* Practice in private. Practice, practice, practice. People will tell you that you can over-practice a talk, and that's true, but it's not true the first time you're giving a talk. Or the third.
* Practice recovering when you lose your thread. The difference between amateurs and professionals isn't that professionals don't make mistakes, it's that they recover from them without it affecting the rest of their performance.
* Learn how to trick your brain into thinking that fear is excitement. You don't have to be able to do it very long, just the ten seconds before you're about to start, but it makes all the difference.
* Talk about something you know inside out. This helps with confidence, with recovering from losing your thread, and with answering questions.
* Keep it short and sweet (if people are interested they will ask questions), but remember that you'll talk faster on stage.
* Learn to periodically check your speaking speed, to pace yourself, and slow down when needed.
* Find a slide style you are comfortable standing in front of when it is projected. I know, I know, but it does make a difference.
> Learn how to trick your brain into thinking that fear is excitement. You don't have to be able to do it very long, just the ten seconds before you're about to start, but it makes all the difference.
I would say that fear and excitement are actually the same underlying emotion, just interpreted differently. So it's less about tricking yourself than it is just making a cognitive decision.
> Practice in private. Practice, practice, practice. People will tell you that you can over-practice a talk, and that's true, but it's not true the first time you're giving a talk. Or the third.
Agreed. It's a learnable skill to give a talk that is rehearsed but does not come across as canned.
The anxiety of stage fright is almost exactly the same as having had drank too much coffee. Once you realize this it's easy to go forward since no one has failed a speech because they drank too much coffee.
A recent Tim Ferriss post I read recommended literally drinking a bunch of coffee before practicing in front of the mirror/your friends/whatever so you'll be ready for that feeling when you are giving it for real.
* Practice recovering when you lose your thread. The difference between amateurs and professionals isn't that professionals don't make mistakes, it's that they recover from them without it affecting the rest of their performance.
* Learn how to trick your brain into thinking that fear is excitement. You don't have to be able to do it very long, just the ten seconds before you're about to start, but it makes all the difference.
* Talk about something you know inside out. This helps with confidence, with recovering from losing your thread, and with answering questions.
* Keep it short and sweet (if people are interested they will ask questions), but remember that you'll talk faster on stage.
* Learn to periodically check your speaking speed, to pace yourself, and slow down when needed.
* Find a slide style you are comfortable standing in front of when it is projected. I know, I know, but it does make a difference.
* Ignore any advice that doesn't work for you.