Your question concerning strategies for dealing with fear and nervousness when giving an oral presentation is a common one. It’s actually okay to be a little nervous in a situation such as this—a little adrenalin actually helps your overall performance. Fortunately, though, there are many things you can do to overcome this uncomfortable feeling.
Here are a few: * Smile! When you appear relaxed, comfortable, and friendly, your audience will respond in kind. * Confess that you are a little nervous. This vulnerability helps your audience be sympathetic to you (and your presentation). * Remember to breathe, slowly and deeply. This will help control any trembling that you may notice in your hands and voice. * Be prepared. This will give you more confidence, and take away any nervousness associated with that aspect of your presentation, at least. Practice your speech in front of a mirror, as cheesy as that sounds. * Speak slowly and make use of natural pauses. There is a natural tendency to panic and rush through in a situation such as this—try to overcome that and pace yourself.

For organizing the content of your speech, keep the following in mind: * Begin with an introduction (which, just as with a paper, you may actually wish to write last) * Capture the audience’s attention with a funny story, a question, or a startling statistic. * State your purpose—for example: “I’m going to talk about…” * Give a brief outline of your talk—for example, “I’m going to concentrate on the following points…” * Move to the body of your presentation. * Present your main points in logical order, and pause at the end of each so your audience can take notes. * Transition clearly from one point to the next. “The next point I’d like to talk about is…” * Consider using clear examples and visual aids to help illustrate