Overcoming stage fright

The fear of giving a speech in public is the greatest of our fears, they say. Here's a way to cope, from J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, in her commencement address at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association in June 2008:

"Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

"You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ‘gay wizard’ joke, I’ve come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step to self improvement."

Forget about imagining the audience members sitting in their underwear. Just realize they won't remember a thing you say.