Perfect Pitch: "Let's Stop Talking"

"Let's keep talking" is a very positive phrase to use in many business interactions. But there's also a point when you need to stop talking for a while. 

Some people find it very hard to notice the arrival of that point. They just keep circling around it. Or they suddenly see that the conversational connection is weakening, and they just disappear. They either go on too long, or stop too abruptly. 

Even in five minutes of pure talking a speaker is very apt to cover so much ground that at the close the listeners are hazy about all the main points. That's especially true in public presentations, regardless of whether the audience is large or small. You may assume that their points are crystal clear in the minds of the listeners. After all they’re crystal clear to you. But you may have been working with these ideas for weeks or months. Yet they’re new to the audience. 

For this reason, one of the worst communication mistakes you can make is talking too long. It doesn't matter how brilliant you are or what life-changing wisdom you're sharing. If you talk too long, that's what people are going to notice: "When is it going to end?"

Don't let this happen to you! Say what you have to say and then stop. But keep this in mind: the last thing you say will be the best remembered. So make your final impression a lasting one. Think about how you can make your last sentence memorable both in substance and delivery, especially in public presentations. 

Jack Welch, when he first became CEO of General Electric, used to end meetings with a simple phrase that became a mantra: "Change before you have to." It a great summation of Welch's business philosophy.

You can be motivational, challenging, thoughtful, respectful, or humorous – but know when to stop talking, and how to do it gracefully. I'll stop now.