You should also spend time thinking about why you even care what they think. Isn’t your grade more important. You are a fine young person and nobody else can change that by thinking something about you while you give a speech.

A little nervousness is also normal. It gives you energy to put into the speech. Try to memorize it by practicing it a lot. That way you won’t have to look at your notes much (prevents the hands from shaking).

You will be able to make more eye contact. Look for the three or four people in the room you like and trust and make eye contact with them. Spread it over the room though. By looking at them, you will find confidence. Remember these must be people you trust (it doesn’t hurt to tell them in advance that you would like their help. It is called seeding the room).

So, practice it over and over until you don’t depend on your cue cards for more than a glance.

Then give your presentation to some adult(s) – next door neighbors, parents, aunties, cousins until you feel comfortable.

USe some type of visual in your presentation – this will keep your audience busy with something else to look at. (Make sure it is a big enough visual that it can be seen around the room).

Use a power point presentation – that’s why a lot of people use them – it makes people focus on the screen in front of the room instead of the speaker. It also helps if you don’t project your voice very loud – the listener can still get the main points.

Mainly, speakers get nervous because they don’t know the material very well (and perhaps the speaker has not researched the topic enough and don’t have enough material to talk about).

One thing that always helped me was to volunteer to go first. Hard as that is – you almost always get more appreciation from the teacher – it can even raise your grade. They love it when someone helps get things started – and I didn’t have to sit there and make myself more scared. It was done. And there was no one to compare my presentation against.

then you can sit and enjoy the rest of the time in class….

practice and good luck –

The next thing to do, is concentrate on what you are doing, not everyone else. Just do your speech, move your head around look above everyone head or the back of the room and do your thing!

Remember, no body is going to throw sticks or rocks at you! So, I guarantee you will survive, and do a bang up job!

Good Luck!