In short: A call to action tells the audience what to do, think or feel next. Pick one, make it specific and place it after the recap, not after the thank you, when people have already gone. Say it in plain words, then make it easy to act: a link, a date, a named person to contact. Alastair Greener's structure ends with a call to action, and many speakers skip it.
A call to action tells people what to do, think or feel next. Pick one, make it specific, and put it before the talk ends.
Do, think or feel
Alastair Greener asks speakers one question for the close: what do you want the audience to do, think or feel differently? Those three options are the usual ones.
- Do: book a call, register, sign up, try the method this week, or send a reply.
- Think: look at a problem in a new way, or rethink an assumption they hold.
- Feel: trust a team, feel confident about a decision, or feel that the next step is manageable.
Choose one for each talk. A talk that asks for all three in one breath asks for nothing clearly.
Make it specific
Vague closes do not get acted on. "Get in touch" and "find out more" leave the audience to work out the detail.
Compare these two lines, written for a talk to office managers about moving premises:
- Vague: "Get in touch if you want to know more about office moves."
- Specific: "Reply to this email by Friday with your floor size and I will send a one-page plan."
The second one names the action, the time and the reward.
Place it after the recap
In the structure Alastair teaches, the call to action comes after the recap. The recap repeats the message, and the call to action follows from it. Put the call to action too late and the audience has already gone for lunch. The hook, message, recap and call to action structure sets out the order.
Make it easy to take
Give the action a route. A link, a QR code, a named contact, a date. For an online talk, put the link on screen while you say it, and repeat it in the chat if the platform allows. For a room, put it on the last slide and leave that slide up while you speak.
A worked example
A consultant ends a talk on hiring apprentices. Her message is that small firms can find their next trained member of staff in-house. The recap repeats the three steps. The call to action is to do one thing: "Book a 20-minute review of your current team before the end of the month, using the link on screen." The think and feel options are dropped, because one action is enough for this audience.
Common mistakes
- No call to action at all.
- Three calls to action, so none stands out.
- A call to action after the thank you, when the room has emptied.
- Vague wording such as "get in touch".
- An action the speaker cannot deliver, such as a demo that nobody has booked time for.
- Treating a call to action as a sales pitch. A talk to think differently can end with a clear think or feel step.
For the message the call to action follows from, read the stick of rock test. The delivery side is covered in how to get your voice heard, and the wider preparation in the preparation iceberg. To practise an interview rather than a talk, see our media training studio page.
Related guides
- Get your voice heard: prepare, WIIFM, structure, body language, voice
- The preparation iceberg: why most of a good talk is unseen
- The stick of rock test: one message all the way through
- All guides and tools
The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.
Questions we get asked
What is a good call to action for a presentation?
One specific action the audience can take in the next week, such as booking a call, registering for a course or trying one thing from the talk. Make it easy to do, and say it in plain words at the end of the message.
Can a talk have a call to action if it is not selling anything?
Yes. Alastair's advice is that a call to action can be to think or feel differently, not only to buy. Make it clear and specific, even when the aim is understanding.
Where should the call to action go in a talk?
After the recap, near the end, while the audience is still listening. Do not leave it until after the thank you, and do not ask for three things in the same sentence.
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