Clinchers for the close

• Use direct quotations from respected sources relating to your final conclusion or recommendations.
• Challenge listeners to action.
• Ask a closing question that harkens back to the thesis statement in the presentation's introduction.
• Tell a story that figuratively amplifies your central message.
• Tell a joke that sums up the central point of your presentation.
• Use a visual aid or prop that emphasizes your message.
• Demonstrate the device or procedure on which your talk is focused as a capstone for the presentation.
• End with a striking example that illustrates your central argument.
• Challenge and motivate listeners to implement your recommendations by emphasizing the resulting benefits to the audience.
• Appeal for your audience's help in solving the presentation problem. Seek their suggestions to establish a mood of cooperation.

Hager & Scheiber (1997, p. 90)

References

Hager, Peter J., & Scheiber, H.J. (1997). Designing and delivering scientific, technical, and managerial presentations. New York: John Wiley.