Improve Your Personal Presentation in Five Easy Steps

1. Get your hair cut – regardless of how well you are dressed, unkempt and out of control hair will make you look untidy. 30 minutes and £10 well spent! Make sure you have any facial hair under control too.

2. Wear a suit – so many people these days go suit-less, and this gives you a great opportunity to stand out and look professional and more presentable. However just any old suit will not do. It must be 100% wool (please, no polyester) and preferably in dark navy or charcoal grey. You may even have something suitable in the wardrobe already; however if you bought it ready to wear IT DOES NOT FIT YOU!. A poor fitting suit is worse than no suit. Go to a good alterations tailor and get it fitted; It is not expensive! By the way, you really do need two suits so you can alternate each day. If you are really skint look on eBay or in a nearly new shop.

3. Wear a proper shirt, and one that fits – so many people wear casual shirts to work and usually with the wrong length arms and neck. Go to a store that sell shirts in various arm lengths and reasonably constructed to look good with a suit. If you are on a budget T.M. Lewin often do 4 shirts for £100 which are more than adequate, and will be enough to get you going – I suggest two each of white and light blue plain as a minimum.

4. Wear a tie – why, oh why do so few people wear a tie? A man is not completely dressed without one; a suit is not casual so why dress casually underneath it? The silk of he tie (and do ensure it is silk) offers a contrasting texture to the matt of the suit and shirt and is a great opportunity to express your personality through colour.

5. Shoes – So many people wear a suit and then finish it off with totally inappropriate shoes. Wear some black traditional, welted shoes in an oxford style. These will last a lifetime if looked after so don’t skimp.

These five simple steps can make you look more professional and presentable.

Event Management Course – Learn the Art of Presentation

Delivering presentations to clients and the company board members is a challenge that many of us regularly face as a daily part of our job. Presentation skills are not just limited to typing up speeches on the Power point but also how you communicate your message across to your audience. When you have to manage an event professionally, you have to know how to host a live show or presentation. You have to know how to present the rooms or gardens where you are holding your event. These skills cannot be learnt out of the blue, the usual way to learn these either through the hard way, that is by learning through your mistakes, or the easier way would be to take an Event Management Course which won’t take too much of your time and will benefit you for a life time.

Presentation skills are now considered the most important skills to be equipped with in the twenty-first century, be it a market campaign, a dinner party or just a social get-together; your social skills and your presentation skills matter everywhere. Especially when seeking out new employment, employers first judge the level of presentation skills the person has. These skills also add up as positive points in your personality as it also grooms a person. This helps you in displaying better communication skills, better personal presentation skills and also helps develop much better management skills.

The secret of success behind every presentation is to make sure that you get your point across in a well-defined manner and you make an impression on your targeted group of people.

Opting to go for an event management course you will learn the art of presentation in simple steps.

Keep it simple is the first key to a good presentation. If you are suppose giving a presentation to your boss, keep it to the point, technical vocabulary is important but then make sure that your audience is familiar with the words.

Create a professional image, practice what you have to say in case of a business presentation, and if it is an event presentation make sure that you organize the accessories beforehand, to make sure the entrance, the stage the lighting is perfect and would not need last minute urgent adjustments. Practice makes a man perfect. This is the key rule that is being followed here.

Stay on track. Focus on what you are required to do and fix everything accordingly to the event, for example a stage fit for a wedding will not be appropriate to introduce the Board of Directors at the General Shareholders meeting.

By taking a course in Event Management, you will gain more confidence in tackling situation and of course you will learn the art of presentations of all sorts.

Personal Branding 101 – Present Your Personal Brand Through Your Personal Profile

Whether you are in an organisation and developing your career or you are the leader of your own professional services practice, one thing you can be sure about….

…. at some stage in the next 12 months you are likely to be asked to present yourself on paper.

That could be for a proposal you are submitting, a job you are applying for or a profile you have to present as a speaker at a conference.

But when was the last time you reviewed your personal profile or CV? And does it accurately reflect your expertise and experience?

I was recently working with a professional association to support them building their brand on-line. They had developed a new web site which gave the members of the association the opportunity to add their details to the data base, providing them with increased visibility.

However, the quality of the personal profiles was so poor, they certainly were not likely to attract interest from potential clients or strategic joint venture partners.

I was also recently working with an executive who was looking for their next career move and we were working on developing their personal brand. However when we looked at their personal marketing materials – their CV – it certainly did not enhance their reputation.

I am frequently asked for a copy of my personal profile and what I have some to learn is that we need to have a core profile available at a moments notice so that we can adapt it to the needs of the audience requesting our profile.

You see it is much easier keeping your profile up to date and relevant than having to create it the first time.

So if your personal profile or CV is out of date, here are four personal branding action steps to ensure that your profile projects your personal brand.

1. Print out a copy of your current personal profile and identify which elements are no longer current.

2. Update your profile – whether it is a CV or professional profile make sure that it does not exceed 2 pages.

3. If you are not sure if your profile accurately reflects your personal brand and expertise, ask a colleague or friend to review it and provide feedback.

4. If you need additional assistance consider the support of a resume writer or personal branding coach to help you create

Do you want to learn more about this and similar strategies? Then join me for my no-cost branding and business development teleseminars.