[maximilian]

I've had to speak often lately in front of small and medium sized groups, and the biggest thing that has helped is to just practice my talk several times alone.

Obviously giving the talk in front of others is important, especially when it comes to message and content, but a practice run for other people will obviously be a little rough around the edges from a word-flow perspective (assuming you have a hard time with this like myself).

Lately I try to give my talk to a blank wall at least 3 times before I will talk in front of real people so that I really know my slides and I know how long it will take. Usually you have a fairly strict time limit, so running through the talk with a stopwatch is critical.

I've also tried writing my talk out and simply reading it for practice, but it always sounds awful and is much shorter than an ad-lib version, which is never the same twice. I imagine people who have had drama, or any other acting/standup experience have a great advantage, just because they seem to be able to say almost exactly what they want, two times in a row. Perhaps it just has to do with have done enough speaking, that you become used to saying things in front of people.