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What Should a Speaker Wear in 2023?
What should a speaker wear in 2023? As we continue to emerge from the pandemic and find our way back into public spaces and onto public stages, we find ourselves in a different world in terms of dress. During the pandemic, the workers who were fortunate enough to work from home seemed to mostly wear comfortable clothes, or pajamas. At least, as far as we could see.
I’m going to go out on a limb, or sleeve, here and suggest that pajamas are not the right look for a keynote speaker. That’s an easy call, but what about the rest of it? There are so many choices, and so many aspects to consider, that speakers could be pardoned for thinking that picking one’s outfit is (almost) the toughest part of the gig. Here are several guidelines to help you in your choice.
First, dress slightly better than the audience. This is an easy guideline to start with. You are on stage, you are the expert, the cynosure of the entire audience, and quite possibly a role model. So, you certainly don’t want to look worse — or more casual — than the audience, because that can be received as a message of lack of care or of not taking the event seriously.
A little bit of research will tell you how the audience is likely to be dressed. Ask the meeting planners, consult the style guide of the company or industry if there is one, and check out the weather at the…
