When you’re designing your next speech, you’ll have an important decision to make: how do you want your audience to feel once you’re done speaking? Most of the time, you want them to be in a happy and positive mood. This means that you will have to end your speech in a way that makes this happen. Say hello to the Great and Bridge speech closing techniques.
The closing speech “How good it’s going to be”
When you use this closing speech technique, you use the end of your speech to paint a mental picture of the future for your audience. The image you are going to leave them with is full of unlimited possibilities.
To set the stage for this mental picture, you’ll need to use the part of your speech that comes before the closing to paint a completely different picture. During the body of your speech, you’ll want to show your audience just how bad life is right now. We are talking about serious doom and gloom.
To make this sequence work, when you’re creating your speech, you’ll want to figure out what your closing image will look like, and then work back. By doing this, you will ensure that your story is consistent.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” Closing Speech
Sometimes you won’t have to convince your audience that things are wrong right now, they already know it! In this case, you’ll want to take a different approach with your closing remarks.
The challenges your audience is currently facing probably seem insurmountable to them. It’s going to be your job to show them how they can overcome them.
When you’re using the bridge over troubled water closure, you’ll want to paint a clear picture of where your audience wants to go. Next, you’ll want to recognize the obstacles that are standing in your way of getting there. Finally, you’ll want to show how your idea or solution can offer them a bridge over the troubled waters they face that will get them where they want to go.
What all this means to you
Take any public speaking course or read any book on the subject and they will tell you what you cover in your closing that your audience will walk away from your speech remembering.
This means that if you can make them happy, your audience will have a positive impression of what you have said. Closing “How Big It Will Be” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” are two ways to do this.
Having a selection of different ways to close your speech is like having the right tools to complete a woodworking project. Sure you could do it with the wrong tools, but having the right tools makes it so much easier. The next time you’re writing a speech, take a look and see if either of these two happy ending techniques can make your audience walk away remembering what you said.