Your introduction helps you set the stage for your speech, and your conclusion serves another equally important purpose: it helps you sum up the message you developed in the body of your speech and leave a memorable impression with your audience members. Don’t use the conclusion to develop new ideas about your topic or further expand on points you’ve just made. Instead, use it to highlight content you have already presented. A good conclusion generally takes one minute or less (few sins of a speaker are worse than saying “in conclusion” and then continuing to speak for several more minutes). Your conclusion should start with a transition, summarize your main points, and finish with a memorable clincher. We examine each of these elements in this section.

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