If you look at the great speakers you’ll see they’re always having a great time while they speak. Try to communicate with the audience and sense their feedback in a way that enables you to have fun. This is a facet of public speaking that is continuous and goes beyond starting well and finishing well.
Also, reconnect with your passion for your topic. When you feel passion, when something excites you, when you enjoy it, you’re taken beyond fear. It really elevates your feelings, your heart, and your soul. It completely changes your mindset.
Let the passion take over you. There are times when the subject won’t give you passion, but there’s always something that excites you about giving the talk, if you look for it.
You can even make a joke out of how nervous you are, and that way you reduce your nerves and have fun at the same time. Just be honest with your audience and tell them, “Hello everyone, I'm a little bit shy when it comes to talking in public, but I'm going to do my best, right?”
By doing this, you connect with the audience. You become human, and people need that contact, that homogeneity. You stop being the speaker and become part of the audience. You’ll then start to receive sympathy, eye contact and warm attention, which all help you in return.
The great speakers generate trust. They create a space where they are at the same level as those listening. It’s as though they were sitting next to you in a coffee shop, chatting away. The great speakers never speak from a pulpit!
To sum up the tips from the last few posts: Prepare the topics and rehearse your presentation. Look for feedback from the audience, or from a person, or from the audience in general, but listen to their reactions, don't believe in your own feelings.
Visualise yourself giving a kick-ass talk. Before going out, think about yourself and feel how you’ll feel, how you’ll see yourself, how you’ll hear yourself, how your body will to feel when you’re killing it out there. And always try to have fun. Immerse yourself in what you are telling the audience.
And always remember that it’s possible to go from hating public speaking to enjoying it, to deriving pleasure from it. Keep working hard and you’ll get there!