I think The Moose Joke is the best presentation closing storyline that I have ever heard in a training and development or team building program, and I’ve attended hundreds of them at conferences and online, even.

It is fun, and it has a solid framework you can build around. And it works everywhere, even with audiences in places like Singapore and Mumbai and Hong Kong where many people do not even know what a moose is. It is part of the fun, actually.

Here is a link to the long, narrated version, with my comments about delivery and anchoring the joke / story to the session’s desired outcomes or key learning points. You will find lots of ideas. And click to join my group and also make a comment, if you will.

I remember delivering a session at an AQP service quality conference with my long-term friend and associate, Mike Robinson. Not really thinking that closing through, but having Mike hear me present it a few times, he and I, “Ike and Mike’d it” and told it together, with him doing his part and me doing mine, on the fly.

One, he and I really did it well — he and I were like Abbott and Costello. Two, it was hilarious and both of us were laughing as we ran around the room… There were maybe 100 people in the session.

Anyway, feel free to use it to close out a program where you are looking for continuous continuous improvement. Even better if you give this old guy a plug, since my very last program ever looks to be in Libya in November, 2024. I am not doing many sessions these days and the joke is just too good to go dormant…

Any comments and suggestions and reactions would be most appreciated, for sure! And please consider giving me credit if you use this!