1. Pick your topic and do research. Choosing a topic that you can talk about comfortably and with easy knowledge is extremely important. If this is a school presentation then maybe you won’t get this freedom but for any other kind of speech choose a topic you think will resonate well with the audience. Also research. Dew it. It's good to have some helpful facts at your fingertips, plus it sounds impressive.

2. Write it out. As well as you can think on your feet and come up with a steller speech on the spot, if you can, it's good to write out what you're going to say. It doesn’t have to be verbatim, and in fact it's better if it's not. Note cards are a great way to go because you can list out your main talking points and go from there. If you do write it out fully, don't read it, make sure to present it. 

3. Practice. In front of a mirror, your toilet, the family goldfish, practice reciting your speech out loud. Get used to the way it sounds in your mouth and know what comes next in your speech. This way if you lose your spot you don’t freeze, but can continue talking as you find it.
Well those are the main points, now here are things to help you out even more.

3.5 A powerpoint is an amazing tool to help you organize your speech and say it with confidence. It also gives visual bits to the audience and having funny google images pictures does help keep things interesting. Just remember not to write your speech on the slide, just bullet things.

4. Add wit and humor. Obviously this depends on the event but in general it's ok to crack a joke or two. Self deprecating humor, in my opinion, works quite well. One of those “you even listened to me blaber on for four minuets now so, you're all really amazing” and a quick, “please help yourselves to anything at the buffet, but no one touched that pasta salad ok? That's all mine.” It helps break up the somber, or emotional tension in your speech and sometimes makes the sincere part that much more touching.

5. Sarcasm. I love sarcasm. Make sure you let the audience know, by your voice, that you're being sarcastic or pretend to be annoyed at the achievements or support by the person you're speaking about. “That mrs beavis man, always laughing. Anytime of day she’s laughing you can hear her coming a mile away with that gawfau.” As long as the sarcasm is wrapped up in a nice and appreciative way it works really well.

6. PAUSE. Are you fast talking or get nervous on stage? write PAUSE in your speech to remind you to slow down. Sometimes a silent moment before switching topics, finishing a thought, or letting laughter die out , is really beneficial to yourself and the audience. Pause for dramatic effect or emphasis. “During zoom we would constantly be interrupted by… the cats.”

7. Gestures and movement. Dead Christmas tree arms are not exciting or engaging. Loosen up. Move from your elbows and wrists around. Twist your head to look at different sections of the audience. If nothing else, make facial expressions! Smile, show sincerity, scrunch up your face in mock annoyance. All of this will help your audience better understand what you're saying and help you connect with them better. 

8. Delivery. Important! Almost more important than everything else on this list. How will you say it? How will you make it sound engaging and get all your points across? 

8.1 Do not use a drone voice. Use an echoing belly voice. Imagine the sound waves you produce. Don’t make it a flat line. You're aiming for peaks and valleys the entire time.

8.3 If it's a toast at a wedding and you're telling a story of how the two love birds met, act out the bride and groom with voice differentiation. If it's a graduation speech, speak with elegance and grace to impress the parents. If it's a history presentation, use volume to emphasize points and articulate names of important things. 

8.5 All this keeps the listener engaged. If it's a sincere message, augment the gratitude in your voice, maybe slow down for the “we thank you so much” bit. 

8.7 If you're explaining a specific key concept that your entire speech is based around, pause more often and be as articulate as possible. Treat it more as a conversation than a lecture to keep it interesting. 

9. Relax. Getting up in front of a bunch of people (or virtually, whichever) can be very nerve wracking. Best thing to do is take five deep breaths before you start. Clear your head of all doubt and focus on your steller delivery. Set a goal of nailing a specific paragraph or driving home the main point. Its ok if you mess up too! How you recover is what counts. 

And, if you ever drop all your note cards right before your presentation always say. "And thats why you always number your notecards everyone! You've been warrned."