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7 Reasons Why You Should Dress Sharp At Conferences - Men's Style Tips - Business Conference Advice
Hi! I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style. Today, I'm going to be giving
you seven reasons of why you should dress sharp for any conference you're going to.
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Okay, so the story goes back -- I follow a lot of people online and I saw there's this
big conference that's going to be happening, BlogWorld. I went back and I looked at the
pictures of everything that's going on in this conference, and this is a pretty laid
back conference, bloggers. They're not known for their style sense and all this stuff,
but I'm looking at all the pictures and there is a huge difference in the way people dress
at this conference.
You've got most people in t-shirts and jeans, which I guess is expected, and then there
were what appears to be the leaders are in suits and ties or execs from companies in
suits and ties, and then there are the other big guys in sports jackets and odd trousers
or jeans, and it just kind of struck me that wow, there's a whole generation of people
out there who they're not dressing sharp.
Of course, I can look around and see that, but I would think that even going out to a
conference like this, most people would realize that it's just smart to dress sharp. I understand
if you're trying to set yourself apart, that you're not going to be in another suit, but
when it comes down to it, look around. Everyone else is wearing this really bright t-shirt
that's yelling -- I mean, I was at South by Southwest and I saw everyone's wearing their
swag gear, which is really cool, but it's hard to stand out when everyone is wearing
these obnoxious, really loud t-shirts that it's just too much. And the people that stood
out to me were those that were well-dressed.
I'll just use my example of South by Southwest walking around in a sports jacket, nice dress
shirt, raw denim, western boots. The question and who I was mistaken for, I was mistaken
for a venture capitalist all the time because of maybe some of the pointed questions I'm
asking all these business owners just coming from a little bit of a business background
and I'm asking these things, but I thought that was a pretty good niche to kind of be
stuck into, is as a potential investor, not just another wannabe entrepreneur. And again,
there are tons of great entrepreneurs at South by Southwest, but most of the guys there are
-- everyone's just wanting to be around the energy and learn, and most people were really
dressed down and I thought dressing sharp was a big advantage.
The seven reasons:
1. Business is still business and you've got to put your best foot forward. So if I go
to a sports events concert and let's say there's a lot of professional football players there,
maybe professional cyclists, they're not going to show up in their athletic gear. I'm not
going to have football players running in their football pads, baseball players running
in their baseball uniforms. They're wearing suits and ties because they realize that that's
their gear. That's their uniform when they're on the field. When they're off the field,
when they're looking to put together sponsorship deals, when they're looking to make business
happen, they dress appropriately.
So a quick analogy, the New York Yankees, they wear pinstripes on the field because
it signifies business. And off the field, the smart Yankees, if you look at how a lot
of these guys dress when they go out, they dress for business because they realize their
business is their image. So again, pay attention. A conference is about people getting together
and finding ways to work with each other, and it's maybe an ugly word to some people,
but business, I think is beautiful when done right, done sustainably, done so they can
bring people jobs.
2. Face to face meetings are becoming less and less common, so when they do happen, they're
incredibly important. That kind of takes me back to this BlogWorld example. I realize
that a lot of these people, they've been living behind their computers because I do it, I
blog, and it's one of those things that now you're getting out and you're meeting all
these people for the first time, and it's not like you're having coffee with this person
every other day and they know what kind of a person you are.
For most people, this is the first time that they're getting to shake your hand and you're
going to form an image, an impression in their mind, and it's going to go over better if
you actually put a little bit more thought in your appearance. I'm not saying you have
to wear a suit. You can get creative in what you think is going to look sharp, but I can
tell you that a t-shirt and jeans isn't being very creative.
3. You want to live up to expectations, so a lot of these people that you're meeting
for the first time, if they're on the receiving end in terms of you're the blogger or you're
the person that let's say you've been working with them for business and they look at you
as like this expert, this person out there on top, you want to live up to those expectations,
and part of that is having the right image, putting across that you're a professional,
so don't blow this.
When they meet you, you don't want people walking away and saying, "Wow! That was him?
I wasn't impressed." That's not what you want. You want them saying, "Wow! He was just like"
or "She was just like I thought they were going to be." That's what you're shooting
for.
4. You're going to be meeting a lot of new people, people who have no idea who you are.
In that case, your clothing is going to set that first impression. They're going to make
an immediate judgment on you. That takes me to number five.
5. Most people are not going to talk with you. They're only going to see you. So you
may be in a group of five people and everyone is passing around business cards. They may
not even be able to have a good conversation with you, but they're going to note who you
are, who you hang out with. They're going to look at how you're dressed, and they're
going to keep your business card and perhaps make a note, and maybe this is someone that
wants to follow-up with you, but they're not necessarily going to follow up with you if
they see that what you're claiming on this card doesn’t seem to match up with what
they see because visuals, incredibly important.
6. It identifies you to the staff at the conference, and this is more important than you might
think because people, the staff that are running this, they're making quick decisions. They've
got hundreds of people going in and out. They're going to quickly point you in the right way
or perhaps not point you in the way that you want to go if you don't look the part, and
I've seen this actually happen.
I remember being at a conference in Chicago and it was pretty much required that you're
in a suit and tie at this conference. I'm looking around and there were some people
that got off the elevator. They were obviously students and maybe they were looking for some
type of job fair. The event I was at was at a high-end job fair. These students would've
loved to have been in this, but they were wearing dress shirts, tie, and they had backpacks
on and they clearly were not part of this group of higher level professionals.
They were immediately, by the staff, pounced on and pointed towards back on to the elevator
that they're not part of this group and they can't come in here. Now, had they been wearing
suits, had they been dressed a little bit higher up, I don't think you would've been
able to tell. They could've just walked right in and actually probably gotten some interesting
introductions, probably a little bit beyond what they would've been qualified for, but
who knows?
7. Pictures happen at conferences. You meet some great people and you're going to be snapping
some photos. There are going to be perhaps some impromptu interview opportunities, images,
pictures. You want to be in a position where you meet somebody and they want to interview
you right there on the spot about your company or about the product that you provide, or
about your blog. You want to be looking great because this is something that could get a
lot bigger. You want to be ready for opportunity.
Okay. This has been Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real Style. I'll see you in the next video.
Bye-bye.