I get nervous whenever I speak in public. Is there any advice to loosen my anxiety?

Public speaking is not one of my strengths. Even if the subject is easy to articulate, I always get nervous when speaking to a crowd. I even get nervous when the crowd is 4-10 people. Are there tricks you guys know of that can improve my confidence in public speaking.I get nervous whenever I speak in public. Is there any advice to loosen my anxiety?
I have the exact same problem. I get extremely nervous when I have to give a speech. I worry about it a week or two in advance! Of course, I looked up a few tips on how to overcome (or supress) your anxiety and fear of public speaking.





Know everything you're going to say. Write it out, repeat it, know it! It doesn't help at all if you don't rehearse or don't have half a clue what you're talking about. If you have a video or digital camera laying around, try recording yourself. This will difinitely help you know exactly what you'd sound like when giving your speech. It will also help you analyze your weaknesses and give you time to improve. Practice makes perfect. Improve your weaknesses and this will give you the confidence you need.





If it is a school related speech, trying using visual aid. This will help you along while you speak and guide you if you forget or get lost.





Keep eye contact with the audiance. Don't read from notecards with your head faced down half the time. If you are not comfortable with looking into the eyes of your viewers, try looking at their hairline. This will appear as if you have direct eye contact and perhaps not make you so nervous.





Be confident!! Don't have that annoying monotone voice and blab on and on. Use facial expressions and gestures to capture your crowds attention. Make your speech as clear as possible and know when to stop.





All in all, don't worry about it. Public speaking is one of the most common fears. I still have a public fear of speaking and try avoiding it when necessary. Hope these few tips have helped you in some way or another.I get nervous whenever I speak in public. Is there any advice to loosen my anxiety?
I'm also nervous when doing public speaking and for years I would panic whenever I had to do a presentation or anything that involved me standing up and talking. I think that the only way to get around this is to believe in yourself. We are only afraid because we think that we will screw up and humiliate ourselves. Just tell yourself that you don't care about if you screw up. Think about it. Why should you care about screwing up in front of a few people who probably aren't paying attention anyways?