Most people are afraid to speak before large crowds. This is even intensified when these crowds are made up of people who they do not know. Something that may be helpful is to get out and meet some of the members of your audience so you will recognize them while speaking to the group.

If you want to be a great public speaker, you must learn how to have good audience contact. You can't be too tied to your notes or else you'll appear unnatural and your audience will loose interest. "If I just look out at the audience, isn't that good enough?" you may say.  No, a blank stare into the sea of people will not connect you with anyone.

So how do you maintain good audience contact? The trick to doing this is to not look at the crowd as a group. Rather pick out certain individuals and say a sentence or two to them from your notes, then move on to the next person. If you rove your eyes from left to right, picking out those who have smiles on their faces or who have a pleasant look it will be easier to engage them. These individuals will help you calm your nerves and you'll be more relaxed and focused on what you have to say. It does take practice to get good at the use of your notes or preferably an outline and maintaining audience contact sequentially, but you'll get it. Start by picking out someone from the right side of the room. Move to someone in the middle, then move to the left. This helps you get on a one on one basis with the entire audience. Just don't stare at someone too long. You don't want them to get the feeling that you're trying to make a point exactly to them. This will make them uncomfortable and probably very unreceptive to what you have to say.