I like a lot of the suggestions here and you can certainly know that you're not alone. I too have had to take public speaking classes and it was not my favorite thing, since I'm bit of a shy introvert. Let me add another strategy which you could consider trying: pretend you're an actor giving a performance, that way, the audience is listening to and viewing the actor and not you. Take it a step further, imagine you have a favorite actor, say it's Tom Hanks. Just imagine, if you were Tom Hanks, how would he deliver a speech? I'm not suggesting doing a complete impersonation of Tom Hanks (or whoever you like as an actor or actress). I'm just saying, try to pretend you're a confident, graceful actor. That's an idea, act as if you're confident, until that confidence finds you. If you have some time before you take your public speaking class, say an affirmation several times everyday, perhaps something like, "I'm am proudly a confident, intelligent, well spoken person who can give an excellent speech." I say various affirmations everyday, regarding different areas of my life I want to improve and this method does do some good, as there's evidence to me and family/friends that I'm changing for the better.