Control your nervousness by focusing on the wire mesh over the microphone?

Everyone has advice about public speaking. One unusual source I found recently was Edward J. Darby & Sons, who provide wire mesh in Philadelphia. In a blog post on May 24th they suggested that instead of imagining the audience naked you should take a deep breath and concentrate on the woven wire mesh covering the microphone. That might help if it takes your mind off being nervous.

They didn’t say what to do if your microphone instead has a foam shield. The Shure and Sony microphone images came from Wikimedia Commons.