Rethinking the final slide: Why neuroscience warns against the 'Thank You' ending

It is customary for business presentations to end with a "thank you" slide. But, just because many people use a specific technique, it does not mean it's a good one. Here are three science-backed reasons to drop the "thank you" slide and create a better presentation for you and your customers. In this case, let's consider a better presentation to mean a memorable presentation. The three reasons I am listing below are tied by the fact that a "thank you" slide does not help buyers recall essential messages. And it's not for the reasons you might think.

Let's scrutinize some other axioms in the process too, starting with this one:

Beginnings and endings have privileged spots in people's memory.

I am sure you have heard of the primacy and recency effects, which describe people's tendency to remember the first and last items in a list. There are several reasons for this effect, and one is due to the fact that people forget due to interference; compared to middle items, first and last items are less prone to interference - they stand out because they don't have "neighbors" on either side, which makes them more distinct. In contrast, middle items are surrounded by other information and often look alike, especially if communicators use consistent templates.

Delving deeper into the brain's workings, neuroscience studies reveal that different parts of the brain are responsible for primacy and effects; the hippocampus, involved in long-term memory, helps with the primacy effect, meaning that items at the beginning of a sequence have more rehearsal time. The prefrontal cortex, handling short-term memory, helps with the recency effect, meaning that the ending of a list is more fresh in people's minds. But the process is more complex than that.

We have to scrutinize the primacy and recency effects in business communication because most experiments asked participants to remember fairly short lists of words, and memory testing was implemented either immediately after viewing the information or a few minutes later. This doesn't reflect your reality when you talk to your business audiences and are likely sharing more intricate information than simple word lists. And customers who view that information often need days, not minutes, to reconvene and make decisions. In this broader and more complex context, the primacy and recency effects, while useful, do not fully capture the nuanced ways buyers process and recall real-world business interactions. Most content dissipates after a few days, regardless of its serial positioning.

These observations bring us to a practical approach: instead of a thank you slide at the end of a presentation, consider creating another type of slide: one that contains the most important points that buyers must remember. Design it in a way that is distinct from the rest of the slides, and display it multiple times throughout your sequence, including at the end of your presentation.

A lasting impression does not come from a thank you slide but rather from an intentional, distinct, and repeated slide that contains your most essential points. This technique will help you fix the next flaw of the typical "thank you" slide.

A "thank you slide" does not prompt reactions or questions.

Typically, at the end of a business presentation, when the "thank you" slide is displayed, a presenter might ask the audience, "Do you have any questions?" A minimalist "thank you slide" does not offer any prompts for formulating questions. This is a missed opportunity because studies have shown that when people formulate their own questions, they create stronger memory traces. In a commercial interaction, customers who self-generate questions are likely to remember the conversation better, which can lead to more informed decision-making. And isn't it ironic that sometimes sellers share too much information during the presentation and oversimplify the end with a thank you slide? This oversimplification comes at a moment when the audience needs more information, not less, to form a foundation for asking more and meaningful questions.

Prompts are vital in helping an audience retrieve information from memory, a concept known as cued recall. Cues facilitate the recall process, acting as markers and helping customers remember what was essential throughout the presentation.

The collage below includes examples of ending slides. Can you tell how, compared to the polite but shy "thank you" slide, audiences would have an easier time asking questions when they view an ending slide that has "accumulated" essential information throughout the presentation and cues it up one last time?

And here is one more reason to drop the "thank you" slide.

A "thank you" slide is too terminal

A good presentation never finishes. It always announces to the brain that there is more to come. It invites the brain to look into the future. I remember Picasso being quoted as saying that an unfinished painting is alive and dangerous, while a finished painting is dead.

In the world of business, painting a vivid picture of the future is more than a rhetorical flourish; it's a powerful cognitive tool rooted in science. Research in psychology and neuroscience emphasizes the importance of anticipation and future thinking, connecting it to enhanced engagement, motivation, and decision-making.

The human brain is wired not just to remember the past but also to anticipate and imagine the future. Studies have shown that the same neural pathways used in memory are also engaged in envisioning future scenarios. This overlap suggests that our ability to imagine the future is deeply intertwined with our experiences and memories.

Using a slide at the end of a presentation that builds anticipation for the future taps into this cognitive ability. By presenting a compelling vision of what is ahead, presenters can stimulate the audience's imagination and align it with the goals and aspirations of a business. This approach can enhance the audience's connection to the message, leaving them inspired and motivated.

So, make your presentation act more like an unfinished painting, offering a vision for what happens next. From the brain's perspective, the most important thing is what happens next.

Carmen Simon, Ph.D., is the Chief Science Officer at?Corporate Visions. She uses neuroscience tools to research how the brain processes business messages, remembers them, and decides to act (or not). Her research, available in the?CVI advisory platform, is translated into practical guidelines, which sellers and marketers use to create memorable and actionable customer engagement.