Long, long ago I was often in the position of being called upon to speak with very short notice. It may have been that I stepped in when another speaker had to cancel abruptly. Sometimes I had to rustle together a workshop on a topic familiar to me.

By that time in my career I had successfully overcome my fear of speaking in public, and the "rescue factor" lent the situation a yeasty excitement; I greatly enjoyed these occasions. And I'm sure my audiences cut me some slack because I had stepped in at the last minute; audiences are generally gracious that way.

I would probably have gone merrily on indefinitely, not worrying about the lapses and occasional lack of progression had not a teenager come up to me after a talk I'd given and asked me, "Why did you say ___? What did it have to do with ___?"

As I struggled to give her a concise answer, I realized, with a sinking feeling, that I had omitted an entire section of my argument--the section that connected facts I had given with the theory I offered. And, without that connection, there was no logic to my theory--and absolutely no reason for anyone to take the action I had urged!

That was a shocking wake-up call which left me with a feeling of humiliation that I had been so glibly unprofessional. It made me willing to spend the time to prepare myself for the unexpected. When I knew I was going to give a speech or workshop I'd have everything organized for every eventuality. Yet, because enjoyed speaking extemporaneously, I hadn't felt the need to be prepared when I was called to do so. And I had to acknowledge that I had thought of myself as being such an interesting speaker that I didn't have to worry about ordinary preparation. Whoops!

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