It's often said that people fear public speaking more than they fear death! The key to overcoming a fear of speaking to an audience, is understanding why you have the fear in the first place.
One of people's biggest worries is that they will mess up, freeze and look foolish in front of their audience. I can understand that...while we should all take ourselves a little "less" serious, no one really wants to have people laughing at us on stage, (unless of course you're a comedian).
People who are perfectionists can have a much more difficult time speaking in front of crowds. They want so much to be perfect in their communication. The stress for someone like this can be incredible!
Some people may have disabilities that cause them to be self conscious in front of others.
Whatever the case, there are things you can do to make public speaking much easier. Relaxation exercises can definitely help. Thats the reason self hypnosis is so popular. You can learn how to quickly shift your thoughts away from being scared and nervous to behing confident and fully in control.
I've created a FREE self hypnosis MP3 for public speaking which you can download from the link below. You can also play a sample if you want to give it a listen without actually downloading it. My MP3's are not as professionally created as these are, but hey...mine are FREE! :-)
Self Hypnosis For Public Speaking <- (Right click on link and select "Save Link As" to save on your computer)
(Sample This MP3)