Some weeks ago I wrote a post named Keynotes about my hunt for the perfect dress to wear for a seminar where I was giving a keynote speech. The seminar was last week and I managed to remember everything I’d been taught about performing in front of an audience and how to engage listeners. I was beyond thrilled after my performance. I was so sure I’d freeze once I climbed on the stage and try to sound official and be fake when it’s always far better to be yourself.
What actually helped me was that I messed up with the slide change remote in the very beginning and then stumbled on some words during the company presentation as I’m actually not used to giving presentations in my native tongue! I had no choice but to laugh at myself and crack a small joke. Then I gathered myself and got back on track, relaxed as I could not mess up my performance any worse than I already did and managed to be myself, energetic, engaging and passionate about my topic, “Leading with Business Intelligence and Analytics”.
I decided to wear a not so  fitted Wallis dress in strong colors and high heeled ankle boots. It actually matters a great deal what you wear and how your hair and makeup looks because speaking in front of a couple hundred business decision makers is already out of most peoples’ comfort zone, even if they are lively and like to speak.
It’s so different speaking inside one’s own business organization than it is in front of complete strangers as a representative of your organization. Had I not looked what I considered my best, I would have felt far more nervous and a tad uncomfortable on stage.
My hair actually went all flat and looked nothing like it did when I left home in the morning. There was a lot of humidity in the air, and the moisture killed my curls, but it looked like it does normally so it only managed to slightly dampen my mood before I forgot about it and pushed on! Twenty minutes before my stage time I was still frantically learning my key point for each slide and memorizing the order of the slides– without the last minute, I would never get anything done 🙂 !!!
