What to Wear When Giving a Presentation or Public Speaking
Public Speaking Attire
“What should I wear for my speaking engagement?” I’ve asked this question a lot and it makes me giggle because I have admittedly no fashion sense. My work-from-home uniform is a pair of black yoga pants and a t-shirt. Fun fact: I’ve never done yoga, so there’s that.
I will however tell you that when it comes to speaking I’ve learned a thing or two over the last fourteen years both through successful outfit choices and some serious wardrobe malfunctions. You're probably going to have a good giggle but hopefully I can help you avoid some of the wardrobe issues I have had while speaking.
Before we get into the nitty-gritty details about speaking attire, can I be upfront with you for a minute? Your outfit is not that important. Yes, you want to look presentable and be able to reuse the images for future marketing purposes. At the end of the day, your audience will not remember what you wore. They are going to remember how you made them feel, what you said, and the impact you made on their life and business. Give yourself a little grace when selecting your speaking outfit. It’s going to be just fine, friend.
*Prefer to listen to this content? Check out Episode #24 of the podcast where we discuss What to Wear for Speaking Engagements. Click here to check out that episode.
Feel good in your skin
When it comes to speaking it's important to feel comfortable and confident. You present your best when you feel good about yourself and are comfortable in your skin. This is obviously going to look a little bit different for all of us. While I feel great in yoga pants, that doesn't mean I'm going to give a keynote presentation in them. You should be going for a look that is both presentable and comfortable. You’re going to feel much more confident in front of an audience if you feel good about what you’re wearing.
My go-to speaking outfit:
While I love a good pair of yoga pants, my go-to speaking outfit is a dress with a belt. It’s what I feel most comfortable and confident in and the belt makes wearing a clip-on microphone easy for me and the tech team. Bonus points for pockets, obviously.
Consider Your Audience
You also want to consider your audience. Is this a conservative audience or are they a little more edgy? Even if it is an audience that is more edgy, you should still lean towards attire that is on the conservative side because you want to consider photos/video taken of you speaking. How you can possibly use this valuable marketing content in the future is something that you always want to keep in the back of your mind. Even if you're speaking at an event that's really fun and laid back, you should never squander an opportunity to market yourself in the best light for a possible future audience. Don’t dress in attire that might turn a future organizer off. It doesn't mean you can't throw in some fun colors or a great print, but make sure that you can still use these photos/video for the long haul.
Pro-tip for selecting your speaking attire:
Select an outfit in your brand colors with mostly solid print. This type of outfit will translate well to your marketing materials and be a timeless resource that you can use on your website for years to come.
Every Stage is Different
The stage and the setup of the room you’re speaking in is also going to impact the type of outfit that you wear. Make sure you are aware of the platform you’ll be speaking from. You definitely want to consider the length of your dress, skirt or shorts; whatever your bottoms might be.
Frequently you're speaking from an elevated stage and what you see in front of your mirror and from an elevated stage is from a very different point of view. When you’re trying on outfits, something might not seem very short, but when you are speaking on an elevated stage and somebody snaps a picture of you from that front row, that angle makes your attire look much shorter than it actually is.
If you haven’t experienced the “joy” of having someone share a photo from the front row of your speaking engagement on social media, you may not know just how a short modest length dress can look from the right (wrong) angle. I’m only 5’2” and dresses still look short from the wrong angle.
Pro-tip on the length of your dress:
If you’re in an auditorium-style room with the stage at the lowest point of the room you have a bit more flexibility with the length of your dress.. If you’re speaking on an elevated stage, stay safe with a dress that hits at or below the knee.
You also want to consider and factor in the lighting of the room. Things that are shiny or sheer do not always look right under certain lighting conditions. If things are super shiny and you have spotlight's on you, it can be a little blinding and distracting to audience members. Sometimes the flash of a camera can make a sheer material look see-through. Avoid strange materials that can do unpredictable things under different lighting or camera angles.
Additionally, I want to really encourage you to avoid heavy or layered jewelry, dangly earrings, stacked bracelets and necklaces that have a bunch of layers to them. They can make a lot of noise as you're moving around and that noise gets picked up easily by the microphone. You want people to hear your important message, not your horrible rendition of jingle bells, so make sure that you go light on your jewelry.
Pro-tip on wearing jewelry:
Less is always more when it comes to speaking. Select simple pieces that add to your outfit rather than distract from your message. If you’re wearing a clip-on microphone you may want to remove your necklace so that it doesn’t touch your microphone.
