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The first part of your conclusion is a summary, a brief review of your main points. The summary is similar to the preview of your main points that you offered in your introduction, except that here you are reminding the audience of what you said instead of telling them what ideas you’ll be presenting. You may summarize in a single compound sentence that covers each main point, or you may restate each main point in a complete sentence. In either case, your goal is to remind the audience of your main ideas one last time. An effective summary helps listeners remember your message by enabling them to put your speech together in their own minds.

Be sure that your summary includes each main point from your speech. That way, you’ll break the speech down into manageable sections for your audience members and remind them of the presentation’s structure.

Here is how Alexandra might summarize her main points during the conclusion of her speech about judging competitive ice skating:

This afternoon we have covered three major topics about judging competitive ice skating. First, we considered the main rules for judging ice skating. Then, we considered some tips for you to use if you want to score at home. Finally, we considered controversies in the judging at past Olympics.

Note how Alexandra made a clear reference to each main point and used the past tense to help the audience recognize that she was reviewing her points rather than developing new material.