6 Tips to Nail the Last Impression: How to End a Presentation Like a Pro

A presentation’s conclusion is just as important as its opening—if not more so! The final impression you leave on your audience can be the difference between a message that sticks and one that’s forgotten. Here are six tips for how to end a presentation with impact, leaving your audience engaged, informed, and inspired.

1. End with a Q&A to Facilitate Interaction

A Q&A is a classic way to conclude a presentation, as it allows the audience to clarify uncertainties, explore topics in more depth, and engage directly with you. This interaction reinforces the content of your presentation and provides valuable feedback on how well your message was understood.

It also helps to turn what might otherwise be a passive experience into an active one for the audience, and research shows that active engagement increases enthusiasm for the material and long-term retention; however, when selecting questions for discussion or deciding which audience questions to answer, ensure they align with the take-home message of the presentation.

Example: After a presentation on a new marketing strategy, invite the audience to ask questions or contribute to the discussion. All you have to say is, “Before we wrap up, I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions about how these ideas could be implemented.”

2. Provide a Handout or Takeaway

Handouts can be a powerful tool to reinforce your message, as they give your audience something tangible to review later, ensuring that key points remain top of mind. Research suggests that handouts have only an incremental effect on later performance, but studies of students found that most (75% in one case) find post-presentation handouts helpful.

Ideally, the handout or takeaway should vary from the slides in your presentation; at the very least, they should incorporate additional details, examples, or exercises. If you want your audience to return to the handout, it has to offer them some kind of informational value that wasn’t in the presentation itself.

Example: If your presentation was about a new project management tool, you could end by distributing a one-page summary of the tool’s features and benefits, along with a quick-start guide. This not only solidifies the information presented but also gives your audience something useful they can apply immediately.

3. Get the End Sequence of Slides Right

The last few slides of your presentation are crucial to impress your message on your audience. In other words, imagine an attendee who was distracted halfway through the presentation by an important email. They’re only returning their attention to the presentation in its final moments. The final few slides should encapsulate all the most important and salient take-home points the presentation as a whole is intended to communicate, so that even the distracted attendee gets at least the main high-level points.

The end sequence can also potentially—depending on the subject matter of the presentation—be a good spot to add more detail. Generally, most slides should be kept short-and-sweet so as not to overwhelm the audience (known as cognitive overload), but this may leave the presentation itself short on specifics. If there are key details to add, you might append them to the end of the presentation.

Example: Conclude a presentation on company financials with a slide that highlights the most important takeaways: year-over-year growth, key drivers of performance, and strategic initiatives for the next quarter. This summary slide acts as a safety net, ensuring that your main messages are communicated, even to those who might have zoned out.

4. End with a Call to Action

A call to action (CTA) is a direct prompt to take the next step; it doesn’t matter whether the presentation is sales-y or educational, you probably want to point the audience in a certain direction. Whether it’s implementing a new process, signing up for a trial, or simply thinking about a topic differently, a CTA can drive the momentum of your presentation forward.

Example: If you’ve presented a new sales strategy, you might end with, “I encourage each of you to set up a meeting with your teams this week to discuss how you can implement these tactics and start driving more leads.” This gives your audience a clear direction and purpose.

5. End with the Most Powerful Element or Information

As an alternative to a CTA, sometimes the most effective way to conclude a presentation is with a powerful, emotional, or even shocking piece of information. It can be a moving story, a powerful quote, or an incredible fact or statistic that you’ve been holding in your pocket until the presentation was ready to conclude. A powerful finisher like this ensures that your message is memorable and resonates long after the presentation is over.

Example: In a presentation on cybersecurity, you can end by sharing a real-life case study of a company that suffered a major breach due to a minor oversight. The emotional weight of the story can leave a lasting impression and drive home the importance of the precautions you discussed.

6. Learn from the Audience to Improve Next Time

After concluding your presentation, take the opportunity to learn from your audience’s reactions and feedback. Every presentation you give should be better than the last. Whether it’s a matter of improving slide design or content, your speaking skills, how you organize and structure the presentation, what information you add to or take out of the presentation, or anything else, every presentation is an opportunity to learn and improve. You can even facilitate this process by specifically asking the audience for feedback. While this requires you to steel yourself against potential criticism, audience input can be invaluable for helping you perfect the presentation.

Example: After wrapping up a presentation on new HR policies, ask the audience for feedback. You could say, “Your insights are invaluable—please share what worked for you and where we can improve.” This opens the door for constructive criticism and shows that you value their perspectives. Or, if you find the same common questions coming up during a Q&A, that may indicate you should incorporate that information into the presentation or re-work it to be clearer and less confusing.

To get more in-depth help learning how to end a presentation powerfully and effectively – or for help addressing other presentation problems unique to your situation and needs – contact Hurley Write for a custom, no-obligation consultation.