Many of us would rather die than stand up to speak in public. You know the feeling don't you? The sweaty palms; the dry mouth and red face; the total lack of rational thought only replaced by absolute PANIC.

OK maybe a little exaggerated, but I've been there myself and I've seen otherwise strong people reduced to gibbering wrecks at the thought of having to do this.

Now I've also been on one or two public speaking courses - the last one was run by an actor, sorry an AC-TOR, a real thesp and we spent a lot of time breathing(?) and talking in strange accents! I'm not sure how much it helped, but the day was fun, so perhaps it did do some good.

What I'm going to suggest though rather than going to one of those public speaking courses that may or may not help is to follow some simple guidelines and then read and practice my suggestions.

First off try to be sure that your part in whatever public speaking engagement you are involved with is brief. This means you know your agony will be short and there will be less time for the audience to get their aim (ha-ha).

Prepare your speech carefully, writing it out in full. Two sides of A4 in normal handwriting will take about three minutes to read. Read it out loud in front of a mirror several times until you start to feel whether it sounds about right. If you find yourself changing the words as you read it out, then change them on the paper copy. Only when it feels right and sounds natural should you continue.

Continue reading it out loud in front of the mirror, but try to refer to the paper less often; you will find this gets easier after several readings. When you can run through the whole thing without referring to the written version you're almost there.

Next get the paper typed up so that you can refer to it as necessary. Break it up into paragraphs so you can pick up the point you are at easily if needed.

When you get to your engagement have your paper handy, take a deep breath then stand up. wait for the audience to settle, look around the room and smile at someone you know or just anyone.

Start without referring to your paper, confident that it is in your pocket if you should need it.

For more public speaking courses to overcome your nerves visit my Public Speaking Courses website.

Peter Fisher is Managing Director of Career Consulting Limited which provides expert help for career and performance management. He is an expert author and career coach. His advice on Pulic Speaking Courses at http://www.public-speaking-courses.com provides every help with overcoming your nerves and mastering the art of public speaking. For general career change advice visit http://www.your-career-change.com