Ways to relax when speaking to people?!

Ways to relax when speaking to people?

What are some ways to relax and sound confident. I am a shy person who gets nervous around strangers.

5 days ago
I mean in everyday life as well.

In the Air Force, we have to go through leadership courses. Part of these courses are giving speaches. We go through three of these courses in our career. The first time I went though, we had 3 speaches to give. I remembering being nervous and just babbled whatever to fill the requirements. it wasn't like I really knew anything, I just got up there and spoke for a few minutes. I didn't look around, or anything, I just stared off. I see others do that, it makes a boring speech.
The second time, it happened by accident, but we had 4 speeches to do. The first wasn't graded, but you went up and talked about a subject. The second time, I made an unintentional joke, but people laughed, so it made me feel more comfortable. So the next two speeches I did, I tried to put a little humor in it, but also if you seem to know what you are talking about, people will listen. It was that that gave me confidence.

If you are talking in front of strangers, treat them like they are your friends. You have to get up in front of them, and they have to sit there and listen to you. So, you can use that to your advantage, but you have to look like you know what you are talking about. If you um and aw, then you will lose your audience, and then you will be more nervous, because they will make you more uncomfortable. If you treat them like they are all friends, then you can be more at ease with them, and relax. At least, it worked with me.