,” don’t say it happened to you. Anyone who heard the joke before will think you are less than truthful!
As with other attention-getting devices, you need to make sure your humor is relevant to your topic, as one of the biggest mistakes some novices make when using humor is to add humor that really doesn’t support the overall goal of the speech. Therefore, when looking for humorous attention getters, you want to make sure that the humor isn’t going to be offensive to your audience and relevant to your speech.
Another way to start your speech is to surprise your audience with information that will be surprising or startling to your audience. Often, startling statements come in the form of statistics and strange facts. For example, if you’re giving a speech about oil conservation, you could start by saying,
“A Boeing 747 airliner holds 57,285 gallons of fuel.”
That’s a surprising or startling fact. Another version of the surprise form of an attention-getter is to offer a strange fact. For example, you could start a speech on the gambling industry by saying, “There are no clocks in any casinos in Las Vegas.” You could start a speech on the Harlem Globetrotters by saying, “In 2000, Pope John Paul II became the most famous honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters.” (These examples come from a great website for strange facts ( http://www. strangefacts.com ).
Although such statements are fun, it’s important to use them ethically. First, make sure that your startling statement is factual. The Internet is full of startling statements and claims that are simply not factual, so when you find a statement that you’d like to use, you have an ethical duty to ascertain its truth before you use it and to provide a reliable citation. Second, make sure that your startling statement is relevant to your speech and not just thrown in for shock value. We’ve all heard startling claims made in the media that are clearly made for purposes of shock or fear mongering, such as “Do you know what common household appliance could kill you? Film at 11:00.” As speakers, we have an ethical obligation to avoid playing on people’s emotions in this way.
Another common type of attention-getter is an account or story of an interesting or humorous event. Notice the emphasis here is on the word “brief.” A common mistake speakers make when telling an anecdote is to make the anecdote too long. An example of an anecdote used in a speech about the pervasiveness of technology might look something like this:
“In July 2009, a high school student named Miranda Becker was walking along a main boulevard near her home on Staten Island, New York, typing in a message on her cell phone. Not paying attention to the world around her, she took a step and fell right into an open maintenance hole.”
Notice that the anecdote is short and has a clear point. From here the speaker can begin to make their point about how technology is controlling our lives.
A personal story is another option here. This is a story about yourself or someone you know that is relevant to your topic. For example, if you had a gastric bypass surgery and you wanted to give an informative speech about the procedure, you could introduce your speech in this way:
“In the fall of 2015, I decided that it was time that I took my life into my own hands. After suffering for years with the disease of obesity, I decided to take a leap of faith and get a gastric bypass in an attempt to finally beat the disease.”
Two primary issues that you should be aware of often arise with using stories as attention getters. First, you shouldn’t let your story go on for too long. If you are going to use a story to begin your speech, you need to think of it more in terms of summarizing the story rather than recounting it in its entirety. The second issue with using stories as attention getters is that the story must in some way relate to your speech. If you begin your speech by recounting the events in “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” your speech will in some way need to address such topics as finding balance or coming to a compromise. If your story doesn’t relate to your topic, you will confuse your audience and they may spend the remainder of your speech trying to figure out the connection rather than listening to what you have to say.
You can catch the attention of the audience by referencing information of special interest. This includes references to the audience itself, and their interests. It can also mean references to current events or events in the past.
Your audience is a factor of utmost importance when crafting your speech, so it makes sense that one approach to opening your speech is to make a direct reference to the audience. In this case, the speaker has a clear understanding of the audience and points out that there is something unique about the audience that should make them interested in the speech’s content. Here’s an example:
“As students at State College, you and I know the importance of selecting a major that will benefit us in the future. In today’s competitive world, we need to study a topic that will help us be desirable to employers and provide us with lucrative and fulfilling careers. That’s why I want you all to consider majoring in communication.”
