Recently I wrote an article for ExpatWomenatwork (published on 3rd December 2015), targeting public speaking.
Here is an excerpt:
Public speaking varies enormously, depending on the kind of job, audience or speech: it might be a convention, where the speaker is invited to present a specific topic in front of an audience of his peers; or it may be a company meeting, where a professional has to give an analysis to his colleagues or to his superiors. A public speech is any kind of formal communication performed in front of a group of two or more people: a lecture, a presentation, a political address.
A public speech is like an athlete’s performance: the speaker’s professional preparation is not in doubt, but could still be affected by many psychological factors that, if uncontrolled, can cause mistakes or limit the success of that performance. These psychological factors are called mental skills. [...]