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End with a bang

 

John Shosky

 

John Shosky continues his guide to good speech-making by analysing the vital importance of a powerful ending

 

 

A veteran speechwriter once told me that a speech's conclusion must have the same kind of fi nish as a symphony; it must take the audience to a new level of thinking and inspiration, literally lifting them out of their seats into approval and a standing ovation.

 

He counselled me to listen to the end of each movement, especially the fi nal one, to learn this aspect of speechwriting. He called those fi nales a "Schubert Finish", thinking of his own favourite composer. I have since listened to rock music in the same way, looking for a conclusion that is as mighty and moving as a sustained power chord from Pete Townshend (think the last-blast, explosive, soul-searing moment in Won't Get Fooled Again).

 

Yet, commonly, strangely, we are often told that a conclusion must sum up the speech: sum up and then shut up. A typical strategy found in many speaking manuals is this: "Tell the audience what you are going to say, then say it, then tell them what you said." The conclusion is then the point of summation. After summation, say "thank you" and just end it. That is the way many people view the conclusion.

 

I have another, hopefully better view - one that seeks to get more out of the conclusion. With respect, policymakers need to look at the conclusion as more than the summing up. A conclusion should be the final step in the construction of a persuasive argument that aims to change the beliefs of an audience or to compel the audience to action.

 

More specifically, the body of the speech should lead to what I call "thepoint of collective agreement", where the audience finds itself convinced that the status quo must be changed for the better. At that moment the speech must answer the question: "What should we do?" The speaker then explains the action steps that outline what the audience should do to make change happen.

 

The conclusion follows by answering the further question: "When should we do all this?" The answer provided in the conclusion is "Now!" That means the conclusion is the place where you advocate a sense of urgency, right now. The word that must be in every conclusion is now. Now is a clear, concise, compelling, and necessary word. The speaker must motivate the audience to act now; inspire them to join together and act as one. So the conclusion is not a summing up as much as the capstone of the argument of the speech. In other words, the conclusion is still working to develop the speech, not just repeat it. That is a vital distinction. In my view, the speech must still be unfolding, building, and expanding until the very last line.

 

 

Here is a checklist of essential elements in a good conclusion.

 

A sense of urgency

There is a line from Dr Martin Luther King's most famous speech: "The fierce urgency of now." Every conclusion must discuss "the fierce urgency of now",showing that inaction or delayed action is unacceptable, folly, potentially disastrous. Only action at this moment, immediate action, will resolve the problems presented in the body of the speech.

 

In his 1988 Democratic Party Convention Speech, Senator Edward Kennedy employed a similar call to action, harkening back to history: "[President Kennedy] was my brother. But he and Dr King were also in the deepest sense brothers to us all....if they were here with us, two decades later, I think I know what they would say: Now is the time. Some men see things as they are, and say why? We dream things that never were and say, why not? Now is the time."

 

 

Be inclusive

If you have united the audience in the speech, then the call to action now must include everyone. In his masterful inaugural address in 1994, Nelson Mandela ended his speech with a powerful vision of unity: "We understand that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all...Let freedom reign. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement. God bless Africa."

 

 

Empower the audience

The unity of action should lead to more freedom and choice for the audience. It should empower them. In his inaugural address, Václav Havel reached back past the years of communist dictatorship and Nazi occupation to the birth of Czechoslovakia and the democratic vision of Tomáš Masaryk. History and empowerment are found in Havel's dramatic and emotional conclusion: "The most distinguished of my predecessors opened his first speech with a quotation from the great Czech educator Comenius. Allow me to round off my fi rst speech with my own paraphrase of the same statement: People, your government has returned to you!" And he was right. The Czech people were now free.

Present a vision

Through inclusive action now, the audience can cross into a better future. In recent weeks, there has been much discussion in the United States about Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address in 1865. The conclusion is among the most famous in the annals of political commentary, even cited by Margaret Thatcher in her own conclusion before the US Congress in 1985.

 

Lincoln ended his short speech with a vision of an attainable future after the Civil War: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

 

 

Present a choice

A vision also presents a choice: the vision or worse alternatives. In his "finest hour" speech, Winston Churchill offered this choice: "If we can stand up to [Hitler], all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protected, by the lights of perverted science."

 

The stark contrast of this choice, easy to see in the imagination and fearful to contemplate, made the end of that speech more profoundly powerful.

 

 

Energise and inspire the audience to accept the vision

One person called John Kennedy's inaugural speech the greatest since Cicero. High praise...the highest. The inspiration of that speech reverberates down the years, especially the conclusion. It is a great example of igniting the optimism and commitment of an audience: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

 

Now some might object that this conclusion is so well known that it could have been omitted from this article, that I should have found something more obscure. But the fact that almost every reader knows these words by heart tells you something: this is a conclusion that did its job extremely well.

 

 

Remember to say thank you

Please remember to thank the audience for listening. It shows respect and regard for their time and their presence. It is also the recognised verbal cue to the audience that the speech is over. This appreciation is so universally expected that its absence would end the speech catastrophically.

 

A template for such a great conclusion may be found at the end of Tony Blair's well-remembered, high-octane speech to the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, on 2 October 2001, delivered in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

 

He said: "This is the moment to seize. The kaleidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again. Before they do, let us re-order the world around us. Today, humankind has the science and technology to destroy itself or to provide prosperity to all. Yet, science can't make that choice for us. Only the moral power of a world acting as a community can. By the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more together than we can alone. For those who lost their lives on 11 September and those who mourn them; now is the time for the strength to build that community. Let that be their memorial."

 

That conclusion has everything: a sense of urgency, inclusive language and "the fierce urgency of now". It lays out a vision and mentions alternatives of salvation or destruction, both explicitly and even more effectively, implicitly. It is a brilliant example of vision and  speechwriting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


John Shosky is a Washington speechwriter