Referring to a current news event that relates to your topic is often an effective way to capture attention, as it immediately makes the audience aware of how relevant the topic is in today’s world. For example, consider this attention getter for a persuasive speech on frivolous lawsuits:
“On January 10 of this year, two prisoners escaped from a Pueblo, Colorado, jail. During their escape, the duo attempted to rappel from the roof of the jail using a makeshift ladder of bed sheets. During one prisoner’s attempt to scale the building, he slipped, fell forty feet, and injured his back. After being quickly apprehended, he filed a lawsuit against the jail for making it too easy for him to escape.”
In this case, the speaker is highlighting a news event that illustrates what a frivolous lawsuit is, setting up the speech topic of a need for change in how such lawsuits are handled.
A variation of this kind of reference is to open your speech with a reference about something that happened in the past. For example, if you are giving a speech on the perception of modern music as crass or having no redeeming values, you could refer to Elvis Presley and his musical breakout in the 1950s as a way of making a comparison:
“During the mid-1950s, Elvis Presley introduced the United States to a new genre of music: rock and roll. It was initially viewed as distasteful, and Presley was himself chastised for his gyrating dance moves and flashy style. Today he is revered as “The King of Rock ‘n Roll.” So, when we criticize modern artists for being flamboyant or over the top, we may be ridiculing some of the most important musical innovators we will know in our lifetimes.”
In this example, the speaker is evoking the audience’s knowledge of Elvis to raise awareness of similarities to current artists that may be viewed today as he was in the 1950s.
The last variation of attention-getter discussed here is the non-verbal sort. You can get the audience interested in your speech by beginning with an image on a slide, music, sound, and even objects. As with all attention-getters, a non-verbal choice should be relevant to the topic of your speech and appropriate for your audience. The use of visual images and sounds shouldn’t be used if they require a trigger warning or content advisory.
This list of attention-getting devices represents a thorough, but not necessarily exhaustive, range of ways that you can begin your speech. Again, as mentioned earlier, your selection of attention getter isn’t only dependent on your audience, your topic, and the occasion, but also on your preferences and skills as a speaker. If you know that you are a bad storyteller, you might elect not to start your speech with a story. If you tend to tell jokes that no one laughs at, avoid starting your speech off with humor.
Whether you are informing, persuading, or entertaining an audience, one of the things they’ll be expecting is that you know what you’re talking about or that you have some special interest in the speech topic. To do this, you will need to convey to your audience, not only what you know, but how you know what you know about your topic.
Sometimes, this will be simple. If you’re informing your audience how a baseball is thrown and you have played baseball since you were eight years old, that makes you a very credible source. In your speech, you can say something like this:
“Having played baseball for over ten years, including two years as the starting pitcher on my high school’s varsity team, I can tell you about the ways that pitchers throw different kind of balls in a baseball game.”
In another example, if you were trying to convince your audience to join Big Brothers Big Sisters and you have been volunteering for years, you could say:
“I’ve been serving with Big Brothers Big Sisters for the last two years, and I can tell you that the experience is very rewarding.”
However, sometimes you will be speaking on a topic with which you have no experience. In these cases, use your interest in the subject as your credibility. For example, imagine you are planning a speech on the history of how red, yellow, and green traffic signals came to be used in the United States. You chose that topic because you plan to major in Urban Planning. In this case you might say something like:
“As someone who has always been interested in the history of transportation, and as a future Urban Studies major, I will share with you what I’ve been learning about the invention of traffic signals in America.”
It is around the credibility statement that you can usually find the moment to introduce yourself:
“Hi, I’m Josh Cohen, a sophomore studying Psychology here at North State University. I’ve been serving with Big Brothers Big Sisters for the last two years, and I can tell you that the experience is very rewarding.”
Establishing credibility as a speaker has a broader meaning, explained in depth in the chapter “ Ethics in Public Speaking. ”
Credibility is about establishing the basis of your knowledge, so that the audience can trust in the reliability of what you say. Rapport is about establishing a connection with the audience, so that the audience can trust who you are.
