Chapter Thirteen. Closing the Speech

Someone has said that a speech is like quicksand: It's a lot easier to get into than out of. Actually, you can ''get out of'' a speech rather easily just by stopping when you've said everything you want to say. A simple and gracious ''Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your program'' will sometimes suffice.

But not usually. Most good speeches have strong closes. In the discussion of openings in Chapter Five, I mentioned the ''speaker's grace period,'' that crucial period at the beginning of a speech when the speaker has the audience's full attention. The ending is a similarly crucial time, and the speaker who fails to make the most of it does not do justice to his efforts.

To craft a good closing requires some work. If you do not devote the necessary time and thought, you might miss a good chance to add additional impact to your message. Look at it this way: You have spent many hours researching your topic, developing a thesis, and writing the main body of the speech. Are you going to let all that hard work end with a whimper instead of a bang?

No? Okay, let's take a look, now, at some things to consider when you're writing a closing for your speech.

First, decide what you want your closing to accomplish. Of course, you want your audience to feel satisfied by the speech—that is, to feel they have gotten from it everything they expected. And you want them to leave with a favorable impression of the speaker and the organization he or she represents. Beyond these things, you might want members of the audience to do something, to believe something, or to feel a particular way about your subject. A strong closing can help make those things happen.

These things relate directly to the purpose of the speech, which we discussed in Chapter Three and in more detail in Chapter Four— that is, what you want the audience to do or think or feel as a result of what you say. Your closing should in some way reinforce that purpose—a sort of parting shot, if you will. The closing should also relate to the thesis of the speech, as defined and discussed in Chapter Three.