If you’re going to run a small business, you’re going to have to get comfortable speaking in front of people. I don’t care how you do it, you’re going to have to be in front of someone explaining your business.
Some people rather would be eaten by piranhas.
Too bad. They can overcome this. Start with some good advice to tuning up your speeches:
Many people struggle with speaking in front of an audience and the only real cure for this is to get up and do it, realize no one will suffer permanently from it, and then get up and do it again. There are, however, three bits of advice that I would give to anyone that desires to become a more effective speaker. For me, effective only means getting your point across in a way that inspires the listener to do what you want them to do.
via How To Become a More Effective Speaker | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing.
It boils down to passion and practice. Passion is in incredibly powerful ingredient in good speeches. Practice gives commits the words to memory. Once you get the words down, you can feel more confident about your speech.
You can also improve your confidence by concentrating on your content and what the audience needs to know. Worrying about what they will think of you is a self-centered emotion. The audience doesn’t care about you. They want to learn something. Put the effort into helping them understand something new. You will rock the room.