I always stress the importance of practice, practice, practice. But, where do I find places to practice? Good question. Some start by practicing in front of a mirror, but I have always found this to be unsettling and not at all the same as speaking to a group. So, I suggest speaking to a live audience and in this article, I share where to find some live audiences while you are perfecting your presentation skills.

Join a Toastmasters International Club. Attend and take part regularly. Toastmasters groups across the world have given members a chance to become excellent and comfortable speakers. You receive a well written manual to work from, positive reinforcement from the group, and a chance to speak in one capacity or another every week. I found the people involved to be some of the finest people Ive ever met -- always willing to help each other improve. There are leadership clubs for the advanced speaker and opportunities to present at conferences (see the next section).

Propose a workshop and/or presentation for your groups upcoming conference and/or convention. Most organizations and associations have local conferences, regional conferences, and national conventions. I find that most are looking for good workshops for these events, and many are pleased to use members for the presentations. I started by proposing and giving workshops at our Toastmasters District conferences. This was a great learning experience and a way to become known as a presenter.

Next, I proposed and presented at several Regional Conferences, so became more comfortable and even better known. Finally, I was asked to present one of the workshops that had been a winner at both the district and regional conferences at the International Convention. By the time I got to this level, I had ironed out the kinks and felt confident about my performance. Since that time, I have given a similar workshop at other groups conferences.

Volunteer to become a member of a Speakers Bureau. I am not referring here to the type of Speakers Bureaus that place speakers for a fee. I am referring to group speakers bureaus that serve a community purpose. For example, there are speakers with bureaus who share information about an organization, a region, a college and/or college topics, and causes. For example, I volunteered to become a speaker for the Cleveland Growth Association. We auditioned and then, when chosen, were given assignments.

One talk involved a slide presentation about all of the great places to visit in Cleveland with a running dialogue including interesting information about those places. Rather than using and reading the script, I did research and created my own presentation of the slides.

So, get out there and start practicing.