I generally feel very confident with people but my tongue sticks to the top of my mouth when presenting "formally"

comment by John Butler.

The speakers dry mouth is due to the adrenaline surge when giving a presentation. Ever wondered why there is a glass and jug of water provided for speakers at large events? It is because they often have a dry mouth too. So have a glass of water nearby to sip from occasionally; not too often as to distract the audience but enough to help you.

The other important factor that alleviates dry mouth is preparation and practice beforehand so that you have a greater confidence in your speech.

Finally, remember that most audiences are on your side, they want you to succeed with your talk.

An unexpected benefit of the adrenaline surge for me is the positive buzz at the end on having successfully completed a talk!

Answer to: How do I stop myself from talking for too long (in a presentation)

Asks Gurmail Singh Pabla of HSBC - something that is more easily done than you might expect! What looks good content for time when written is often too long when spoken as speech takes longer than reading.

1. As a first step therefore practice your speech out loud and time yourself. You will very quickly see whether your estimate of speech content matches your given time and can adjust it acoordingly.
2. I learnt the second step from another professional speaker, Kate Atkin; identify which are the core principles that you wish to convey and which ones you can drop if pushed. Then if your speech looks as if it is going to run over with the full content, you can drop the less important parts on the fly, so to speak, whilst still getting your main message across in time.
3. The third step is to employ the assistance of the meeting chair or a good friend in the audience and ask them to give you a sign two minutes before the end of your alloted time, so that you know you have to wrap up and present your conclusions.

How do I prevent going completely blank and not remembering any of the prepared presentation?

This question by Lesley Bennett of CBA-Design reminds me of an occasion where it happened to me in the middle of a speech! Blank mind! Nothing there! time seemed to stretch and the gazes of the audience left me feeling light a rabbit caught in car headlights at night - frozen with fear and rising panic.

The first thing I did was take a deep slow breath, then I looked down to my bullet point notes which kick started my brain into gear again and got me past the blockage.

The best way to both minimise the likelihood of a blank occurring and overcoming one when it does happen is preparation; researching, planning and practising your speech. Also write the first line of your speech and the last summary line out in full in large print and make a bullet point list of the content of your speech in large print to act as reminders.

And if you still hit a blank that just won't go away? Stay in control of your destiny and decide what happens next; be honest and tell the audience you have hit a blank, they'll be sympathetic in 99% of cases! Then decide whether to stop on this occasion, or have a 5 minute break or - if you have the confidence - ask the audience what they think on the subject of your talk until you get rolling again!

Prepare, practice and stay in control to reduce blanks and their impact.