Kathy Sierra, one of the “Head First” book series authors, wrote a post Give users a Hollywood ending. While the main focus is about what it takes to create a memorable blog/film/concert experience, the theory, “it’s all in the ending!” can apply all over the place: books, speeches, blog posts, articles, and so on.

As the audience of one of these media, we are likely to have a good story ruined by a bad ending, and a so-so story with a fantastic ending disproportionately elevated to grand heights.

I admit, this is a big challenge for me. All of my energy goes to the initial planning of a piece of work and by the time I get to the end, my brain is fried. Talking with a fellow Toastmaster on Tuesday, I learned that he first decides on the Ka-Pow ending, and then funnels the rest of the speech to that big boom. Think I’ll try that. Next blog post, that is :)