Did you know that speaking in public is often listed as one of the more common fears people have in life? Can you imaging speaking to a group of 20,30,300 or more? This would strike fear in the heart of many a mighty man or woman. How can you personally get control of those nerves and speak with poise and conviction?
Preparation will help you to control your nerves, particularly if you have found some useful information to share with your audience. If you believe your audience needs and will benefit from the material you have found, you start to focus more on them than on your own fear. However if you are ill prepared and not confident of the material itself, that will add to your nerves. Once you have gathered your material don't be afraid to practice it aloud a number of times. This will help you to be more confident in your delivery because you know you have enough material and the information will more readily come to mind during your actual delivery.
Well probably 99% of them, and maybe the other 1% you will never be able to impress anyway, so why worry about them. After all, what sought of audience would even bother to gather to listen if all they wanted you to do was fail. Remember the last talk you heard a person give, wouldn't you rather that the speaker succeeded?
I remember hearing this advice once, and to me it was very valuable. I'm not sure exactly what the advice meant, but this is how I took it. GET UP (yes just get up and do it), SPEAK UP (as though you have something valuable to impart, and SHUT UP (when your inner voice says to you, "what if I forget this", or "did I get that part right", or "what if I faint" or "what if...what if...what if". It's endless isn't it, just tell yourself to shut up, you have prepared and practiced, you've done it before, just do it! All the anxious thoughts in the world that you can conjure up aren't going to make a difference now anyway. To me the advice to shut up was very helpful).
Try to relax your body prior to your delivery. Naturally you will be at least a little nervous, and to be honest that's not always a bad thing. A little nervous energy can make you appear more lively than boring. However if your extremely nervous, then your voice may sound squeaky, you may be gasping for breath, fidgeting and fumbling your notes. Understanding why this happens can help you overcome that common problem. When your very nervous your breathing may become shallow, and you simply don't have enough air in your lungs do make a decent sound, so slow down, get yourself composed, and breathe in deeply enough so your voice doesn't sound shallow and squeaky. Prior to going up to the speakers stand you could even stretch a bit, open and close your mouth, hum, or massage your facial muscles. These little techniques, and others you find helpful, definitely help you in feeling more relaxed.