Improve my public speaking

I am good at written format. I can speak well on one-to-one basis. But when it comes to public speaking, I feel jitters. Want to run away before they ask me to speak

http://duncandavidson.com/2009/03/dear-speakers.html

• Please deliver your speech to the crowd, not the screen.
• Please pick a spot and stay. Move deliberately to another. Don’t pace aimlessly. And please don’t turn all the way around.
• Please take off your name tag.
• If you find yourself walking backwards, you are probably pacing very vigorously. Stop. Breathe.
• If you don’t make eye contact with your audience, you make it that much harder for them to connect to your message.
• The corner of the stage that you like to use to feel closer to the crowd is darker than rest of stage. They can see you less there.
• Rule of thumb for speaker clothing: Dress like you mean it. ~0 to 1 levels above mean “nice” for audience.
• When on a panel, don’t look at your shoes. Try to look at who’s talking. Otherwise, you look bored, even if you’re not.

I’m not good at all speaking outloud, let alone speaking to people.I would like to progress in this!

I did a 20 minute presentation in a class, and I only allowed myself minimal notes. People seemed to enjoy, a few called me engaging. I’ve realized that it’s easy to talk to university students though, you just know your stuff and crack jokes. I still need to work on reading a crowd, knowing when to change direction before I start to crash and burn. Still, progress.

I don’t really get nervous in front of a crowd, but I want to learn how to play them like a violin.

This is a weird one for me. A few years ago I’d have done anything rather than stand up in front of a room full of people. Over the past 2 and a half years I’ve had to speak at the odd meeting and seminar, and have put on a number of web design workshops. Oddly, I’ve found that as my confidence has grown I am actually starting to enjoy it.

I’m now looking to improve my technique and delivery. I’m now very confident speaking to a small audience (less than 30) but when the audience numbers a couple of hundred I still find it very difficult. I’m working on it though, and hoping to speak at a large conference within the next couple of years.

I wrote a little story about a relative who recently passed and read it out in front of everyone. This was one of the most difficult speaking engagements I’ve had, since I was crying when I did it.

I have also been participating at seminars and going up on the stage and speaking into the microphone. This was a huge fear of mine but I just went up there and did it! I totally benefitted from it too.