Not every story needs a happy...

Back to the Kit Kat and the millionaire

Last week I told a story about how I used a Kit Kat on a train to meet a millionaire to explore when to catch attention. The millionaire is the sixth-generation owner of a high-end jewellery store, and my plan was to go up there next week (7th November) and meet them again, however those plans have left the building faster than Liz Truss because of the rail strikes.

There are rail strikes on the 7th now, and I couldn’t easily choose to cut it off and not go. Instead, I chose to send an email asking to reschedule. Why? I want an ending to the story.

Why do endings matter?

As I explained in the past weeks, when it comes to memory, stories are more memorable than statistics and are often associated with pleasure.

People are hardwired to seek reason and patterns for survival. It’s how we learn and avoid continuous danger. Some people require closure more than others, but most people like to have answers.

Stories tend to be more pleasurable and memorable when they have good endings. Daniel Kahneman explained peak-end coding which is basically people’s memories of experiences that will be largely influenced by the best/worst part “the peak” and the end. You should do everything you can to use peak end coding to evoke strong emotions when people think about your story.

What makes a good ending in a speech?

A good ending has to make sense, it has to evoke an emotion and it has to appeal to people with purple hair (that was a joke, but see how off-putting it is when things don’t make sense in an ending?) You should do everything you can to create a good ending if you want people to remember what you said, and whatever you say should reinforce your main points.

In all seriousness, for ending speeches you can use a short story, something quotable or an emotional call to action that summarises your main points to evoke emotion. This emotion can be positive or negative, but it has to be strong and should reinforce your ideas.

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