It's time to talk about hair and wardrobe. This is one of the areas that it's just unfair. There's no doubt about it. Life is unfair. It's a lot easier for men and women for example, I can wear the same suit tie and shirt for thousands of videos in my training courses. And no one will ever come back.

No one has ever written me said, well, DJ, you were that yesterday. Men can get away with more of a just generic uniform. Whereas women do have their clothes, their hair analyzed more. Now, there's no one type of hairstyle that I would recommend. But there are a few things to avoid if you are speaking up in front of people spotlight is on you. There are two main things I would caution you about.

One is if you have a hairstyle, where your hair is in your eyes, and you're doing something like this Or your breath. Obviously, I don't have that problem, okay. But if you're brushing your hand through your hair, it's distracting. If you have bangs that are casting shadows in your eyes, people can't see your eyes. If they can't see your eyes. They can't focus on what you're saying as well.

You're not as stressed the old expression the person did look me in the eye if people can't see your eyes, it is a barrier between you and the audience. So there's a whole range of hairstyle. Don't take care advice for me, but I will tell you this. As a rule of thumb, it's best if you're not having to touch your hair and it's not in your eyes and the more it's sort of off your face, and people can see the full expressiveness of your face, the better off you are. Now let's talk about clothing. The main thing you want to keep in mind is nothing to distract.

You want to augment Your message, if you are running to be the president of the American Bar Association, you're probably going to have a very conservative suit on. If you are one of the top creative directors at Martha Stewart Living and you're in front of a whole bunch of media editors, and you're putting a spotlight on entertaining, you're not going to want to be in a conservative business. Whatever it is, you're speaking about how you're dressed, should send that message to it shouldn't confuse people. It shouldn't make the wonder about what it is. And in general, you want people to focus on what you're saying, not what you're wearing. But again, this is one of those unfair aspects between men and women.

A man has a pretty easy time if it's a traditional business setting. He wears a suit and tie and no questions are asked. If you are a woman, people are analyzing the fashion sense a little more. Just make sure that it's consistent with what you're trying to convey. And what you're all about. Now, some of the problems I've seen women get into is if they're standing up on a platform elevated, and the skirt isn't long enough, you can track people's attention focusing on things that you don't want them focusing on.

So you've got to be very careful again, I'm not trying to make it sound like I'm approved and you've got to be approved and you can't show any skin. But if you wear anything that's low cut, if it's you may remember a few years ago, Hillary Clinton had some shirt and it was a little bit low cut it it was a huge scandal for days, people talking about all the cleavage that was revealed. I'm not telling you how to dress but I am telling you that If you do something with any kind of dress where the cleavage is showing, that is what people will focus on. That's what people will talk about. If you have a serious business message, you probably don't want to give them an opportunity to focus on other things. You want them to focus on the business message.

Therefore, dressing in a more conservative way, not showing a lot of skin here not showing a lot of skin on the arms or the legs. In general, make it easier for people to focus on your message. Is that fair? Is it fashionable? I'll leave that up to others. I'm simply giving you advice on things that will increase the odds that people focus on your message and you communicate your message.

You can factor the other things into it now. Let's talk about shoes. Again, this is one of those unfair things in life where there really is a difference between men and women. I can wear a pair of shoes that people will either like or not notice and they have never once hurt my feet at all because the heel is like that. And I have my nice insoles that my foot doctor made and it's as comfortable as being in slippers. Many women feel that they must wear shoes with heels more decorative, more fashionable.

Here's the one thing I want you to think about. If you are really doing everything you should as a speaker, you should be walking around you shouldn't be standing frozen behind the lectern. We'll talk about those performance skills later. If you're actually going to be walking around, especially on a stage in front of a large group of people. You need to be comfortable in your shoes if you're standing, possibly speaking for 5060 minutes, maybe taking questions for half an hour. Are you absolutely certain you're going to be comfortable in these shoes for 90 minutes and if If you're not, I would get rid of those shoes or wear them another time.

The other thing is, make sure if you are wearing a heel that you can walk in away that is 100%. natural feeling for you and natural looking to others. Some people just do not look like they can walk comfortably on high heels above a certain and I'm not recommending you wear high heels. I'm going to leave that up to you. But what I'm suggesting is make sure that whatever height the heel is that when other people see you walk, it seems completely natural, and you're not having any difficulty. There's nothing awkward about it.

The final thing to think about is you may have that favorite pair of shoes and you always get compliments on it. If you're up on a stage. Do you want people noticing your shoes? There's no right or wrong answer there. But if You are a spokesperson for a major fashion line. You're a fashion designer and you design shoes.

Well, yes. Then you want shoes that stand out created beautiful. You want people talking about it. That's part of who you are. That's your brand. But if you are a mortgage broker and you're giving a speech at a mortgage broker convention, do you want people necessarily noticing interesting ruby red shoes that look beautiful?

Do you want them say Oh, those Jimmy choos are those Manolo Blahnik shoes? Do you necessarily want them focusing on your shoes? I'm not trying to tell you that you have to be bland and boring like a man and just wear you know boring lace up Oxford shoes. But I want you to make a conscious choice. What do you want people to focus on your message or what you are wearing. So make a very conscious decision about the shoes and I did want you to be comfortable.

Because if you have the most beautiful shoes in the world, but your feet are hurting you and you're in pain that's going to come across in the speech people are going to perceive you is not comfortable because you're not going to be comfortable. I want you to be comfortable so you can walk on that stage that wants to be comfortable with how you look to keep that in mind and come up with the right shoes. Now, a final word about makeup. Maybe you wear makeup everyday, maybe you never wear makeup. If you're going to speak and you're on any sort of a stage and there's light, you need makeup. That's not sexist advice.

That's advice I give to men and women. I never go on stage where there's lighting cameras around without makeup. I have makeup on right now. Just power to take off the shine. The one thing I would note that's a little bit different when you are speaking, say at a larger conference and there's a camera When people are looking at you on big screens because there's more than 500 people in the room, the camera can magnify makeup. So a little bit of room may look almost clownish.

So I'd be very careful about adding red adding rouge adding color. Any kind of lip gloss that has a shine may dominate your entire image if they're blowing it up on a TV screen. Now, if you're speaking to a smaller group, and it's not being broadcast on a much larger screen, then it's not as noticeable. But this is where it's crucial to practice on video so you can see exactly how others see you. Keep in mind, people are judging you on every aspect of your style and substance. In the same way that if we started if I started this presentation, and I'm like this, and I'm telling you about styling image, there's a part of you thank you Why is his tie like that?

Does he know? Is he trying to be cool? Does he think he's just coming in off the ocean and it's dapper. You'd be wondering about it, this would be confusing. That's why I have a very conventional look right here. I want you to focus on my ideas.

So decide how you want to present yourself with your hair, your makeup, your clothes, your shoes, make sure you're happy with it. So you don't have to worry about it when you're on the stage or you're in front of people speaking