MYTHS ABOUT PUBLIC SPEAKING

It's important to look at each person for 3 seconds (or any other specific number of seconds) while I speak.
This leads to robotic speeches and presentations. Instead of counting the seconds, learn to feel the audience and sense when it's helpful to shift your focus.

If I can just get rid of my anxiety, I'll be fine.
You might feel fine, but it's likely you'll also be flat. When you try to dull anxiety, this either makes it worse or it tends to dull all feelings. A presentation without feeling might as well just be a report on paper. One key is learning how to welcome and make use of the energy that you experience as anxiety. 

Here's an article which references good research on dealing with performance anxiety.

Here's a good TED Talk that addresses the significance of how we view and deal with stress.

The realities of what leads to effective public speaking are more nuanced than in the study or TED Talk, but the principles are worth understanding. Here’s an article I wrote about one key aspect of intense public speaking or performance anxiety.

It helps to imagine the group with their pants pulled down.
This could help if you hold people in too high esteem, or if your goal is to talk to a bunch of half-naked people. But instead of doing this, try focusing on what matters to you and your audience. If you're not sure what that is, figure it out. It will make it much easier for the people you're talking with to follow you.

If I pause, or slow down, I'll lose the group's interest.
A well-timed pause, or just about any pause in which you're present, tends to draw an audience closer to you. It makes them wonder what you're thinking, what you’re going to say next. And their curiosity is a good thing. Talking quickly often makes an audience feel like you don't really want to be there.

If I prepare, I won't be spontaneous.
This is half true: there are better and worse ways to prepare. But if you learn to prepare in ways that really work for you, it leaves you open to responding to what is happening in the moment. And that engages an audience.