Rapport means the relationship or connection you make with your audience. To make a good connection, you’ll need to convey to your audience that you understand their interests, share them, and have a speech that will benefit them. Here is an example from an informative speech on the poet Lord Byron:
“You may be asking yourselves why you need to know about Lord Byron. If you take Humanities 120 as I did last semester, you’ll be discussing his life and works. After listening to my speech today, you’ll have a good basis for better learning in that course.”
In this example, the speaker connects to the audience with a shared interest and conveyed in these sentences the idea that the speaker has the best interests of the audience in mind by giving them information that would benefit them in a future course they might take.
The way that a speaker establishes connection with the audience is often by leaning in on the demographic of group affiliation.
“As college students, we all know the challenge of finding time to get our homework done.”
The fourth essential element of an introduction is to reveal the purpose and thesis of your speech to your audience. Have you ever come away after a speech and had no idea what the speech was about (purpose)? Have you ever sat through a speech wondering what the point was (central idea)? An introduction should provide this information from the beginning, so that the audience doesn’t have to figure it out. (If you’re still not certain what purpose and thesis are, now is good time to review this chapter ).
Whether you’re writing a speech or drafting an essay, previewing is essential. Like a sign on a highway that tells. you what’s ahead, a preview is a succinct statement that reveals the content to come. The operative word here is “succinct.” A preview statement for a short speech should be no more than two or three sentences. Consider the following example:
“In my speech today, I’m going to paint a profile of Abraham Lincoln, a man who overcame great adversity to become the President of the United States. During his time in office, he faced increasing opposition from conservative voices in government, as well as some dissension among his own party, all while being thrust into a war he didn’t want.”
Notice that this preview provides the purpose of this informative speech and its central idea of struggle. While it’s constructed from the specific purpose statement and central thesis, it presents them more smoothly, less awkwardly. Here is how purpose and thesis statements are smoothly combined in a preview:
Specific Purpose: My purpose is to inform my audience about the life of Abraham Lincoln. | In my speech, today, I’m going to paint a profile of Abraham Lincoln, |
Central Idea/Thesis: Abraham Lincoln was a great president even though he was faced with great adversity.
| a man who overcame great adversity to become the President of the United States. During his time in office, he faced increasing opposition from conservative voices in government, as well as some dissension among his own party, all while being thrust into a war he didn’t want.” |
Just like previewing your topic, previewing your main points helps your audience know what to expect throughout the course of your speech and prepares them to listen.
Your preview of the main points should be clear and easy to follow so that there is no question in your audience’s minds about what they are. Be succinct and simple: “Today, in my discussion of Abraham Lincoln’s life, I will look at his birth, his role a president, and his assassination.” If you want to be extra sure the audiences hears these, you can always enumerate your main points by using signposts (first, second, third, and so on): “In discussing how to make chocolate chip cookies, first we will cover what ingredients you need, second we will talk about how to mix them, and third we will look at baking them.”
Together, these five elements of introduction prepare your audience by getting them interested in your speech (#1 attention-getter); conveying your knowledge (#2 credibility); conveying your good will (#3 rapport); letting them what you’ll be talking about and why (#4 preview topic and thesis); and finally, that to expect in the body of the speech (#5 preview of main points). Including all five elements starts your speech off on solid ground. Here are some additional tips:
Here are two examples of a complete introduction, containing all five elements:
Example #1: “My parents knew that something was really wrong when my mom received a call from my home economics teacher saying that she needed to get to the school immediately and pick me up. This was all because of an allergy, something that everyone in this room is either vaguely or extremely familiar with. Hi, I’m Alison. I’m a physician assistant from our Student Health Center and an allergy sufferer. Allergies affect a large number of people, and three very common allergies include pet and animal allergies, seasonal allergies, and food allergies. All three of these allergies take control over certain areas of my life, as all three types affect me, starting when I was just a kid and continuing today. Because of this, I have done extensive research on the subject, and would like to share some of what I’ve learned with all of you today. Whether you just finished your first year of college, you are a new parent, or you have kids that are grown and out of the house, allergies will most likely affect everyone in this room at some point. So, it will benefit you all to know more about them, specifically the three most common sources of allergies and the most recent approaches to treating them.”
