Each Christmas Eve, my children all settle in around me as I sit to read Clement Moore's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'. It's a Public Speaking moment I look forward to every year.

Reading the written word aloud is a special part of the fear of Public Speaking that doesn't get a lot of attention. In fact, it may be a core aspect of the fear, dating back to the days we were asked to read sentences from the board, or religious passages in church classes, or give the dreaded oral book report.

The Christmas holiday provides a reason for two speakers, Rich Hopkins and Denise Graveline. to offer helpful advice on interpretive reading. Both provide audio examples.

Hard to add much to what's already here. It's a timely message and a creative way to learn from it. Found posted on Twitter by John Zimmer (@ZimmerJohn).

Just checked Kate's Voice, a blog mentioned in Denise Graveline's year-end wrapup. This one is a "blog about voices: using them, freeing them…and hearing them." The posts look pretty good. If you're interested in developing your voice, you may want to visit, too.

You may not like to speak in public. You may fret over your delivery, voice, outfit, the lighting. Or perhaps you're a happy speaker, ever willing and comfortable. But when your topic or subject creates the difficulty, you're facing the great equalizer, the challenge that might thwart both the confident and the shy speaker.

And the definition of "tough topic" rests with you, the speaker. It may be tough for you personally--the eulogy of a parent who's died, or the toast to a child on her wedding day. It may be tough for you as a speaker, if you face a contentious topic or audience that might explode, or if you're especially nervous. Tough can be a momentary but pointed political debate, an argument impossible to win, your nerves about the topic, the circumstances of the day and more. So how to plan and prepare? Here are five ways to take the plunge:

Here's some valuable advice for speakers with a tough topic to deal with. (I remember hearing a few Toastmasters presentations in which the speakers had precisely this challenge.) Click through for five suggestions from Denise Graveline.

4. We aren't emotionally connected to what we're saying. We may be reciting a report or going through a scripted talk we've given dozens of times in the past, and our lack of excitement results in non-stop, often monotonal diatribe that leaves the audiences as bored as we are.

I've copied only the fourth reason, the implications of which stun me. Click through for five more reasons (and some fine analysis) from Rich Hopkins.

More from Rich on this topic.