Public speaking can be an anxiety-producing situation, but this anxiety can be reduced in a number of ways. The best advice is to practice, practice, practice. While rehearsing the presentation, check your breathing patterns. Take a deep breath, and speak at your normal pace. Create notes with bullet points to ensure all the key topics are covered, and have extra notes with more detailed information for audience questions. Check the order of the presentation to ensure that one key point flows logically to the next. Practice with any visual aids to minimize potential technical difficulties and to learn how to effortlessly integrate them. Know your subject thoroughly. Practice in front of people who know nothing about the topic, then ask them to critique the presentation.
Begin the presentation with a story or another attention grabber. State the value that the audience will gain from the presentation. Engage the audience by asking members what they expect to learn. List their responses on a flip chart, then briefly explain the three to five points that they will learn from the presentation. For the body of the presentation, use the PREP (point, reason, example and point) technique. State the position or point of view, provide a reason for the position (this is a good place to provide background/historical information), give an example of why the position is important and then restate the position or point of view. During the presentation, check the audience's understanding of the material. Ask members questions about the material. If someone gets a correct answer, reward him with a piece of candy or small trinket. When the other audience members notice rewards are given for listening, they will become more engaged with the material.
Use humor during the presentation. Even if a mistake is made, make a joke of it and move on. The audience will appreciate that you made light of the situation and that you are not taking yourself too seriously.
At the closing of the presentation, restate the three to five key points for the audience. Return to the original audience expectations list, and check back with the members to ensure their earlier learning expectations were met. Allow the audience to ask any clarifying questions. If you are unsure of the answer to a question, document the question and get the contact information of the person who asked it. Reply to the question as soon as you can, and consider including it in future presentations on that topic.