Fellow speaker,
If you aren't ready with a "short form" of your speech, you could be caught stammering onstage as you try to slim down your presentation at the last minute to fit the request of the meeting planner. To prevent this from occurring, always have two or even three versions of your speech. One version, the long one and a second version of the "high points" of your speech. If you can, have an "in between" version that is a little shorter than your full version. So, if someone cuts your speech down at the last moment, you won't go down in flames onstage!
Cutting it down to size,
Tim
