Toastmasters say “Don’t thank your audience”, I say “Why not?”

You might’ve heard some people (especially members of Toastmasters) say not to thank your audience at the end of your talk.

But you’re less likely to have heard any reason for that advice. So in this post, you’ll find these 4 topics to address that issue, and to help you with your speaking:

• Why you might choose not to say thanks
• Worse options than saying “Thank you”
• 4 stronger ways to end your talk
• Well-known examples of talks that do end with thanks

 

Why you might choose not to say thanksScroll to Contents ↑

Due to what are known as primacy and recency effects, your audience is more likely to remember the first and last things you say, which makes the opening and closing lines of your talk vital.

What’s more, thanking people has nothing to do with your topic, and it therefore slightly weakens your message. That’s why some people advise you not to say thanks (at the start or end of your talk).

So, the advice is well-intended, and (as you’ll see a bit later) there are certainly stronger words you could end with. Mind you, saying thanks meets 2 pressing needs:

• It conveys your gratitude for people’s time and attention.
• It signals clearly that you’ve finished!

Often though, a person who says you shouldn’t thank people doesn’t give any reason for their advice, which causes 2 problems:

• It’s harder for you to decide how valid their advice is.
• Next time, you might say something worse instead – like the options you’ll see next.

 

Worse options than saying “Thank you”Scroll to Contents ↑

Sadly, many people who advise you not to say “Thank you” don’t suggest a better way to close your speech. That’s understandable, for sure, because:

• It’s hard to write a great closing line!
• It takes time, too. (Yet in Toastmasters, speech evaluators only have a few minutes to prepare their remarks, so they’re unlikely to come up with better lines for a speech that’s probably taken hours to prepare.)

As a result though, people’s closing words at Toastmasters are often much worse than saying “Thank you”. Here are some typical “closing lines” you might hear (for speeches or other Toastmasters assignments):

“Back to you!”

“Mr Toastmaster”

“That concludes my assignment”

So as you can see, if you fixate on avoiding “Thank you” but don’t have a better option in mind, you can end up with a rather awkward phrase in its place.

 

4 stronger ways to end your talkScroll to Contents ↑

My own opinion is it’s best if you do thank your audience sometime during your closing. And, although having “Thank you” as your talk’s last words isn’t the ideal way to do that (for the reasons mentioned above), nor is it a huge problem. (In the next section, you’ll find several examples on video that show world-famous speakers ending with thanks.)

Ideally, then, how should you end your talk? Well, in this section you’ll find a range of ideas and examples, which I hope suit your needs.

State your call-to-action
A potent way to end’s by stating your call-to-action in a short sentence. For instance, in a talk on lending money (through micro-financing) to people in developing countries, renowned public-speaking blogger Olivia Mitchell said:

“So here’s what I’d like you to do:
Lend $25 to a poor person.”

Call back to your opening line
A tip suggested by many professional speakers is to end with a call-back, in other words by mentioning something you said earlier. For instance, in Conor Neill’s TEDx talk, he restates his opening line (which in this case was a rhetorical question) for his closing:

“Who would you bet on?”

Call back to your key point
Here’s another way to use a call-back: If your talk’s just a short statement of your views (like when you’re asked for your opinion in a meeting or interview or panel discussion), try this great 3-part structure for your remarks, with a call-back at the end:

1. To open, state your viewpoint in a simple yet assertive sentence.
2. Back it up with supporting points – 3 of them if possible.
3. Close with a call-back to your initial assertion.

For example, you might say something like this:

“I believe… <state your assertion>”                                  
“There are 3 reasons: First, … Second, … And third, …”
“So that’s why I believe… <restate your assertion>”      

Call back to your talk’s title
Ending with your talk’s title can work well, especially if it’s quirky or memorable. For instance, with Allan Pease’s TEDx talk on gestures, called Body language: The power’s in the palm of your hands, I suggested he could’ve closed this way:

“Remember: The power’s
in the palm of your hands!”

So you’ve various options to close your talk without thanking people, if that’s what you decide on. However, to keep things in perspective, in the next section you’ll find links to 3 extremely successful talks where the speaker did end by saying thanks.

 

Well-known examples of talks that do end with thanksScroll to Contents ↑

In the table below, you’ll find the 3 most-watched TED or TEDx talks of all time (according to TED). And as you can see, they each end with the speaker briefly thanking the audience:

Speaker	Title	Viewers on TED.com	Closing words
Sir Ken Robinson	Do schools kill creativity?	>50 million	Thank you very much
Amy Cuddy	Your body language may shape who you are	>45 million	Thank you
Simon Sinek	How great leaders inspire action (Start with why)	>35 million	Thank you very much

 

Your turnScroll to Contents ↑

Now that you’ve seen some arguments on both sides, what’s your opinion?

• When do you think it’s OK to thank your audience?
• What ideas do you have for other approaches?

You might also like to check out these posts on this topic, by other writers:

• Gary Bisaga: To thank the audience or not to thank the audience?
  (In favour of saying thanks)
• Florian Mueck: No thank you (Against saying thanks)
• Stephanie Scotti: 3 reasons to nix saying thank you (Against saying thanks)
• Ellen Finkelstein: Should you say “thank you” at the end of a presentation? (Suggests saying thanks just before your closing line)
• Yousef Abu Ghaidah: Why you shouldn’t use a thank you slide (and what to do instead) (Shares great options to use instead of writing thanks on a slide)

 

 

See alsoScroll to Contents ↑

• Picture your talk as a shape… Now, what shape do you see?
• Critique of Allan Pease’s TEDx talk on body language [Video]
• Strengthen your words – 5 speaking tips you can use today
• See what Toastmasters is like, right now! [Video]
• Abandon your agenda! (3 options that beat “Tell them what you’re going to tell them…” when you present)
• Today’s most popular posts, and the latest visitor comments

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