How can I create an effective conclusion?

Most people don’t remember much about speeches, and will only remember a few points and the beginning and end.  The conclusion is the time to tie it all together, sum up all your points, show how they relate, and why these things should mean something to us.  The audience needs to see the importance of the speech to them, otherwise what is the point of it all?  Relevancy is key.  The conclusion need not be a repeat of the introduction-it should be similar but with enough distinction to make it stand out.  Often in our conclusion we can bring things back to tie it together and reinforce the ideas we already stated. 

An example-

Luna had used the story of the good Samaritan in her introduction to the topic “Support Anti-abortion laws”, the man that was truly a good neighbor.

 Her concluding sentences:

Good example  “Just as the good Samaritan knew his duty,  Let us remember ours and support Anti-abortion laws!”

Bad example:   “Like I said in the beginning, and I have proved in the past five minutes, we should support Anti-abortion laws”

What makes the first good- She helped them remember the beginning and get that visual picture of the Samaritan again.  In the second example, we are bored and also possibly offended, her saying that she proved her point. That is for the audience to decide if she proved it or not.

Remember, the conclusion should take up around 10-15% of the whole speech.

To learn more about Conclusions, follow the link
Speech Conclusion: 5 Effective Strategies to Conclude a Speech