Sort of invited to give a "lecture" on Nikolai Gogol

As part of my attempt to flee to mother Russia :/

Well, it is not a done deal yet. It won't be an actual lecture anyway, more of a sort of presentation, but may go on for a bit more than an hour.

-Have you ever given this sort of presentation/lecture in front of an audience? (i think it will be less than 100 people, but i am not sure currently cause it is not agreed upon yet).

You can also offer suggestions if you have some experience in this kind of public event :\

(Gogol was one of the greatest european writers of all time, and a towering figure of Russian (and Ukrainian) literature).

I gave a 20 minute presentation in front of an audience of approximately 50 people once.
I was really, really nervous minutes before I went up. However, I began confidantly, my voice sounded loud and authoratitive and that multipled my confidence in turn. Begin as you intend to proceed.

The greatest point in my favour was my faith in the material I was presenting. I had thoroughly researched everything so it gave me belief. By the end I was enjoying myself and I destroyed the Q+A.

Do your prep work ahead of time. Putting the effort to make sure your speech flows when you say it, as opposed to when you merely read it, and getting much of it memorized will pay off. Do multiple dry runs.

The most frequent problem I see with novice public orators is going too fast. Take your time and remember to breathe. Try to listen to yourself when doing the speech and be prepared to slow yourself in the middle. Going slow is vastly preferable to going too fast. It may pay to tape your dry runs to see how your cadence comes out.

Take a little time to get comfortable with the microphone. It isn't always easy to find the right distance from the mic and many people will get too close which leads to an annoying feedback. Depending on the location of the speakers, you might not be able to tell if you're creating feedback for the audience.

If you are speaking without a mic then get comfortable with projecting your voice. Keep your throat open and speak form your diaphragm rather than just the top of your lungs. With proper projection you should be able to be heard without shouting. Being too loud is preferable to being too quiet.

Is there a visual competent to your presentation? If you are using Power Point or slides then consider the Rule of Sevens: Seven points per slide, seven words per point. Do not read your slides but instead have your speech compliment your slides and vice versa. Avoid spending time looking at your slides because you want to face the audience.

For notes, I prefer index cards to other forms of notes. With index cards you can hold them up so you can read them while still facing your audience. If you had a paper copy of you speech on a podium then you will look down to read the speech which will close up your throat and cause you to loose eye contact with your audience. A note card, instead, can be moved to the top of the podium so this happens less, or your can hold it in your hand. You'll want to get your presentation down pat enough that your notes are there for you to be reminded of your speech, rather than reading off it. You may want to try note cards versus an actual speech on paper to see what works for you.

Other than that, just follow your Nose.