Dress For Your Presentation
Giving a presentation (especially your first presentation) can be very scary and intimidating, depending on who you are talking to. Dressing appropriately can do wonders for your confidence during a speech as well as make you look professional, or match the crowd you are speaking to.
If President Obama was giving a speech to a specific group of people who would dress differently than he normally would, it would be best for him to try and blend in as much as possible by wearing their native garments perhaps. This way, he would bring a sense of comradary to the group by looking like “one of them.”
Dressing for your presentation can be one of the hardest parts of it, especially if you do not know what your audience will be wearing. The first thing you should do when you decide or are asked to give a presentation is to note what the audience will be wearing.
If it is a suit and tie affair and you don’t have your suit back from the dry cleaners, you are going to have a problem on your hands. Make sure you plan ahead before the last minute so you can have the proper attire when it comes time to give your speech.
Being comfortable is probably the most important part of dressing for a speech, especially if you are nervous or a new speaker just getting into it.
Try to pick out comfortable clothes if you have the chance, wear your favorite polo and jeans if the talk is going to be casual, or get your suit fitted or adjusted so you are most comfortable in it.
It is really apparent when a speaker is uncomfortable in their clothes on stage. If your clothing looks out of place, messy, or like you are wearing uncomfortable clothes (if say, you are walking like a robot on stage) then your audience is going to cue into that and focus on your clothes or your look more than your speech.
The best thing to do when determining what to wear for a speech is to ask the host or person that asked you to speak. “Is this a casual talk or should I wear a suit and tie, I want to fit in and make sure I am looking like everyone else that will be there” is a great example of what you can ask to make sure you are going to fit in with the proper attire for your speech.
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Photo Credit: orcmid
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