Example #2 “When winter is approaching and the days are getting darker and shorter, do you feel a dramatic reduction in energy, or do you sleep longer than usual during the fall or winter months? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, you may be one of the millions of people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. For most people, these problems don’t cause great suffering in their life, but for an estimated six percent of the United States population these problems can result in major suffering. Hi, I’m Derrick and as a student in the registered nursing program here at State College, I became interested in SAD after learning more about it. I want to share this information with all of you in case you recognize some of these symptoms in yourself or someone you love. In order to fully understand SAD, it’s important to look at the medical definition of SAD, the symptoms of this disorder, and the measures that are commonly used to ease symptoms.”
Like an introduction, the conclusion has specific elements that you must incorporate in order to make it as strong as possible. Given the nature of these elements and what they do, these should be incorporated into your conclusion in the order they are presented below.
The first thing a good conclusion should do is to signal the end of a speech. You may be thinking that telling an audience that you’re about to stop speaking is a “no brainer,” but many speakers really don’t prepare their audience for the end. When a speaker just suddenly stops speaking, the audience is left confused and disappointed. Instead, you want to make sure that audiences are left knowledgeable and satisfied with your speech. In a way, it gives them time to begin mentally organizing and cataloging all the points you have made for further consideration later.
The easiest way to signal that it’s the end of your speech is to begin your conclusion with the words, “In conclusion.” Similarly, “In summary” or “To conclude” work just as well.
In the introduction of a speech, you delivered a preview of your main points; now in the conclusion you will deliver a review. One of the biggest differences between written and oral communication is the necessity of repetition in oral communication (the technique of “planned redundancy” again). When you preview your main points in the introduction, effectively make transitions to your main points during the body of the speech, and finally, review the main points in the conclusion, you increase the likelihood that the audience will understand and retain your main points after the speech is over.
Because you are trying to remind the audience of your main points, you want to be sure not to bring up any new material or ideas . For example, if you said, “There are several other issues related to this topic, such as…but I don’t have time for them,” that would just make the audience confused. Or, if you were giving a persuasive speech on wind energy, and you ended with “Wind energy is the energy of the future, but there are still a few problems with it, such as noise and killing lots of birds,” then you are bringing up an argument that should have been dealt with in the body of the speech.
As you progress as a public speaker, you will want to learn to rephrase your summary statement so that it doesn’t sound like an exact repeat of the preview. For example, if your preview was:
“The three arguments in favor of medical marijuana that I will present are that it would make necessary treatments available to all, it would cut down on the costs to law enforcement, and it would bring revenue to state budgets.”
Your summary might be:
“In the minutes we’ve had together, I have shown you that approving medical marijuana in our state will greatly help persons with a variety of chronic and severe conditions. Also, funds spent on law enforcement to find and convict legitimate marijuana users would go down as revenues from medical marijuana to the state budget would go up.”
The third element of your conclusion is the clincher. This is something memorable with which to conclude your speech. The clincher is sometimes referred to as a concluding device . These are the very last words you will say in your speech, so you need to make them count. It will make your speech more memorable.
In many ways the clincher is like the inverse of the attention getter. You want to start the speech off with something strong, and you want to end the speech with something strong.
To that end, like what we discussed above with attention getters, there are several common strategies you can use to make your clincher strong and memorable: quotation, question, call to action, visualizing the future, refer back to the introduction, or appeal to audience self-interest.
As in starting a speech with a quotation, ending the speech with one allows you to summarize your main point or provoke thought.
