Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.
- Mark Twain (portrait left), quoted in More Maxims of Mark, Johnson, 1927
Bloggers are legendary for writing their posts while wearing their pajamas. That sartorial splendour is fine while the blog writer is wrapped in the comfort and privacy of the home computer. Difficulties arise when the blogger attends a meeting, or gives a client or public presentation. After all, many bloggers are now entering the world of blog and business consulting.
Bloggers are becoming very public people.
Along with the new found need to actually leave the basement, bedroom, or the home office, arrives the necessity of clothing. Not only is being covered to avoid charges of public nudity required, but the client or audience has certain expectations as to appropriate attire. Both male and female bloggers are affected by the need to dress for success.
Victor Fleischer, guest writing on my friend Gordon Smith's Conglomerate blog, had the problem recently of being over dressed for an event in Boulder, Colorado.
Victor writes of the event:
There were about 80 people in attendance. Only three women (an interesting demographic observation that I'll write about in a different post.) I was the only person -- the only one -- wearing a tie.
Me: Hi, I'm Victor Fleischer.
Entrepreneur: [John Smith.] Good to meet you. I'm the CEO of [startup.com]. I'm presenting tonight on our new product. It protects your on-line photos.
He pauses as he looks at my tie, my usual Brooks Brothers number.
Entrepreneur (looking confused): Do you work in marketing?
Ouch. That's like getting asked if you're a used car salesman. I guess I looked a little slick for Boulder, where a worn-out fleece is the usual uniform.
On the other hand, a blogger can be too casual, and show up at an all business suit event, clad in jeans and sweat shirt. The question is how to avoid the dress code faux pas from the beginning.
The best idea for any event is to ask the event planners as to appropriate attire. One thing they will do for you is tell you in no uncertain terms what is, and what is not, acceptable. They want their event to run smoothly. That means their planning job is preventing the guest speaker or panelist appearing in cutoff jeans and tee shirt, when the assembled listening crowd is a sea of grey flannels.
It is also a point of respect for the organization to appear professional in every way. After all, you are their guest. For blog consultants, speaking to the navy pinstripe set, proper business attire dispels any previously conceived notions that a blog is not an important component of a business communications strategy. Instead of continuing the myth of a blog being only a trivial item, the blog consultant conveys the message that she is a serious business person like her audience.
While it may seem trite or unfair, people hear what they see.
The same message presented by a professional looking business person will carry far greater weight than one presented by someone in sweat pants and shirt. That it is a fact of human nature that bloggers have to live with if they want corporate blogging clients. While it's easy to say that if they don't like you or your message, then too bad for the company. Of course, they will say it's too bad without contracting your services as a blogging expert either.
Next time you have a business presentation, find out what the mode of dress is at the organization. The company culture might be permanent casual Friday; or it could be button down, shirt and tie, women must wear hosiery at all times, staid and conservative.
The best bet is to ask in advance in case you have to pull that funeral and wedding suit out of the back of the closet. You can always lose the suit jacket when you leave.
Of course, as always, Mark Twain has other ideas, and gets the last word:
We must put up with our clothes as they are--they have their reason for existing. They are on us to expose us--to advertise what we wear them to conceal. They are a sign; a sign of insincerity; a sign of suppressed vanity; a pretense that we desire gorgeous colors and the graces of harmony and form; and we put them on to propagate that lie and back it up.
- Mark Twain, Following the Equator
