Speak up--sooner or later, it will come to that

In a meeting, before a club, a toast at a wedding. Sometime you will have to take the floor and speak.

Yes, yes, you would rather eat spiders. But speaking to more than one person is a job skill. A communications must.

Some tips: Keep it short, under 20 minutes.

Practice it ahead of time.

Do not read it.

And put in three take-aways--but realize that only one, tops, will be retained.

Don't do a joke unless you are actually funny. Those jokes in "jokes for speakers" books--painful! I mean the "Ladies and Germs" type stuff.

And go to the room ahead of time, inspect and try out all the equipment. Or bring your own equipment (say a laptop) and test that, too! Most listeners are pretty forgiving. If you keep it short, they will tend to like you.