"I'm Not Sure What You Just Said, But Your Pants Don't Match Your Tie"

Throughout my career I have taken a number of leadership development courses. Some of these courses were voluntary on my part and others were required for advancement within the organization. I have also taken a few presentation classes that have allowed me to polish my speaking and presentation skills. The more classes I took, the more I began to realize a common thread when it came to giving and making presentations before a group. The common thought by most of the participants in these courses was that the only presentation skills that really mattered were what you had to say during your presentation. In other words, there existed a belief that the message, the speaker’s knowledge and his or her level of expertise was the most critical, highly ranked component of any speech or presentation. In other words, this was how the presenter would be judged. This same belief seemed to also account for the high level of nervousness that most of us experience when speaking to an unfamiliar group. We are so conce
ed that we are being judged solely on our words and knowledge, that we have a fear of not being able to convey these thoughts to the point that everyone will criticize us for our lack of knowledge or expertise. While the message and content is an extremely important component of any successful speech or presentation, there is another side to great communication and it involves the non-verbal aspects of the art of speaking.

There have been studies conducted that have determined that when broken down into percentages the highest percentage of what your audience remembers is the way you present your message; not what you are actually saying. The second highest percentage is how you verbally deliver your message, for instance your tone, the inflection in your voice and how well you project. Lastly, and the lowest percentage of what your audience remembers is what you in fact have said; your intended message.

Alright back to the Presidential debate. When the debate started, I though I might run a small experiment of my own. I asked my wife to give me her opinion about who she would most likely vote for in the next presidential election based on the candidates that were involved in the debate. Throughout the debate, I asked her what she thought of each candidate as they presented their arguments to the questions that the moderator asked them. She decided on candidates based heavily on how they presented themselves for their dress, posture and mannerisms. She said they looked Presidential. The more she listened, she began to eliminate the ones that carried themselves well, in her opinion, but did not sound presidential. Their tone did not elicit confidence in their message. When the debate finally concluded I asked her who had the strongest overall message, she said she wasn’t sure because she hadn’t listened that closely to their actual message. I thought it was amazing how closely her un-biased opinion followed that of the academic world.

I told this story to an author friend of mine who has written a number of excellent books on managing careers and developing leadership skills, and she agreed that this response was accurate. The way we dress for a presentation sets the instantaneous feeling about the way we are perceived by our audience. She made the point that we should always dress above what we anticipate the situation to call for. In other words, we can always remove the tie, but we can never really put one on once we enter the room and discover everyone is wearing one. If it is a more formal business presentation, the blazer with the khaki pants will not work; you have to wear a suit that is coordinated. This will set the tone about how you organize yourself, and the discipline that you have for yourself. This will carryover to your audience and flow back to you in the form of respect as a speaker and ultimately a leader.

So to summarize, if you have a message to deliver or a presentation to make, obviously take the necessary steps to properly prepare for the event. This is critical, but also realize that is just as important or possibly more important on how you present yourself, and the passion you have for the subject you are presenting. Your audience will listen to your message once you gain their attention and respect through well developed non-verbal qualities.