We're all asked to speak on occasion without benefit of any rehearsal (give an impromptu talk), but on those occasions, the audience knows that you've just been asked to “say a few words.” Their expectations are low and the demands of the occasion won't ask much of you.

If your presentation involves anything more than a brief introduction of someone else, you had better prepare yourself by rehearsing the talk— more than once. If you care about the outcome, don't even consider showing up for the speech without rehearsing your remarks.

Rehearsal provides at least three benefits for your speech. First, it points out potential timing problems. You will know after a run-through or two whether you have too much, too little, or just enough to say. Is timing important? It's crucial, actually. In most North American business meetings, the senior person in the room speaks last. That means, of course, that junior members of the organization speak first. If their presentations run long or if they overstay their welcome, the most important folks in the room will have less time to speak than they had planned, which is never a pleasant situation.

A few years ago, I was asked to join the Corporate Communication team of The Boeing Company for a meeting in the company's Chicago headquarters. The meeting began well with a few brief presentations by junior project managers and section chiefs. One young woman in the employee communication division, however, was given eight minutes to brief the group on her recent activities and instead took twenty. By the time the meeting came around to Judith Muhlberg, the senior vice president for corporate communication, very little time was left and the CEO had yet to make his remarks. “I didn't get to be a senior executive in this company by taking other people's speaking time,” she said, “so let me make this very brief.” After just a couple of minutes, she turned the floor over to her chief executive, making sure he had his full allocation of time to speak.