Why should you not end a speech with the words Thank You?

Countless ways – for pete’s sake, what’s wrong with ‘thank you’ – did I miss something. It’s probably the most common courtesy ‘out there’ !!

The words “thank you” are just final and have no flair. Would you want such a dull ending to a movie you watched? A speech should also not start with…”Hi, I’m Jack.” Boring! You need to grab the listener in the beginning to make them say, “hey, this might be worth my attention” then you need to bam them in the end so they say, “wow, that WAS worth my attention”. Speech timing is important, as well. Too short and they don’t know what hit them, too long and they lose interest.

You could start with a statement that is funny, attention-grabbing, and leads into the topic. You don’t want to be TOO much of a comedian, though, so keep your one-liner short….”I once knew a woman who…” Then speech away…

End with a punch…”…and so the moral of today’s story is to never ride your bike in the rain!” or something that will make them say…that wasn’t so bad!

It depends if you are speaking to a group as an authority or as a subordinate. As an authority, maybe you were asked to give a talk, or you are giving a presentation of your findings, or a sermon at church, etc). As a subordinate,perhaps you are making a plea for money, time, etc.

I would always say Thank You if you are a guest, asking for something, etc. However, if you are the authority, end the talk with a conclusion or reccomendation or even maybe a command.

Say you were giving a speach on how to get more people to vote and you were asked to give the speach. You might end with something specific like ‘…and everyone here today must vote this year and encourage at least 10 other people to vote as well.’ Maybe a lame example, but you get the point.