You’ve delivered a great presentation.

You have put yourself in the shoes of your audience.

It has captured the imagination of your audience.

Your audience is ready to take the action you desire of them.

Then something terrible happens…your presentation has no ending.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that you just walk out mid-flow leaving a room full of confusion. What I am picturing is something I see eight or nine times out of ten, presentations that finish with either “Any questions” or “Thank you”.

With the first you are losing control of the conversation.

The second, you are finishing on a whimper (a polite one admittedly) rather than a bang.

Neither are tactics to make sure that you finish on a high with your audience leaving full of energy, motivated to take action and sure of what it is you have just presented to them.

Think about the last few presentations you have delivered.

How did you end them?

I bet you finished with a slide with either a question mark or “thank you” written across it.

I’d also bet that any energy you had built up in the room disappeared at that moment, leaving you feeling a bit empty and your audience unsure what they were supposed to do next.

If you want to end a presentation on a high…

…with a bang…

…with real purpose (and you do, don’t you?)

Then promise me to never again finish with either “Any questions” or “Thank you”.