【Learning Notes】Derak Callan‘s Business English P29

Introduction

Note that this is the short version.

Ways to finish a presentation

How can you end a presentation in such a way that gets your audiences attention and helps them to remember your key points? I am going to show you five different techniques. And for each one, I’ll share some useful examples.

So once we’ve covered the main part of our presentation, we normally:

• summarize the key points
• close the presentation
• thank the audience
• invite to ask questions

Then depending on the type of presentation, you may invite the audience to ask questions or maybe they’ve already ask questions during the presentation. To end the presentation effectively, we need to do that in the closing part. So between summarizing the key points and thanking the audience, let’s take a look at our first technique.

include a strong CTA

CTA stands for call to action. You’ve shared information with your audience, and now you want them to do something with that information. You want them to take action, but how can we motivate them to do that? Well, first of all, the information you share needs to be relevant and convincing once you’ve managed that use active verbs to encourage the audience to take action. And here are some examples.

e.g. Before we finish, there’s something I want you to do after the presentation: visit our website, download our free guide, and start implementing our tips today.
e.g. So now it is your turn: start a dialogue with your team and ask them how they can help us to achieve these goals.
e.g. Choose us as your partner and we’ll help you to increase turnover by 10%.

Another thing you can do before you call your audience to action is to stuck with a negative motivation. What I mean by this is to start by telling or showing them the negative side of not doing what you want them to do and to follow this with the positive motivation they call to action and the benefits of taking that action.

And one final tip for this technique, if you’re using slides, put your CTA on the last slide.

Another useful tip is to use rhetorical questions.
【slides n.幻灯片】【rhetorical /rɪˈtɒrɪkl/ 修辞的；花言巧语的】

use rhetorical questions

rhetorical questions are questions that we ask but don’t expect to be answered. This is often because the answer is obvious or because we just want to get the audience thinking or we want to create a dramatic effect. Let’s look at some examples:

e.g. So before we leave this room today, i’d like to ask you something: How can we all contribute to this ambitious plan and become carbon neutral by the end of the decade?
【ambitious /æmˈbɪʃəs/ 野心勃勃的】
e.g. Do we want to stand by and say our competitors be more successful than us? Do we really want to be second best?
【stand by 袖手旁观；坚持；遵守】
e.g. So, after all you’ve heard here today, i’d like you to consider this question: Are we really doing enough to ensure a high level of job satisfaction among our staff?

coming full circle

when you come full circle, you come back to the point where you began. And this can really give your presentation a sense of completion.

How to implement this technique?

1. plan it from the beginning.

Ask a question at the start and answer it at the end. Let’s look at two examples:

e.g. Let me come back to the question I asked you at the start of my presentation: How can we increase productivity among our employees? Well, the three main things we need to do are…
e.g. I’d like to bring you back to that question I asked at the beginning: why is this the right time to expand the business? Well, the answer is quite simple: This is the right time because…

Another way to come full circle is:

2. to tell a story

start your story at the beginning of your presentation and finish it at the end. Let’s look at an example:

e.g. So whatever happened to that young, ambitious software developer I told you about at the beginning? Well, today he’s running his own successful IT company and is one of the most admired leaders in the sector.

And here are some other ways to signal that you’re coming full circle and ending a story.

e.g. remember the story about….
e.g. So how did paul’s story end? Well,….
e.g. I bet you’re wondering what happened to… Well, …

Finish with a quote

The next technique we’re going to look at is finishing your presentation with a quote. Now you shouldn’t just pick any quote. You have to be very careful when selecting it. The most important thing is that it’s relevant to the main point you’re trying to get across, and that is memorable. You can either say the quote at the end of your presentation or have it written on your last slide. Here are some examples of how to introduce your quote:
【get across 被理解；把…讲清楚】

e.g. And before we go, i’d like to leave you with a fantastic / brilliant / memorable quote from…
then mentioned the person’s name, followed by the quote

e.g. And finally, i’d like to share this great / famous / interesting quote from…
e.g. As (name of the person) once said…

and here are a couple of examples of famous quotes.

e.g. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning” by Bill Gates.

e.g. “It always seems impossible until it’s done” by Nelson Mandela.

a clear ending

And the final tip is always make sure your presentation has a clear ending. Use sign posting phrase to signal that you’re coming to the end.

e.g. And that brings me to the end of my talk.
e.g. So that covers everything I wanted to talk about today.

Then you can sum up the key points and make a short conclusion. Try to end presentation with passion and enthusiasm. Now I know this can sometimes be difficult depending on the topic, but if it is important and you want your audience to remember it, try to deliver it with passion and enthusiasm. And at once you’ve done that, a very simple way to signal that you’ve finished is to say thank you.

• Reference video[【40集】工作英语 | 外企上班族必备！Derek Callan的商务英语学习教室【合集】](https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1PE421w7kQ/?p=3&vd_source=2ce6f8d63aca4c860a868905c8954e95