How to finish a presentation and never use

a Thank You slide again?

11/03/2021AGNIESZKA CZERSKA PRESENTATION PLANNING, PRESENTING

Let’s face it, no matter how interesting your presentation might be, most of your
audience won’t pay close attention to every word you say and every slide you show.
On average, people will focus on your content at the beginning and the end. Their
attention may spike a few times during the presentation, in particular, if you introduce
an interactive element, a quiz, Q&A, show a short video etc.
http://www.matthewsonmarketing.com/keeping-the-audience-engaged-with-
presentation-spikes/

If you are most likely to capture the audience’s attention at the end, it’s worth
thinking in advance and planning how you want to finish your presentation. A strong,
engaging and motivating finale may end up being the only thing people remember
from your presentation. 

What you should include at the end of the

presentation? 
 There are quite a few things you may want or need to include at the end of your
presentation. I divided them into 3 categories:

1. First and foremost you need to show your audience that the presentation is finishing.
There is nothing worse than someone stopping at what feels like the middle of a
presentation and leaving the stage or the meeting room. Once you have finished
going through the presentation material and start wrapping up, make sure you tell
that to your listeners. 

2. Secondly, you may need to include some organisational information, such as:

 introducing the next point on the meeting agenda, the next speaker, a coffee break
etc. 
 answering any outstanding questions,
 thanking the audience, organisers or the person who invited you to speak, 
 giving credit to a team who helped in your presentation, gather the data, design
slides etc.
 asking your audience to fill in the feedback survey,
 informing them how they can contact you or where they can find more information
about the topic you presented. 

3. Lastly, you do want to create a lasting impression in the minds of your audience or
encourage them to take action. Depending on your presentation topic this may be
one or two main points you would like your audience to remember or reflect about.
Or a very specific step you would like them to take, such as buying a product or
registering for training etc. 

When preparing your presentation, note down everything you want or need to
mention at the end. It will help you to organise your thoughts, order them and make
sure you won’t miss anything. 

In terms of priority, my recommendation is that once you made it clear that you’ve
finished presenting new content, you focus on your key messages or calls to action. 

What about administrative or organisational information? It should be included only if

necessary. It may be important but not the core of your presentation, not the reason
your audience came and listened, therefore not a priority. 

Consider the following solutions:

 reducing these parts to a minimum (eg. introducing the next speaker could be done
in one sentence), 
 not mentioning anything verbally, but leaving a small note on your last slide,
 moving them to the beginning of your presentation, rather than the end (that’s when
you can thank the organisers, audience etc.) 
 or taking them out of your presentation and including them elsewhere (you can write
your contact details and reference links on the presentation invitation, agenda or
handout). 
What to put on your last PowerPoint slide? The
good, the bad and the ugly.
None

Some speakers don’t prepare any specific visuals for the end of their presentation.
Some finish with their last content slide, say “thank you” and leave the room. Not
only does this leave the audience confused because they didn’t know that the
presentation was coming to an end, but it completely wastes the opportunity to make
a lasting impression. 

The famous “Thank you” slide

Internet is full of articles and videos explaining why you should or shouldn’t just write
“Thank you” on your last slide. Let me start by saying that it’s not rude or
inappropriate to use such a slide, it’s definitely better than not having any end slide
at all. However, a “Thank you” slide isn’t compelling or memorable and you can
make much better use of this space.

“Questions?”

Think in advance when and how you want to deal with questions during your
presentation and inform your audience at the beginning of your session. If you
decide to leave the Q&A for after you finish presenting your content, make sure you
keep an eye on the timing and reserve a few minutes in the end for a proper ending
of your presentation. After all, if people are to remember the very last thing they’ve
heard during your presentation, you want to be in control of what it is. Make sure you
use this time for what is important for you rather than taking the last question and
then leaving the room.

Summary, call to action or a contact slide

I grouped these three, because depending on the nature of your presentation, any
one or two of them may fit better than the others. 

For academic presentation or courses where your objective is to make your listeners
understand and remember what you presented, it makes sense to summarise the
key points at the end. Choose 1 to 3 elements you really want to emphasise and
bring them back on your last slide. For Iess formal training these can be replaced by
some practical tips or key takeaways.

If the objective of your presentation is to get your audience to act, to buy a product,
to register for a course or to sign up for a conference, you should use your last slide
as a reminder of what it is that you want them to do and how they should proceed. 
In the case of a sales presentation, where your goal is to find leads and get potential
customers to contact you, you can use a contact slide.  

Close the loop

If you started your representation with a question or started telling a story, come
back to it at the end. Answer the question based on what you’ve just presented,
finish your story, conclude etc. It helps to connect the opening and closing of the
presentation and gives it a professional finish. 

Unusual

Another way of finishing your presentation and attracting even more attention for the
finale is to surprise or inspire your audience. Make a bold statement, tell a good
story, share something funny. You can use your last slide as support, showing a
well-chosen quote or an image. 

This approach may seem the easiest and most efficient but may be very tricky. How
to find the right story? It should be interesting, maybe personal, yet related to the
topic of your presentation and your key messages. Looking for the right quote or
image can take hours without any guarantee of success. 

You can finish your presentation in many different ways. Your final choice should
depend on the topic you are presenting, your audience, your presenting style and
public speaking skills. Whichever ending you choose, remember to finish with
energy, never show you are tired and can’t wait for the presentation to be over.