I used to be really scared when i had to give "important" talks, especially in English which isn't my native language. I was so anxious that I couldn't even wor

I used to be really scared when i had to give "important" talks, especially in English which isn't my native language. I was so anxious that I couldn't even work the days before. I remember my first professional talk. My mouth was so dry that talking was difficult. (tip to beginners: take a bottle of water). Interestingly, I had much less problems when I was presenting somebody else's work. The thing that really helped me was benzodiazepines (e.g. Xanax). I took them a few days before until the day of the talk and I felt much much better. I know these drugs get a bad press, but in my case, they really helped. The side effets is that they tend to make you sleepy, but it didn't really affected me. Now, I'm certainly not a great speaker, but I don't have any problems with public speaking.