Welcome to part four of a four-part series on the best formula for a presentation closing that resonates.
3 • “The End-of-the-Story Close”
This closing technique involves a story that’s told early in the speech, maybe even in the opening. As far as the audience is concerned, the story has a successful conclusion. In the closing, you reveal one more detail about the story, in effect revealing the next and concluding scene of the story.
Here’s an example from my good friend Hall of Fame speaker Tony Alessandra’s presentation on customer service. He opened with a story about a frustrating experience dealing with calling an airline for the second time, only to find that the cost of his ticket was now $600 more than 30 minutes before. He heard, “Sir, there is nothing I can do for you. The only suggestion is you could call the president of the airline” Case closed This was a very satisfying conclusion to the story. 45 minutes later, after his review, challenge, call to action, and Q and A, the audience loved his message. He then took two steps forward and said, “So, I called the president of the airline and said . . .” Everybody laughed because by now their mind was no longer on the opening. This was an effective use of the “End of The Story Close.”
Welcome to part three of a four-part series on the best formula for a presentation closing that resonates.
End on a high point. Options for Closing Techniques:
The last thirty seconds of your speech must send people out energized and fulfilled. This means you need to finish with something inspirational that supports your theme.
1 • “The Circular Technique”
As a discipline, it’s always wise to revisit your opening, whether you use this technique or not. In the Circular Technique, the opening and closing generate the same emotion or have corresponding circumstances or situations. For example, I opened my keynote to the American Cemetery Association with the story of my experience when my mother died. Using the circular technique, I led into my close with this:
“At the beginning of my presentation, you heard my experience when my mother died. Let me close with my brother’s experience that he wrote in the liner notes of his CD, Blessing of Tears. ‘Life is what we are given, living is what we do with it . . .’”
My opening showed my perspective, and my closing gave my brother Robert’s perspective.
Welcome to part two of a four-part series on the best formula for a presentation closing that resonates.
If you plan to include Q & A, indicate how much time has been allotted.
To keep the session flowing, I recommend that you say, “What are your short, specific questions?” Be sure to let your audience know when you will take two final questions. With virtual presentations, after each point of wisdom and before you transition to the next chunk of content, why not add a slide with a question mark on it. This reminds you of your flow, and it gives the audience time to engage. Up front, ask the introducer or moderator to tell the audience you will be doing this. If you are your own moderator, let the audience know to add their questions when they have them. My advice: If you have an audience of more than a handful, have a moderator. Not all questions need to be answered if they are off-topic. If three attendees ask the same question, they can be combined. It is a good idea to have a couple of on-point questions prepared in case none are asked.
If you speak on a complex subject, it is best to answer questions throughout your presentation.
Welcome to part one of a four-part series on the best formula for a presentation closing that resonates.
Every great singer opens with their second-best song and closes with their best.
In a perfect world, your close will be a highlight of your speech. This way you increase the likelihood that you will look out and see your audience leap to their feet applauding. Bill Gove, the first president of the National Speakers Association, told me, “A standing ovation says more about the audience than the speaker.” In other words, a mediocre speech can receive an ovation from a direct sales organization, whereas the best-crafted presentation delivered to enthusiastic accountants mostly likely will not.
There is, however, a surefire formula that you can rely on to close your presentation.
Six-step formula to captivate your audience at the end of your presentation:
Good communicators understand fat and skinny words
If your goal is to sound clear, concise, and credible, this advice is invaluable.
Nothing can turn your audience off faster than using fat words when they’re hungry for skinny ones.
Or vice versa. I learned this exciting concept from Dr. David Palmer, who was a Silicon Valley negotiations expert. He introduced me to “levels of abstraction.”
Unless you can match your message to the expectations of your audience or talk at the same level at which they are listening, you won’t connect as well as you would like. This is true whether your audience is one person, ten, or one hundred.
Suppose you write the word “automobile” on a pad.
A simple concept. Going up to the next level of abstraction, you could write above it that the car is a “wheeled passenger vehicle,” then “surface transportation,” then “major force in the world’s economy.” This is making the word “automobile” fatter and fatter, larger and larger. These big ideas and abstractions are “fat words.” They are great for conveying the big picture, for inspiring ideas, for motivating.
Now, let’s make the word skinnier.
Underneath, you might write “sedan,” “Ford sedan,” “red, four-door Ford sedan.” Eventually, you would be talking about a specific car with its VIN. Those are “skinny words.” They are essential for conveying instructions and solving technical problems.
No one holding a screwdriver, camera, or looking at a blank screen on their computer wants fat words. You’ll just frustrate them, maybe make them furious. They want to know minute details and the specific who, what, when, and how.
Many of my clients hire me to coach their sales teams.
After giving them the automobile illustration, they learn to be more effective at evaluating each other by saying, “Your words are too fat,” or “Those words aren’t skinny enough.” When you are presenting a sales overview to an executive or senior management, ask, “Should your words get fatter or skinnier?”
Upper management needs fat words.
After a successful initial interview with a company, you may be lucky or skilled enough to be invited to present your offerings to their management team. For this group, your ideas need to be brought down a level of abstraction by using skinnier words and phrases.
Let’s assume you were very effective and persuasive.
You made the sale. Now you are dealing with the individuals who make the technology or machine work. That is when the words and phrases need to get skinny. The who, what, when, how, and how do I troubleshoot problems?
At what level should you present your information so that you get your message across? It all depends on the audience.
