What not to Wear for Presentations

Ladies, we need to talk. I’ve been to many seminars over the years and there is nothing more heartbreaking and annoying than to see a woman mess up her speech because of her choice of clothing. We all want to look our best, especially when we’re one of the speakers.

Please take the time to consider if your choice in clothes helps your speech or detracts from it. Below is a list of mistakes I’ve seen. Review it and make sure that the next time you speak your audience doesn’t walk away remembering your distracting outfit rather than your fantastic speech.

Noisy Jewellery

There is nothing more annoying to an audience member than a speaker wearing noisy jewellery. If your bracelet jingles or your earrings jangle, don’t wear them to a speech. A speaker needs to be dynamic and make gestures to illustrate his or her points. If your jewellery is noisy, that’s all the audience hears. We sit in our chairs concentrating on your jewellery. It’s simply distracting. So when you choose your jewellery, move around in every which direction to see if it creates any distracting noise. If it does, make a different selection.

Unprofessional Dress

This goes for both men and women. Speaking in front of a group, whether it’s your peers, superiors or strangers, is an honour. You should always be dressed at least one “notch” higher than your audience. If the meeting is casual, dress business-casual. If the meeting is business-casual, dress in full business attire. If you are speaking to a group, you are the expert on your topic, and so should be dressed as such.

Uncomfortable Shoes

Be good to yourself and save your feet from unnecessary pain. If you are going to be speaking for any length of time, don’t wear your tallest, thinnest heals. Find something that’s appropriate but comfortable. If you’re constantly thinking about your feet when you’re speaking, something is wrong. I would suggest flats if you can get away with it.

I’m pretty short and find my confidence is higher if I have some heals on because it changes the way I walk. But they’re not too high that it kills my feet. I have actually seen a woman get up and speak for a forty-minute presentation, and after the first ten minutes grabbing a seat and saying, “I hope you don’t mind if I sit down, these shoes are killing me.” I spent the next five minutes picking my jaw off the floor.

An Extra Tip

If you ever give a presentation that is being recorded for future use, do not wear heavily patterned clothes. The patterns will be distracting because the camera will have a hard time picking them up.