It's been said that the number one fear in the world is public speaking. This means that more people would rather die than get up in front of someone and speak. While you might be one of the people that feel this way, you don't have to be forever.

Developing confidence in public speaking can be done with a few tricks. While it won't be easy right away, you can develop the confidence you need to succeed.

The first thing that you need to realize is that speaking in public isn't inherently a problem for you. You might think that you were just born to be nervous in front of people, but this isn't possible. The fear of speaking in front of others was learned by watching someone else.

You got to thinking and the next thing you knew, you were nervous in front of a crowd. Just realize that because it isn't ingrained in your being, you can overcome it.

After you realize this, the next thing that you need to know is that it's all about perception. Shakespeare once said that "Nothing is either good or bad. Our thinking makes it so."

This means that while public speaking might be the most terrible thing in the world for one person, the public speaker in the next room is making a lot of money at it. It's all in the perception that you hold.

If you believe that you're going to fail miserably and be embarrassed in front of hundreds of people, you will be. However, if you believe that you're going to get up there and wow the audience with your presentation, there's a good chance that you'll do that as well.

Developing confidence in public speaking is all about feeling. If you feel nervous before you go on stage, you'll probably stutter and stammer your way through the speech. However, if you feel like a conqueror, a world-beater, that can teach these people something valuable, you will probably deliver a great speech.

A great trick that has been used to overcome fear of public speaking is a visualization technique. Think of a time where you felt totally comfortable talking to other people. Everyone can hopefully find at least one example in their life. It doesn't have to be in front of a lot of people. Maybe you were just sitting around and had a great talk with your friends.

Now picture this image as vividly as possible. Remember what was going on in the background, the smells, sounds, etc. Now recreate that feeling in your self right now.

Now picture yourself in front of an audience with that same feeling of confidence. Transposing the feeling of confidence onto the task at hand will make it much more do-able. You'll be able to speak with confidence in front of large groups.

When you're preparing your speech, remember to keep it short and sweet. You normally only need two or three main points for a good speech. Any more than that and people will start to lose interest.

Don't build your speech up to be this gigantic thing in your mind. Just keep it simple and you will be greatly rewarded with a new feeling of confidence in public speaking.