When it comes to the end of a speech, most speakers including the extremely impressive TedTalkers end with thank you.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for having me speak today… or some variation on the theme.
Don’t get me wrong. Say thank you. Showing gratitude for your audience is fabulous. What I’m saying is, don’t close the talk with a thank you. It’s so boring and it’s far from memorable.
Let’s be more creative than that.
In this articles, we are going to discuss a new way of closing your talk that is not just “Thank you.” Now, I say “talk” but this strategy can just as easily be used at the end of meeting as well!
Why should you care?
This strategy is going to change how you close your talk. It will keep you on your audience’s mind hours, days, weeks after you’ve given the speech. Your message will have (1) higher-impact and (2) longevity and the best part is, it may even (3) initiate a call to action.
Are you ready for this big game changer of a strategy?
I have 3 magic words for you: Food. For. Thought.
You may or may not have heard of food for thought. We’re talking about it in the parameters of public speaking. Let me explain.
Food for thought is a question you pose at the end of the talk. But not just any old question. By design it is an op-ended question.
Why does ending with a food for thought work?
The open-ended question will be so inspirational, alluring, so enchanting that they’ll want to think about it. It invites them to not only ponder the question, but also to help fill a gap in human knowledge.
It might stay in the back of their mind as they’re getting on the subway, cooking dinner, playing tennis… it keeps your talk alive in their mind. And they might be inspired to do something about it.
Why wouldn’t you want to ask a close-ended question? Because the audience will answer it right on the spot and POOF forget about you and your speech. And there’s no hope for a call to action or contribution to the knowledge pool.
Here are the 3 steps to creating a powerful Food for Thought:
Step 1: Formulate a question using “Why” “How” “To what extent” “In what ways” (notice how we’re steering clear from Do you…)
Step 2: Allow it to organically emerge from the theme or message of your talk. In other words, it needs to be related to your topic. Logical connections, Explearners!
Step 3: Address a burning question that the audience may have had throughout your presentation.
· To do this ask yourself 2 things:
- “what question would I have liked to answer for them, but don’t have an answer to”
- “what question can germinate from this speech but has no solution as of yet?”
Let’s look at a food for thought in action.
(1) For a talk on revamping the education system you might end with:
How would you provide the best real-world education that a child needs to excel in this world?
(2) For a talk on policy change, you might end with:
What remains to be known is whether these policies will have negative impacts alongside the benefits they bring. If this topic interests any of you I highly encourage that line of inquiry as we continue to address this important issue.
(3) For a talk about the future of our planet, you might end with:
When will we reach a point where terraforming Mars will be our only chance at human survival? No one knows for sure but based on our current trajectory, that day is fast approaching. What you do now will influence that deadline.
How much better is that then ending with a boring “thank you”?
So, to sum up this strategy, Food for thought is a powerful way of closing your talk that will solidify not only your authority and credibility as a speaker, but it will get the gears in the audience’s brain working.
No one in the audience expects you to have the answers to everything even if you are a subject matter expert.
The way knowledge works, is that everyone moves it a little bit more forward. So you’ve moved it forward, now it’s the audience’s turn.
That’s the power behind food for thought.
Let’s quickly recap:
Our problem we’re solving is to end our talk with something other than thank you. Our solution is to end with a FOOD FOR THOUGHT. It can spark passion, curiosity, and sometimes even a call to action.
We’ve discussed 3 ways to creating a food for thought by
- phrasing it as an open-ended question
- letting it organically emerge from the topic
- asking a question to which there’s no solution as of yet
Closing Thoughts
Step #1 should be easy, you might have difficulty with #2, and #3. But the way you can think of step 3 is “ok, well I’ve done some of the research, but I’m going to put a question out there that hopefully inspires someone in the audience to contribute to the field by helping fill certain gaps in our knowledge.” You are basically passing the baton.
My advice is to practice coming up with a food for thought that you can bring up in a casual conversation. Test it out on your friends and colleagues. And then you can start to incorporate them at the end of your talk. With some practice in those new settings you’ll gradually start to see the benefits
Happy Explearning🐝
“Instead of firing off a perfunctory ‘thank you,’ consider launching fireworks of final passionate thoughts from the podium.” –Peter Jeff
What do you think of closing this way, Explearners? Let me know your thoughts :)
About the Author and the Explearning Academy:
Mary Daphne is an expert in communication, executive interpersonal skills, and personal development. She is the founder of the Explearning Academy, a platform dedicated to helping individuals enhance their social fluency, boost their careers, and elevate their social game. Through immersive group coaching programs like the Executive Communication Lab and self-guided journeys, participants gain the social superpowers and career catapults they've been searching for. If you're ready to take your negotiation skills to the next level and connect with like-minded individuals, visit academy.explearning.co and explore the various plans available. Join the Explearning Academy community and unlock your full potential.
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