How would you prepare yourself for an oral business presentation?

Delivering a formal presentation can be either fairly stress-free or nerve-wrecking. Your level of comfort can depend on the size of your audience, the critical spectators attending your presentation, or the feedback that you may anticipate. Whatever you may find as a cause for concerns about speaking before a group, never let it be your knowledge about what you will speak. With thorough and effective research about your subject, you will discover that you are already halfway prepared to address your listeners. The following steps can complete your preparation.
1 Study your subject. You may have already been provided great information from which you could pull. But if there are other sources, such as the Internet or experts, use them to enhance your own insight. Doing so can also help you develop more confidence in your speech. 

2 In the comfort of your own study lab (wherever that may be), anticipate all types of responding questions from people in your audience: challenging questions, critical questions, crazy questions, and simple questions (the ones which are so simple that you forgot to prepare an answer for). Equip yourself with facts and insight accordingly. For enlightenment on people's views, I have read several message boards and even complaint sites to help me prepare for the unexpected.
If your presentation is non-interactive, do not take that for granted. You can still be approached with questions after your speech or after the event where you gave it. 

3 Organize the notes from which you will speak. Whether typed or handwritten, you must be able to comprehend them in order to convey them to an audience. So, if you jot your notes down on index cards, write legibly.
Also, bind the notes - paper or cards - that you plan to use during your presentation. Dropping loose papers or cards during your speech should not distract an attentive listener, but it can certainly distract you, the speaker. Make your task a tad bit easier on yourself alleviating the possibility of that problem. 

4 If you decide to speak with the aid of a Power Point presentation, bear in mind how you will insert information to be displayed. Don't expect an audience to read lengthy sentences or any paragraph - no matter how much time they are given.
By all means, do not prepare yourself to read every word written on that Power Point. The audience does not need to see the back of your head. They don't need to hear your voice drift into a state of monotony, which is what can happen if you read word-for-word from your notes. 

5 Practice your presentation in private and be willing to be your own biggest critic. Grab a tape recorder or any recording device to listen to your own speech.

6 As I expressed above, approach the podium with a solid knowledge base about every point your will discuss.

7 Please do not imagine your audience in their underwear. You need to focus. If eye contact with any of those listeners intimidates you, then look just past the last row of people to land your sight on either some empty seats or the wall. There are corners of walls and other inanimate objects where you can place your focus until you find yourself comfortable enough to make brief eye contact with a few friendly or neutral faces.

8 Remember that the last row of listeners need to hear your voice. Unless you have a reliable microphone, be sure to project.

9 Do not overestimate your listeners' attention spans. Keep their interest. Give your tone some range (logical range, that is). And wherever your subject and the points from which you speak will allow, engage your audience with illustrations which they can relate to.

10 Please impose neither overly technical terminologies nor acronyms on your audience. While these expressions of intelligence seem effective, they actually reflect a lazy effort to communicate detailed and comprehensible information to listeners.

11 Remember that, at this point, there should be no reason to lose confidence. If you've studied your subject, grasped a clear understanding of it, and followed the tips above, you have the tools to conquer any sharp sensation that you may feel in the pit of your gut going before any group.