Hi Pix, lots of great advice here! I must confess, I've never done an open mic as such, but I have learned a few pretty good pointers from having the awesome good fortune of doing tons of gigs (everything from high school dances, to wedding receptions, to bars, to street festivals, to nursing homes), with various configurations of players, since I started a band with my three brothers back in 1970. There are so many good pieces of advice to be offered and incorporated, but I've also found that it can be sort of like trying to simultaneously implement all the little things you're supposed to remember as you're about to take a swing at a golf ball-- trying to do that often leads to a blown shot. So I've always felt it's best to try and keep just one primary thing in mind when it comes to musical performances: Practice until you know your songs so well that performing them is as easy and second-nature for you as the simple act of just walking out there and playing, for instance, a C major chord on your uke. I always think to myself, "Hey, I know I would have absolute confidence in my ability to go out there and simply strike a C chord; well, I'm not going to go out and perform this song until I've practiced it to the point that I can do it flawlessly from start to finish with that same second-nature confidence!" In other words, don't try performing a song if you still have that little voice in the back of your mind wondering, "Dang, am I going to be able to pull this off?" In short, "knowing your stuff ridiculously well" constitutes the foundation on which everything else stands. If you can come in to the gig with that kind of confidence in the songs you've chosen, everything else will fall into place; if you still feel squeamish about a particular song, leave it at home and look forward to taking it to the woodshed in the days ahead until it, too, is ready to perform with second-nature confidence. I hope this helps a little!