For many years, as a professional speaker I asked my clients, “What do you want to accomplish from my program?” “What is the purpose of the meeting?”
Often, I heard very “fat” answers. “Get them to sell more,” or “Motivate them,” or “Get them excited about our new strategy.”
My reply would be, “How much are they selling now? How much more?” or “Motivate them to do what?” or “What are the reasons they would be excited about the strategy.” Over the years, I have become better at asking questions that drive the conversation to give me “skinnier” answers. Some of my favorite questions are “Can you give me a specific example?” and “How will you measure the results?” and “Can you help me understand specifically what you mean by that?”
Can you see the challenge?
When their words and instructions are too fat, it is challenging to know how to meet and exceed their expectations. With my questioning, I need to drive their comments and expectations down the level of abstraction I can understand.
How clear are you when you communicate? Have you developed the ability to move from fat conversations to skinnier?
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“Patricia Fripp is amazing. As a speech coach, you’ll never find anyone with her wisdom, experience, and ability. Once I began to work with her, she improved my speaking style immediately. Her ability to listen to what her clients want to say and instantly give them the right words to use is incredible. Patricia can take an average presentation and quickly transform it to become great.
She takes time to explain and teach her clients how to think about their speech structure and language so that they are equipped to apply the same strategy moving forward. Patricia truly cares a lot about her clients’ success. You get both a coach and a fan when you partner with Patricia.” – Bhavin Shah, CEO & Founder, Moveworks
Make more sales more often. Patricia Fripp can help.
Developing good public speaking skills helps you make more sales more often.
To sell you need technical skills, product knowledge, how you compare to your competition, territory management, a good relationship management system, discipline, and self-management. However, that is not enough. Too often the best presentation wins.
Earlier in my career when I was primarily a keynote speaker, a large food service company invited me to keynote their yearly sales conference. After my speech, Jennifer, the National Sales Manager, pulled me aside and said, “I liked your speech. However, I really loved how you delivered it. Can you teach our salespeople to speak that way? We sell quality food and uniforms to hospitals and healthcare systems.
Business and educational professionals, speakers, and trainers know that whenever you present, whether you’re talking to one person or one hundred, you want to connect with your audience and get your message across. What’s the best way to do this when you deliver a virtual presentation? Like it or not, virtual meetings and presentations are here to stay.
When it comes to designing and scripting your presentation, all the techniques you have learned from my articles, videos and FrippVT still work in virtual presentations. Many professional speakers are perplexed when clients want us to accept half our fee for a virtual presentation. Of course, we do not have to travel, but virtual presentations are more stressful and less satisfying. They require more rehearsals, and we live in dread that “the technology will not work, and the internet may go down.” It often does. These elements add to the stress level of even the most seasoned of us.
Nothing happens without first understanding the technology.
Business entities use different technologies. They include Zoom, WebEx, GoToMeetings, and Teams. Conventions work with production companies and more sophisticated platforms. Even a seasoned presenter who is superb at delivering live presentations can find the shift nerve-racking.
Technique: Open Your Speech in the Middle of a Conversation
Most presenters who know what they are talking about aren’t bad once they get started. Very few of the professionals I have worked with, however, know how to open and close their presentations effectively.
Toyah Willcox singer and actress had a conversation at s head table.
No matter what opening option you use, good presentations begin comfortably. That is why I call this technique, “Start in the Middle of a Conversation.”
My sister-in-law, British singer and actress Toyah Willcox, was sitting at a head table with Princess Diana. Yes, the REAL Princess Diana. They were at a Woman of the Year awards luncheon in London. Lady Diana said, “Do you ever feel like running into the street and shouting,
‘Don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers?’”
If you were delivering a presentation on PR, publicity, getting known, the audiences’ misconceptions, or even networking, the “brush with fame approach” would be a great way to begin. It is almost as if you were in the middle of a conversation with a friend.
My friend John Cantu was a San Francisco comedy legend. He ran the Holy City Zoo Comedy Club where many of the greats like Robin Williams, Dana Carvey, and Paula Poundstone got their start.
Every presentation you deliver needs to be built around your premise, central theme, or big idea.
Your next step is to organize your “chunks” of content in a way that they are easy for you and your audience can remember your message.
The first chunking example: Explanation, Example, Application
Once you introduce your point of wisdom, add a needed explanation, an example of how your idea would apply, and then the application for this audience.
Example: Point of Wisdom
“Our goal as a presenter is to speak to be remembered and repeated. This often means going against what is commonly used. For example, use time as a set-up phrase.”
Your first step in creating your speech structure is to answer this question: “Based on my subject, what is my premise or central theme?” This is the big idea you want to get across.
Every TV show, movie, and book has a clear premise. So does your presentation.
Every audience wants to know that you know who they are. The premise statement is valuable because when you have your core presentation, it helps you adapt your focus and examples for each audience. Sometimes you state your premise. Other times it is in the back of your mind driving your presentation.
Hear Patricia describe your Central Theme or Premise
Imagine that I ask you, “If you had one sentence rather than 20 or 45 minutes for your presentation, what would you say?” If your answer is in one sentence and not a paragraph, you probably have your central theme. That is the premise of your presentation.
The dictionary definition of a premise is “A basis of argument leading to a conclusion.”
Once you have your premise, you list your key talking points, what we like to call your “points of wisdom,” into the outline of your presentation.
Your talking points prove your premise; they make your case for you.
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How to Present and Teach in the Virtual World…and More
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