I once went to a New Years Dinner near DC, and the dinner was full of political types, and I got a hot tip about dealing with certain kinds of performance anxiety. I was seated next to a woman who had spent her career as a nurse, and she had been called several times to testify before Congress regarding the way changes in Medicare might effect patient care. She said she learned that when she entered the Congressional hall, the lights and cameras were overwhelming, so she learned to take something to read, a magazine or perhaps any prepared statement she had, and she would hold it before and concentrate on it, keeping it down, and keeping her head down. She focused on the paper instead of focusing on the cameras. She would walk past the cameras that way. When she got to the table where she would sit, all the lights and cameras were behind her. Then she would look up at the Senators, but the Senators themselves were usually friendly, and they seemed like normal humans, so she felt less fear when facing them.