What's worked for me.

[Beany]

Hi people. I'm Beany.

Since I'm pretty new here I thought I'd share with you the method that has helped me no end in the past.
I've pretty much been a sufferer since I was about 15 (I'm 30 now). Being uncomfortable around people has also made it very difficult to find or keep a girlfriend.
Because of this I read a book called the game which was about a guy who was terrible with women actively working on his social skills until he became excellent with women. This inspired me to practice the same things that the guy practiced in the book, and boy it helped. Not just with women but with people in general.
I won't go into too much detail, but the essence of it that helped me was having a scripted conversation starter planned out. Because of this I had something to say to any complete stranger I wanted to talk to. My mind set was that I wasn't to care how the conversation went at all, but to simply blurt the words out and then see what happens.
At first I started with really easy things to say like asking the time, or asking where are good bars to go to etc, but as I got more comfortable I asked questions that were more likely to develop into a conversation.
After various amounts of practice I found that I was comfortable enough to start conversations with strangers about any topic that spontaneously entered my head. And let me tell ya, it's was such an awesome feeling to be able to do this.

Unfortionately my life circumstances has stopped me from being able to practice this on a regular basis, and I've pretty much reverted back to my old ways, but I aim to change my lifestyle so that I can practice it again.

 

[doesit]

I always noticed,when i start conversation with someone id be a bit anxious,but if it would start rolling after few minutes my anxiety would be gone and i could speak for ages ,i would say the key point is to keep attention on the other person instead of whats going on in your head.

 

[Qbmaster]

Talking to random strangers is probably going to make you more comfortable around people, but I'm not sure if it will actually cure SA. Starting a conversation is a skill that can be learned just like any other skill. Even if you can start a conversation with anyone and keep the conversation going for a couple of minutes, you can never be sure if the person you are talking to is really interested in what you are saying or if he/she just thinks you're an idiot. This doesn't mean that I don't think SA can be cured, I just think that it is more important to try to improve your self-confidence. When you start a conversation, don't think "I'm going to talk to this person to cure my SA" but instead "I'm going to talk to this person because it is a person I want to talk to and I think that he/she will enjoy talking to me" or even just "I am going to talk to this person"

 

[Beany]

Talking to random strangers is probably going to make you more comfortable around people, but I'm not sure if it will actually cure SA. Starting a conversation is a skill that can be learned just like any other skill. Even if you can start a conversation with anyone and keep the conversation going for a couple of minutes, you can never be sure if the person you are talking to is really interested in what you are saying or if he/she just thinks you're an idiot. This doesn't mean that I don't think SA can be cured, I just think that it is more important to try to improve your self-confidence. When you start a conversation, don't think "I'm going to talk to this person to cure my SA" but instead "I'm going to talk to this person because it is a person I want to talk to and I think that he/she will enjoy talking to me" or even just "I am going to talk to this person"

Sure. What I explained was the bare bones of what helped me, along with reading about and understanding social dynamics, etc.
To be honest at first I spoke to people because I wanted to improve, but after I got more comfortable I found I spoke to people because I wanted to.
Also I learned that it didn't so much matter what I was saying - so long as I spoke from a position of confidence, people listened and responded. If I talked about the price of paper in an enthusiastic way, people would be... enthused. A big part of it is forcing myself to project confidently and realising that when I do this people will respond positively instead of dismissing what I say.