I'm fed up with practice, practice, practice

I've just been watching a video analysis on how Steve Jobs presents. At the end the trainer says the oft repeated advice "practice, practice, practice". It's advice you will get from hundreds of people offering advice on presenting and public speaking.
The problem with that advice it is two fold -

1) if you are not careful you create an overly slick and polished performance which the audience doesn't connect with, which is waste of all time for everyone involved. The audience wants to be able to see a real person. The previous blog entry has more on this.

2) more importantly, UNLESS you deal with your fear of being in front of people, practicing doesn't make it go away. In fact it can create more fear. It can lock it in. We don't need to practice being frightened. (Can you hear me ranting and growling as I react to that video?)
We frighten ourselves enough already - when we churn forthcoming presentations over and over in heads.
So the advice should be about learning how to be the centre of attention with ease. Then we can be ourselves and great presentations are far more possible. We need to get use to and enjoy being in the moment with our audience and creating a powerful experience for both the audience and us. And its simpler than it sounds!

Grrrr - rant now over.

PS Of course you can practice - now I've had 24 hours since watching the video to mull it over.
But its a different form of practicing - getting used to being in the moment, letting go of all the stuff that gets in the way, practicing being with one person at a time when you are public speaking, practicing getting used to being the centre of attention etc.
That does take practice. But its a practice about allowing, relaxing, letting go. And in the end that gives you a lot more possibilities than just locking in the fear.