Funny you ask this today; I'm headed to a convention in Biloxi for the weekend, and they have me speaking on four different panels over three days.

Personally, it's only nerve-wracking for me when the room is very full, and I am the only one speaking. Either give me a small crowd, or a big one where I have others to play off of, and I'll be fine!

Really depends on the situation! I teach a class of 170 and love acting I have no problem doing so but if I need to present a paper I a ball of nerves.

I don't like to be in the spotlight but there are times that its required in my current profession (court representations, presenting to directors, auditors, training classes). I am comfortable doing so as long as I am prepared. Spur-of-the-moment presentations are hateful to me & I have no qualms asking questions & making it clear in correct instances that their lack of foresight does not constitute my emergency. In actual emergency fill-in situations, no problem.

It's always scary right before, just gotta get rolling.

I used to act since Junior High School through Community Theatre in my twenties. I still have recurring dreams about performing and not remembering my lines. Took Dale Carnegie in my 30s and built a sales and marketing career with public speaking skills. Got used to speaking to groups and incorporated it into my personal businesses.

Public speaking must have been in my blood. Speaking to five or five thousand doesn't matter to me. I gave 120 talks in three months when pushing for a library tax. Once you do it the next will be a little easier. Just don't over think it. Expect to make mistakes and know there are a lot of people who are thinking, "I couldn't do that!"

Important advise on the topic:

When I firest started speaking in poublic, I was so scared that my voice would shake. I would have to talk to myself in my head: "Get a grip on yourse3lf Walt! You can do this."
Little by little I got used to it, then actually enjoued speaking before groups of up to 500 people. It just takes practice and preparation.

I gues both. I am a bit scared to get up in front of people because i anintroverted and a bit reclusive, but once up there and started, I enjoy doing it.

Kind of liek with acting I hated auditions,but loved actually performing.

Of course I used to be terrified of public speaking! But once I became a teacher within my nursing practice, it started to be more fun than frightening. I took the advice of a nurse-teacher I liked and admired: "When I'm doing a presentation, I don't just get up there and lecture. I put on a stage production."

It's always been terrifying for me; so at work I volunteer to do safety training and new hire quality training. It's gets me out of my comfort zone and confront that insecurity.

I used to be terrified of speaking in front of a group of people. I just made a choice to get over that fear and slowly worked on it. I still get nervous, I just refuse to let that fear control me. Start small and slowly work on overcoming your fear. I can do seminars and speak in front of a large group now.

I'm terrified by normal social interactions and fortified by public speaking/performances. Because I'm a freaky alien.

For those who are nervous, I just stumbled upon this gem:

"My research indicates that only three people have died while making a speech. Since twelve billion people have lived and only three of them died making a speech, I’d say it’s a fairly safe thing to do. If you’re a little nervous, consider this: You could lead a mule into a crowded room and he would be so calm that he would almost go to sleep standing up. A thoroughbred in the same situation would be as nervous as a cat. If you’re a little nervous, just be grateful you’re a thoroughbred – not a mule. So face those inner feelings, stand up and speak up with confidence. When you do, I’ll SEE YOU AT THE TOP! " - Zig Ziglar

For me, it's a lot of fun.

Lots of fun playing in orchestra pits or the stage, (thespian or musician (solo or part of the band/ orchestra or production)

I openly debate theists and have managed to help a few spectators, after dozens of hours of conversation, rise from the darkness of superstition (religion) to the light of reason.

I’m decent, as long as I’m prepared.

I imagine it’s only hard when you don’t know what your talking about!

Never done "public" speaking, but I used to regularly get up in front of between 10 and 200-300 people at work because of the various aspects of the jobs I had there. It was a bit intimidating at first, but became relatively easy later on.

That was about the one thing that I gained from religion. I became comfortable giving public talks but never that good at it.

I have struggled with that for some time. Despite not usually getting the extreme adrenalin response I used to, public speaking still causes some difficulty. What I have come to realize is that in such situations, I tend to allow my tongue to get too tight in hyper preparedness for each consonant so that I can't transition from syllable to syllable as fluently as normal. I am having some success learning to keep my tongue better relaxed and also to move it with it better efficiency. It is something you have to experiment with and play around with, and this also increases your awareness of actions you were once oblivious to. It also helps to slow down.

If I've had enough wine I have no problem being the center of attention! Otherwise, my hands shake, my heart nearly pounds out of my chest, and I sweat like crazy.

I've done public speaking, but I really have a hard time with it.
Once, I had to address a plaza full of protesters, and I delivered a 3 minute speech in just under a minute and a half. One of my friends said it sounded like I'd delivered the whole thing in just one breath. I'm okay in small groups, or on the radio, but in front of large groups, I get horrific stage-fright.

I once did a charity performance of "Three Little Maids From School" (from the comic opera "Mikado" by W S Gilbert and A S Sullivan) in front of an audience of 750.

Myself and two other guys (one with a rather magnificent beard) - dressed as schoolgirls.

"Three little maids from school are we,
Pert as a schoolgirl well can be,
Filled to the brim with girlish glee,
Three little maids from school!"

And I sang the roll of 'Yum Yum'

"One little maid is a bride, Yum Yum,
Two little maids in attendance come,
Three little maids is the total sum,
Three little maids from school!"

I have suffered with such unreasonable "stage fright" all my life. It was always the most terrifying experience for me growing up. I have somewhat gotten over most of it but it is still an issue. I could NEVER do Karaoke even to this day. I would be so terrified that I would lose the ability to think, have difficulty breathing, have difficulty speaking, heart racing out of control.