*Prefer to listen to this content? Check out Episode #24 of the podcast where we discuss What to Wear for Speaking Engagements. Click here to check out that episode.
Blazers and Brand Colors
Blazers are amazing speaking attire! Whether you're wearing a dress or wearing pants and a shirt, they are a fantastic option that will serve many purposes. Meeting rooms are often kept cold, however the stage lighting can sometimes make you sweat. Bringing a jacket or a little blazer allows you a layer that you can shed if you're getting hot.
What I also love about blazers is that they allow you to clip on your microphone really easy as well as hide your battery pack. No matter what you're wearing, you cannot go wrong with bringing a little jacket or blazer because they are also super cute.
You should also be wearing your brand colors. I mentioned earlier that we want to be aware of where the pictures generated from these photos ops could be used in the future. I would invest in some outfits that are classic, include your colors and that can be mixed and matched really easily. That way when you're having photos taken, they will look great on your website no matter what speaking event they are from.
Wardrobe Malfunctions
Once you've picked out that perfect outfit that you are so excited to speak in, please pack an extra one for wardrobe malfunctions. Trust me. I learned this one the hard way.
I was preparing to speak in Texas and I had packed a dress that I loved and I was so excited to wear it. It had a high neck line and zipped all the way up. I put on my dress and as I was getting ready to leave my hotel room when I bent over to pick up my bag and my zipper ripped open right in the middle. I was stuck in my dress!
I couldn't figure out how to get it off. I couldn't pull it over my head because the neck line was so high. I didn't know what to do. I was starting to panic. I almost had to call someone from the front desk to come to my room and help me get out of this it.
Thankfully, I wiggled my way out of the broken dress but not without breaking into a sweat and stressing all of the “what-ifs.” Thank goodness I had packed an extra outfit because I wasn't sure what the weather was going to be like. The extra pair of pants and a blouse I packed for possible colder inclement weather totally saved me from 6am stop at Walmart en route to my morning speaking engagement.
Always, always, always pack an extra outfit for speaking.
My personal choice for speaking attire is a dress because I hate adjusting pants when I sit up or have to stand. Pants are basically leg prisons. I prefer a dress, but specifically I want a dress with a waistband or a belt. The reason for this is it serves as something to easily clip on a microphone and battery pack onto without the audio/visual guy having to unzip my dress and clip it onto my bra, which can be a little awkward. By now we both know that I'm not good with zippers so if I can avoid them I will. After years of speaking engagements and a lot of media, I found that if I can make it easy for the tech/audio/visual team to work with me, it makes for a much more seamless and smooth experience for all of us.
The Right Shoes
One thing you might not be thinking about and I'm sure a lot of you ladies love is shoes. You probably have half a dozen pairs picked out that will go perfectly with the dress you just selected for the speaking engagement you’re preparing for. I used to have a great pair of heels that I loved to speak in and even had them in a few different colors.
What I started to find when critiquing my speaking footage is the clicking sound from those heels can be very distracting. Again, the best source for high quality footage for organizers who want to get a taste of our content is footage from previous speaking engagements. Do as much as you can to eliminate any distracting noises whether from jewelry or shoes. I have personally transitioned to flats or wedges for both comfort and cuteness as well as to help eliminate noise.
My new go-to are Rothy flats. If you haven't heard of them yet, they're amazing and they're made from recycled water bottles. They’re extremely comfortable when you're on your feet all day at a speaking conference and you can even throw them in the washing machine! They stretch and adjust to your feet. Having given a few presentations while being very pregnant and traveling, my feet really appreciated these.
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I hope this article has been helpful and gives you some valuable insight into what I think about while preparing for my speaking engagements. I am not a fashion blogger and have no advice on picking an outfit for you, but this is the practical knowledge that has really helped me make the most out of my wardrobe for speaking as far as how I can reuse photos/video from the event for my marketing materials while feeling most comfortable and confident at an event. There's no right or wrong way to do this, so do what feels good for you, but keep these things in the back of your mind.
It can’t hurt to say this again so here we go… your audience will not remember what you wore. They are going to remember how you made them feel, what you said, and the impact you made on their life and business. Give yourself a little grace when selecting your speaking outfit. It’s going to be just fine, friend.
Have you experienced any of these speaking wardrobe malfunctions? Tell me about it in the comments or share it on Instagram and tag me (@JessicaRasdall)
