I do alot of public speaking, and my advice to you is:
Preparation:
- Work out the main message of what it is you want to say. Don't have too many either - 1 key message is perfect.
- Practice it, but don't write it out word for word. The written word will sound contrived and is less natural when spoken out. Sure, plan it like you would a document, but give yourself headers rather than precise words.
- Practice it in front of a mirror, or video yourself. If you stumble around, then re-do that section.
- Once you're confident, do it in front of a friend. You then need to ask them certain questions to make sure they got your message.
Day of Presentation
- If you get nervous, practice breathing, and think about something which calms you. I used to get nervous, but then considered nervousness didn't help matters at all, so I trained myself not to care. I simply don't get nervous anymore in big audiences. Strangely, I still get a few nervous pangs when presenting to a small audience of five or so people.
- Do another run-through in front of the mirror
- When you go up to the podium, or stand-up, make sure you slow down your actions, and try and be calm. I'll move my notes around, adjust the laptop, and generally get used to standing in front of all these people. I tend to pause for 15 seconds and look at the audience, even when I've been introduced. Silence gets peoples attention.
- The tendancy for people is to rush through their speech, look at their feet, and generally rush towards the conclusion of this whole terrible ordeal. The effect comes across as being nervous, and you'll end up spitting and generally looking a bit of a shambles. Slow yourself down. Cue cards help, since you can pause between them, but you should learn to pause between key points, or statements. Look at the audience in the pauses too. It will calm you, and once you've been speaking for a couple of minutes, you won't be nervous anymore and you could end up enjoying it.
Questions can be difficult. There's always some bugger who'll try and be difficult. If you get a difficult question which you don't want to answer, I always say 'that's a good question, can I come back to it' or 'I'll cover that later on in my speech' but I have no intention of doing so.
Good luck.