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Measure has two different meanings in this context. The first has to do with taking measure of your audience. Are they reacting the way you expected them to react to your speech? Are they paying attention? Are they engaged? Measuring the success of your speech is the second form of measure. What did people say after the speech was completed? What can I learn from this experience?

Taking measure of the audience

Look at the audiences verbal and non-verbal clues to determine how engaged they are. Consider the following tips from seasoned public speakers for adapting to your listeners if your audience seems inattentive or bored.

» Tell a story. In your preparation stage did you find a great    story that you could not use?
» Use an example to which the audience can relate.
» Use a personal example.
» Remind your listeners why your message should be of    interest to them.
» Eliminate some abstract facts and statistics.
» Use appropriate humor.
» Make direct references to the audience by using members’    names or by mentioning something specific about them.
» Ask the audience to participate by asking questions or    asking them for an example.
» Ask for a direct response, such as a show of hands, to see    whether they agree or disagree with you.
» Pick up the pace of your delivery.
» Pause for dramatic effect.

Measuring your success

In a business or wedding speech you normally have some friends that can provide some candid comments. Take the opportunity to ask them some questions. Try to avoid questions that will not give you constructive feedback like, “How did you think I did?” Rather,
frame the questions this way, “What could I have done better?” You will gain more valuable insight for your next speech.
Also take a personal critical assessment and ask yourself questions like:
What would I do differently the next time I give this speech?
What worked and what didn’t work?
Did I take more or less time than I thought I would?
What verbal or non-verbal distracting mannerisms did I use? (Note: Did I have too many “uhs” or “ums”? These usually occur when a speaker feels they must be speaking constantly. If one just replaces these “uhs” or “uhms” with a pause the speech will sound better.)

The key to successful public speaking is practice. Practice what it is you want to feel more confident about and eventually, the confidence will show itself. That makes sense if we're talking about a skill like playing the piano. With enough practice, you naturally begin to get good at it and then you feel more confident. But what about tougher things like public speaking or meeting new people? How do you practice something that you're terrified to do in the first place?

Keep doing it until you get really good at it. It doesn't have to necessarily be your career, but that would be fun for you if it was. Practice often and with complete joy. Lose yourself in it. That's part of overcoming self-confidence issues is forgetting to think about you. Swim laps at the pool until you forget to care how you look. Get lost in something other than analyzing yourself. Fall in love with some hobby that takes your mind away from what others might think of you. Just keep practicing something you love until you get really good at it. It's your hobby and your love, so don't make any judgments over whether or not it's stupid to like doing whatever it is that you like doing. Just get on with it.

Once you've learned something that well, you can begin stretching beyond your comfort zone and trying other things like public speaking. Okay so that might not happen right away, but once you've really mastered something, then you can always remind yourself that you are capable of success and you are capable of learning something new. Once you know that you can practice and learn new things, and then the fear of new things isn't nearly so immobilizing.