Before you speak to an audience consider the clothes that you’re going to wear. Of course there might be a situation where you’re just giving a presentation to your team, so you would wear what you would normally at work. But if you can, and it’s appropriate to do so, try to dress smartly when you present.
What would be advisable is for us to dress at the level of the audience that we’re speaking to or dress slightly better than they might be. A suit for a guy or a smart dress for woman adds a certain sharpness and authority to what you’re doing. If you look and act the part, you can also become the part too.
The audience will be thinking:”if the speaker’s put that much effort into our they look, then they must know what they’re talking about.”
You may have noticed that people will react to you differently if you’re smartly dressed as opposed to being casual. People are conditioned to behave in a certain way. Not only that but if you’re speaking to managers then you’ve got to be a dressed at their level in order for them to take your message seriously.
2 comments
Very true.
I remember talking to a friend from Toastmasters about a speech contest where he was a judge. Both speeches were equally as good but the contestant that got his vote was the one who dressed up.
James
blog.jvf.com
Author
Absolutely. I heard a similar thing about someone who lost out at a contest that I was in. He was dressed, I guess, smart casual. Nice shirt, but he wore jeans. He lost valuable points because of it.
Whoever you’re speaking to you have to find ways of connecting to them and dressing appropriately helps.
thanks for stopping by James.