Some people shudder at the thought of giving a speech to a group of people. However, public speaking is a common task, and like it or not, you are going to have to do it someday. From giving a toast at a wedding, to giving a presentation to coworkers, public speaking is eminent in a productive life. The only question is, are you ready for it?

If you are part of the majority, you probably are not ready, so here are a few tips to help you out:

1) Be prepared. Remember, he who fails to prepare, prepares to fail.

2) Know your audience. No this does not mean stand at the door and make friends with everyone who enters the room. What this does mean is that you want to be able to appeal to whomever you are speaking to. Basically, do not wear a fur coat if you are giving a speech on animal rights.

3) Have a general outline for what you are going to say. Do not try to read from your notes word for word as this produces a boring speech in which you are not looking at your audience. It is always a good idea to know what you are saying, but reading directly from a written speech produces more errors and is boring.

4) Look at your audience. You need to not just look in one spot as well; but instead look around the room at your entire audience. Caution! When doing this, avoid the sprinkler affect. That is, do not continuously pan your gave from one side of the room to the next, but distribute your attention to different members in the audience.

5) In opening remarks, you need to come out strong. You need an attention grabber. This can range from a short defiant statement, to an anecdote that involves your subject.

6) Use appropriate hand gestures and props in your presentation or speech.

7) Speak slower than you normally would. You must remember that your audience is trying to absorb all the information you are dishing out at them.

8) Do not make your speech to long. Most people lose interest in your speech after ten minutes. If you must go longer than this, prompt your audience for involvement after every ten or so minutes.

9) Get to the point. When you ramble on about topics it is more likely that you are losing your audience. If you are making an important statement or point, declare it with as few words as possible.

10) In your closing, leave the audience with something to think about. Do not close with a feeble "thank you," but instead, close with a statement that will let your audience know you are finished.

11) Have fun with it!