How to end your course on a high

One of my favourite films of all time is Se7en, starring Brad Pitt.

It’s a dark film but what makes it so memorable is the ending.

More than 25 years after I first saw it, that final scene stays with me.

(Fun fact: the studio pushed hard for a more audience-friendly finale, but Pitt and the director David Fincher stuck to their guns.)

The point being that while first impressions are important, it’s often how things end that we remember best.

In last week’s email I talked about how to open your course with a bang. I shared five questions to help guide the creation of your welcome content.

In today’s “sequel” we’re going to look at how you can wrap up your course just as powerfully.

You can use these five questions to inspire your course finale.

1) What have students learned and achieved?

When progress happens over days, weeks or months, students can easily forget or condense their achievements. So remind students of where they started and how far they’ve come. Congratulate them on their success and encourage them to celebrate the win for themselves. They did it!

2) How can they keep the momentum going?

When students finish your course, it rarely means the work is over. You may have gotten them over a big hurdle, but more work (and results) usually lie ahead. So what’s the best way for them to keep the flywheel spinning? What habits and routines do they need? What else will help?

3) Where can they go next?

Whatever the topic for your course, there’s usually a way for student to go further or deeper. If you don’t channel that desire for those who people want more, you’re neglecting your (potentially) most valuable customers. So what’s the next step? A group program? Working with you 1:1?

4) Who else could benefit?

Not everyone will finish your course, but those that do are your star students, the ones most likely to rave about their experience. So ask them to recommend your course to their network and give them an incentive for doing it. Remember, they’re still buzzing from crossing the finishing line.

5) When can they talk?

Feedback is the fuel that powers the evolution of your course. So try to get finishers on a quick Zoom call to pick their brains. What did they love? Where did they struggle? What else did they need? Ask for a testimonial and give them an unexpected bonus as a thank you.

So there you go. Five questions to help you end your course on a high.

I hope they’re useful and let me know what you’d like to see in future emails.

Have a great weekend and I’ll see you again soon,

Glen