A key to high quality public speaking is to speak in front of a practice audience.
They will help you get the proper feel for speaking in front of people, can provide you with advice on how to improve your speech, and of course, help you to get over any fears of public speaking that you might have.
In order to get the maximum benefit from your practice audience, you'll need to follow a few rules: 1) Treat the practice audience like the real speech: You probably won't have as many people in your practice session as you will during the actual speech, many of them will be your friends rather than bosses, coworkers, or strangers, and you likely will be in your office or at your home rather than up on stage during your practice session.
In spite of all these differences, you need to treat your practice audience as if they are the real deal.
Act professional, go through your speech, and perform as closely as possible to how you will when it's time to give the speech.
2) Speak to people who have some idea of what you're discussing: It's tempting to limit yourself to just your family and close friends when practicing your public speaking, but unless you're giving a best man speech or other non-technical speech, you'll need to practice in front of people who understand the technical details found in your speech.
Get a few coworkers to listen as you practice your speech, and you'll be sure to get much better feedback, not only on your speaking style, but also on the content of your speech.
3) Be gracious to your practice audience: Unless part of their job description is listening to you give your practice speech, your practice audience is listening to you and providing feedback due to friendship or a desire to help you.
Keep this in mind, and be sure to thank your practice audience when they are done giving you feedback.
4) Anticipate, and answer, any questions your practice audience gives you: One of the best things speaking in front of other people can provide is questions you might not have considered before.
Ask your practice audience to come up with questions for you, and use them to improve your speech (or prepare for the sorts of questions you could face when actually delivering your speech, if the forum you are speaking in allows such questions).
The better you can anticipate your audience's questions and concerns, the better you can tailor your speech to their needs.
5) Be sure to be a good practice audience member: If you rely on friends or coworkers to serve as a practice audience to you, be sure to return the favor.
Listen carefully and professionally, try to be informed about the subject of the speech before you start, and ask questions to help the speaker improve his or her speech.
Being willing to help other people improve their speeches will make it more likely that they return the favor, helping you out with your speeches; and that would definitely be a good thing for your future speeches.
There you have it, ways to get the maximum advantage out of your practice audiences while public speaking, as well as being a great practice audience member yourself if the need arises.
Here's hoping you have a great time as speaker, and as an audience member, as well.