Ah, public speaking, how terrifying! I actually think I've come a long way in the past few years and have become a lot more comfortable with it, but I have much further to go yet. Much of my improvement, I think, has come from speaking up in uni classes (which was itself mostly in reaction to the awkward silence that tends to pervade when lecturers ask questions). It forces you to become comfortable with putting out your own opinion, and with having every pair of eyes in the room focused on you.

I've been told I'm pretty good at public speaking, whatever that's worth. Last year I took part in a wee debate on human rights and foreign aid for the Irish Forum of Global Health. A lot of people told me I should really take up debating; one guy even told me that I was the highlight of the evening.

I think what sells it for me is my sense of humour (wow, I've really been blowing my own horn in this post). You might not believe it based on my fairly dry comments on Hubski, but in person I can actually be pretty funny, I like to think. At the aforementioned debate I opened with a joke about the previous speaker - something about it being bad to prove wrong someone who had actually worked in the field - and that set the tone for the rest of my stint. At one point people actually burst into applause at one of my jokes; I was pretty proud of that one, I won't deny!

I still find speaking terrifying, but I find that if I throw out some humour it makes the audience more comfortable and makes me feel more comfortable and confident too.

mk makes a very good point with regard to not saying "ums;" I think, in general, that it is a very good idea to slow down when speaking - it makes you look much more confident. Don't be afraid of short silences, either.