by WonderGurl » Sun Mar 13, 2016 5:42 pm
Yes, I am a non native speaker. But my biggest struggle speaking in front of a bunch of strangers was never to do with the fact I was not a native speaker of English.
Obviously you need to prepare and memorise what you will say, but remember that nonverbal communication conveys most of the message, they reckon 60-90% depending on the situation. So, you might want to pay more focus to your body language and tone of voice rather than the actual speech.
You might find public speaking difficult for various other reasons other than being a non native speaker, though that can slightly increase your level of self consciousness. It's normal to feel nervous speaking before a crowd of people, but things like having prepared and practiced your speech in advance will give you increased confidence. Once you know what you will say, or even get your speech proof read for any grammatical errors, that should take some edge off the whole experience.