I’ll leave you with these inspirational words by Eleanor Roosevelt: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
Some quotations will inspire your audience to action:
I urge you to sponsor a child in a developing country. Remember the words by Forest Witcraft, who said, “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”
In this case, the quotation leaves the audience with the message that monetary sacrifices are worth making.
Another way you can end a speech is to ask a rhetorical question that forces the audience to ponder an idea. Maybe you are giving a speech on the importance of the environment, so you end the speech by saying, “Think about your children’s future. What kind of world do you want them raised in? A world that is clean, vibrant, and beautiful—or one that is filled with smog, pollution, filth, and disease?” Notice that you aren’t asking the audience to answer the question verbally or nonverbally, so it’s a rhetorical question.
Calls to action are used specifically in persuasive speeches. It is something you want the audience to do, either immediately or in the future. If a speaker wants to see a new traffic light placed at a dangerous intersection, the clincher would be to ask all the audience members to sign a petition right then and there. For a speech about buying an electric vehicle, the clincher would ask the audience to keep in mind an electric vehicle the “next time they buy a car.”
Another kind of call to action takes the form of a challenge. In a speech on the necessity of fundraising, a speaker could conclude by challenging the audience to raise 10 percent more than their original projections. In a speech on eating more vegetables, you could challenge your audience to increase their current intake of vegetables by two portions daily. In both these challenges, audience members are being asked to go out of their way to do something different that involves effort on their part.
The purpose of a conclusion that refers to the future is to help your audience imagine the future you believe can occur. If you are giving a speech on the development of video games for learning, you could conclude by depicting the classroom of the future where video games are perceived as true learning tools. More often, speakers use visualization of the future to depict how society or how individual listeners’ lives would be different if the audience accepts and acts on the speaker’s main idea. For example, if a speaker proposes that a solution to illiteracy is hiring more reading specialists in public schools, the speaker could ask their audience to imagine a world without illiteracy.
This method provides a good sense of closure to the speech. If you started the speech with a startling statistic or fact, such as “Last year, according to the official website of the American Humane Society, four million pets were euthanized in shelters in the United States,” in the end you could say, “Remember that shocking number of four million euthanized pets? With your donation of time or money to the Northwest Georgia Rescue Shelter, you can help lower that number in our region.”
The last concluding device involves a direct reference to your audience. This concluding device is used when a speaker attempts to answer the basic audience question, “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM). The goal of this concluding device is to spell out the direct benefits a behavior or thought change has for audience members. For example, a speaker talking about stress reduction techniques could have a clincher like this: “If you want to better a better immune system, better heart health, and more happiness, all it takes are following the techniques I talked about today.”
In terms of the conclusions, be careful NOT to:
Some examples of conclusions:
Conclusion Example #1: “Anxiety is a complex emotion that afflicts people of all ages and social backgrounds and is experienced uniquely by each individual. We have seen that there are multiple symptoms, causes, and remedies, all of which can often be related either directly or indirectly to cognitive behaviors. While most people don’t enjoy anxiety, it seems to be part of the universal human experience, so realize that you are not alone, but also realize that you are not powerless against it. With that said, the following quote, attributed to an anonymous source, could not be truer, ‘Worry does not relieve tomorrow of its stress; it merely empties today of its strength.’ “
Conclusion Example #2: “I believe you should adopt a rescue animal because it helps stop forms of animal cruelty, you can add a healthy companion to your home, and it’s a relatively simple process that can save a life. Each and every one of you should go to your nearest animal shelter, which may include the Catoosa Citizens for Animal Care, the Humane Society of NWGA in Dalton, the Murray County Humane Society, or the multiple other shelters in the area to bring a new animal companion into your life. I’ll leave you with a paraphrased quote from Deborah Jacobs’s article “Westminster Dog Show Junkie” on Forbes.com: ‘You may start out thinking that you are rescuing the animal, and ultimately find that the animal rescues you right back.’ “
Public Speaking as Performance Copyright © 2023 by Mechele Leon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
Fast Results through Powerful Communication
Conventional wisdom in the realm of public speaking is that your opening statement and closing statement must be perfect. While I agree that it’s important to develop these two parts of your speech, I don’t think they are as important as others make them out to be — which is the other extreme.
