Ending Strong

Ending Strong

The ending should help listeners to see how this incident has a universal theme. It should help the listener to know why what they’ve just heard matters. It shouldn’t explain everything or tell the listener what to think or feel.

You can end with:

• dialogue

• action

• reflection

End Where You Began: Look once more at your hook. Is there something you can circle back to?

Zoom Out: You’ve focused your story on a specific incident or experience, can you pull the camera back and show how the learning or message relates to your life, or relates to life in general? be careful not to tell your listeners what to think or feel

Editorialize: take a stand with a bold opinion

Flash Forward: Jump from the end of the events to you in present day, what has stuck with you? What has changed as a result of the events? How does the learning still ring true? What’s your relationship with the other characters now?

Hint at the Next Chapter: give your listeners a tiny taste of what follows: “but that’s a story for another day” or “you don’t want to know what happened the next time” be sure to make sure that your story feels concluded though, listeners want a sense of closure

Insight: Show us how your experience or learning helped you when that crisis recurred

Question: end with a rhetorical question

Connect to the Audience: make a wish or suggestion for your audience