So let’s all agree on something: not all speeches that we give are the  same. 

Some speeches we give are just being delivered because we promised  somebody that we’d get up there and give a speech. However, then there  are the other speeches. These are the ones that are very important.  It may be our big idea that we’re trying to get support for, perhaps  it’s something that we need people to vote on, or it’s important  information that we need to somehow communicate to our audience. No  matter what the reason, we believe that we are trying to deliver very  important information that reflects the importance of public speaking.  

When we find ourselves in this situation, we need to take steps to make  sure that we’re ready to deliver a very good speech.