There are generally two goals for an effective conclusion. They are:
Please note that “leaving the audience with a positive impression of your wit” isn’t there, nor is “win an award for best written speech conclusion.” All too often, people put too much pressure on themselves to find a way to close their speech. “Thank you” is the worst way to end a speech profess many well-intentioned but ill-informed public speaking experts (I’ve heard this dozens of times at Toastmasters clubs during speech evaluations). I don’t see the harm — it’s fine to thank the audience at the end of your talk, as long as it’s sincere. So let’s look at your real goals.
Summarizing your main points is pretty straightforward. Most speeches have three to five main points, so including each of these in your summary is important. I’ve found it helpful to state a memorable fact or two about each point to help the audience retain the things I’ve said about each point — and this critical for longer talks (30 minutes or longer). I typically do my question and answer session right before my conclusion, so I may make some impromptu references to some interesting or related points that came up during Q&A. I also provide a mini-outline of the main points of my talk as a handout for longer talks (I also use it as a marketing tool).
Now on to the great controversy: your closing statement. Your goal for the closing statement is to get the audience to take action. Depending on your speech and your goals for giving the speech, it can fall into one or more of the following actions:
Again, many people make this step overly difficult. Simply asking the audience in a sincere way to take the action is as effective as a well crafted conclusion. In fact, trying too hard to provide a memorable conclusion can sometimes turn off your audience. For example, if you’re selling a product and you conclude your pitch with:
So as you can see, our product has helped many people in your situation succeed. I hope you’ll give us the chance to help you succeed.
it’s quite different than:
Imagine your competition as tortoises, slowly trudging along the path to success with their blinders on, completely unaware that the resources they need for success are right at their finger tips. Then you, the hare, whiz by them at the speed light and all they feel a gentle breeze — this is the advantage to buying our product.
You can see that both are equally as effective even though the latter one is more descriptive and doesn’t really buy you anything. In fact, some people may find it corny.
So in summary, your conclusion should simply sum up the main points of your talk and encourage the audience to take action. My Dale Carnegie instructor and friend, Bob Arnold, once said that your closing statement can be as simple as something that reads like a newspaper headline. So don’t fret, just close.
And again, it’s perfectly acceptable in my book to thank the audience at the end of your speech.
James Feudo owns the Boston Web Design Agency JVF Solutions and loves blogging about personal development and communication in his spare time.
Nice post, James, simplifying the sometimes overwrought task of writing a conclusion.
I completely agree with you about thanking the audience at the end, by the way. I’ve written about thanking the audience a couple of times (you might say I’m a little obsessed with the issue):
http://coachlisab.blogspot.com/2007/03/do-you-thank-your-audience.html http://coachlisab.blogspot.com/2007/08/when-not-to-say-thank-you.html http://coachlisab.blogspot.com/2008/02/two-minutes-of-thank-yous.html
Pingback: Public Speaking Success: How to Give a Great Speech | Overnight Sensation - Public Speaking, Communication and Personal Development
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
In this chapter, I will explain the function of a conclusion, the format of a conclusion, and I will give you numerous examples of ways to end your speech. Most of this chapter is dedicated to showing you good examples of different types of speech closings. Let's get started by talking about the purpose of the closing.
Purpose of a Speech Conclusion | Public Speaking
Restatement of the Thesis. Restating a thesis statement is the first step in a powerful conclusion. As we explained in Chapter 9 "Introductions Matter: How to Begin a Speech Effectively", a thesis statement is a short, declarative sentence that states the purpose, intent, or main idea of a speech.When we restate the thesis statement at the conclusion of our speech, we're attempting to ...
