I still remember one of the first professional talk I had to give. I was an intern in a company and I had to present my work to about 20 people, nothing very im

I still remember one of the first professional talk I had to give. I was an intern in a company and I had to present my work to about 20 people, nothing very impressive.. Yet it was a terrible experience. My mouth was so dry that I could barely speak. I didn't think of bringing water, and too shy to ask. I realised that I was much more stressed when I had to present my own work/research than let say, a class, or somebody else's work. It wasn't simply talking in public that affected me, but also the fear of being judged and criticised. Eventually, I got more experience (I was professor for a while) and it became like second nature. It is really just a matter of practice. That being said, I'm certainly not a great orator. For instance, I've always disliked giving longer lectures where you need somehow to keep the audience awake. In that context, because I can't rely on my eloquence, I try to engage the audience with some questions, exercises, and alternate the unavoidable boring parts with more interesting parts. Another thing that I noticed when watching speakers on youtube, is that they often do the exact same speech hundreds of time! When you watch several videos of them, you realize that they tend to repeat the exact same sentences from one speech to the next, even when they answer questions. No wonder they are good speakers.