I have to third (fourth?) the no-lawyer take, I've certainly been part of some litigations with and without attorneys- the majority of judges, at least in VA/NC, will generally help an HONEST, RESPECTFUL, and CONCISE pro-se defendant, at least with process.
I think the right tack's been outlined here, it's just keeping your cool, saying what you need to say, and staying focused.
Most judges know smokescreen a mile off.
He warned you for something incorrectly?
Judge: "Sounds totally reasonable to me, the officer thought it was a problem but wasn't 100% sure on the law, so he didn't ticket you. He probably wouldn't have issued the warning if there was nobody around." Score one for the officer, and you haven't even talked about the ticket yet.
He told you a speed limit existed that you weren't aware of?
Judge (now annoyed) "And whether he should or should not have issued that ticket, he did not, again showing you leniency in the field. It sound like you're lucky to walk in here with ONE ticket. I've heard enough."
Avoid those issues like the plague.
Officer: "I observed him at what I believed to be a complete stop."
You: "I probably did go under the 28 miles per hour on the citation at some point, but in my effort to recover from my own stupid mistake of running nearly out of gas, since traffic was very light, I coasted down to about that speed, then accelerated back up."
<somebody says something about minimum speed>
"You know, the officer mentioned that, and I hadn't heard of it, so I looked it up. Turns out he was 100% correct that there is a law, but it stipulates when posted, so he was correct in not issuing that citation. But I certainly learned something from it."
More advice is probably overkill here, though, I just have trouble not jumping in.
Jon