Key Takeaways. A strong conclusion is very important because it's a speaker's final chance to really explain the importance of her or his message and allows the speaker to both signal the end of the speech and help the audience to remember the main ideas. As such, speakers need to thoroughly examine how they will conclude their speeches ...
8) Make it Clear That You're Done. When you say your final words, it should be clear to everyone that you have ended. A strong closing statement is crucial in signaling the end of your speech, leaving a lasting impression, and ensuring that the audience remembers the key points.
In the conclusion of this speech, one effective method to summarize and wrap-up is to simply restate the thesis and preview—but in the past tense, since we have now heard the speech. ... provides a positive reminder to the audience of the main purpose of the speech. Because of the functions of conclusions, there are two additional types of ...
Conclude by Inspiration. By definition, the word inspire means to affect or connect with someone emotionally. Both affect and arouse have strong emotional connotations. The ultimate goal of an inspiration concluding device is similar to an "appeal for action," but the ultimate goal is more lofty or ambiguous.
An effective conclusion contains three basic parts: a restatement of the speech's thesis; a review of the main points discussed within the speech; and a concluding device that helps create a lasting image in audiences' minds. Miller (1946) found that speakers tend to use one of ten concluding devices.
The speech conclusion has four basic missions: Wraps things up: This portion is often referred to as a " Brakelight.". Much like brake lights on a car warn us the car will be stopping, this "brake light" or transitional statement warns the audience that the speech is ending. Summarizes: A solid conclusion briefly restates the preview ...
Concluding Device. The final part of a powerful conclusion is the concluding device. A concluding device, also called a clincher, is essentially the final thought you want your audience members to have when you stop speaking. It also provides a memorable and definitive sense of closure to your speech.
Examine the three steps of an effective conclusion: restatement of the thesis, review of the main points, and concluding device. Differentiate among Miller's (1946) ten concluding devices. In Section 11.1 "Why Conclusions Matter", we discussed the importance a conclusion has on a speech. In this section, we're going to examine the three ...
The first part of the conclusion is a restatement of the thesis statement. examining what smart dust is, how smart dust could be utilized by the US military, and how smart dust could impact all of our lives in the near future. Following the thesis statement, the speech briefly reiterates the three main points discussed in the speech.
Remind the audience of your claim/thesis. Especially important if there is a question and answer period. University Writing & Speaking Center. 1664 N. Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557. William N. Pennington Student Achievement Center, Mailstop: 0213. [email protected]. (775) 784-6030.
By previewing, discussing, and summarizing your main points your audience will be exposed to them at least three times during your speech. A good conclusion should be about 5-10% of the total speech length. Anything shorter that 5% means that the ending has come too abruptly. Anything more that 10%, and the audience may become restless.
Conclusions serve to: Signal to the audience that the speech is coming to an end and provide closure. Summarize the key points. Reiterate the thesis or central idea of the speech. Challenge the audience to respond. End the speech memorably. As with the introduction, prepare the conclusion after you've completed the speech body. Keep it brief ...
The speech conclusion has four basic missions: Wraps things up- This portion is often referred to as a " Brakelight ". Much like brake lights on a car warn us the car will be stopping, this "brakelight" or transitional statement warns the audience that the speech is coming to a close. Summarizes- A solid conclusion briefly restates the ...
Functions of Conclusions - Public Speaking
Introductions and conclusions serve to frame the speech and give it a clearly defined beginning and end. They help the audience to see what is to come in the speech, and then let them mentally prepare for the end. In doing this, introductions and conclusions provide a "preview/review" of your speech as a means to reiterate or re-emphasize ...
Depending on your speech and your goals for giving the speech, it can fall into one or more of the following actions: Think a certain way about the topic you presented. Purchase a product or service. Volunteer or sign up to do something. Promote your topic. Get others excited or interested in your topic. Again, many people make this step overly ...