[harryf]

Good advice - especially like the talking to 2 people. Some other things that work for me (you'll have to take my experience as given);

- Make sure you know what you're talking about. Perhaps an obvious point but the confidence you have in the subject will carry you through more than anything. If it's your field of expertise, hopefully no problem but if you're in a position of giving a talk about something you're not an expert in, it's worth investing time and researching the topic well beforehand, preparing for questions you might be asked. At the same time, if you don't know the answer to a question, be honest "I don't know but I'll get back to you when I do."

- Talk to yourself beforehand. Run through the talk a couple of times in private, preferably standing not sitting but mumbling is good enough - no need for full volume. Helps to get a clear idea of what you're going to say and what the main points are. It also helps avoid those moments where you suddenly run out of words - your arguments are always on the tip of your tongue.

- Less is more. Few people can concentrate on listening to someone for more than 45 minutes and the more complex the topic, the harder it will be to follow. Boil it down to the main things you're going to say and focus on those. Also time it roughly while you're talking to yourself - this is the best way to identify the places where you're rambling or spending too much time on something that isn't really important to your focus.