After I had been introduced, I stood quite nearly frozen in fear in front of my audience of Toastmasters. I gazed out at the faces for what seemed to me for quite a long time. Then I took a quick breath and spoke the first few words of my very first speech. After that, it went quite well. Later that evening, a senior Toastmaster spoke with me and told me that the moment of silence before I began my speech was VERY effective and had been just long enough to draw the attention of my audience to what I was about to present.

I really think that the only one who knew the real reason for my moment of silence was me.

I try to remember that whenever I am up in front of folks.