We’ve all been there. You’ve prepared a 45-minute presentation, and you’re ready to go. Then, before you get up to present, there’s a change in schedule, and your host, boss, or whomever suddenly tells you that you only have 20 minutes to deliver your speech.

What do you do?! How do you edit your entire presentation in one minute or less and still make maximum impact?

10 Things to Do if You Have to Shorten Your Speech Drastically on the Spot:

1) Take a deep breath. Calm yourself. Pretend that your fine with it.

2) Throw out your Powerpoint. As we say here in New Jersey, just “fahgeddaboutit!”

3) Make a no-frills opening. Introduce yourself, and make your purpose or thesis statement immediately. Drop any interesting lead-ins.

4) Focus the content on the one or two points that make the crux of your talk. In other words, what main points are vital to making an effective and relevant call to action? Introduce those. Use one example for each to illustrate and better explain each main point. Forget the longer explanations and illustrative details.

5) Include only one really great story.

6) Rely more on vocal variety and body language to engage and grab your audience’s attention since you probably won’t have time for visuals.

7) Create a sense of urgency with the tone of your voice. You don’t have a lot of time, so it’s important that everyone focuses on you for the few minutes you have them.

8) Ask the audience to hold questions until the end of the presentation.

9) Keep your call to action as is.

10) Tell the audience how to get in touch with you for more information on your message.

Remember, your audience won’t know that you’ve just had to butcher your presentation unless you tell them so. If you keep your mind calm and focused on audience connection, they’ll think you gave a great speech. And you will have.