You’ve spent a lot of time putting together your talk and maybe a PowerPoint presentation to go with it. And you’ve begun (hopefully) rehearsing your talk so everything goes smoothly.

What’s left to be sure you make a good impression on your audience?

Yup – you guessed it (well, I suspect all the women have) – you have to choose the clothes you’ll wear when you give your presentation.

While what you say ought to be the most important part of your presentation, what you wear while you’re speaking can add to your credibility – or make your attire more memorable than your presentation.

What’s worse, while wardrobe gaffs once were lost to history when an event was over, today, at least in many industries, those wardrobe gaffs are being captured by both professional and amateur videographers and posted on YouTube and other websites for the world to see.

Ooops. Did I just raise your stress level?

What can you do to be sure your appearance will add to your professionalism instead of distracting your audience from what you are saying?

Put the technology that is giving birth to all those amateur videographers to work for you. Use your video camera, or if you don’t have one, the video function on your digital camera or even your cell phone to record how you look wearing several different outfits.

If you have a camera with a remote control or timer and also have a tripod, just set it up and take videos of yourself. If you don’t have a tripod, ask your significant other, a friend, or even your kids to take the photos.

Things to check in the videos: does your shirt, dress, jacket or blouse hang right? Is it too tight, too loose?

Which outfit makes you look best? Does one make you look too fat or broad shouldered? Men, do the color of your shirt, tie, and jacket look good together? (Men: if matching colors isn’t your thing, send the video or still shots to a couple of female friends and ask them for their opinion.)

Ladies, is the neckline of your top or blouse too low? Cleavage is fine on a date, but lean forward in your test videos to make sure the only thing your audience’s eyes will pop out about are the surprising statistics you’re putting up on your slide.

Consider how what you plan to wear will blend in or stand out from the walls of the room in which you’ll be giving your talk. A lot of hotel conference and seminar rooms have light colored walls – often with some shade of light beige or beige and pale green. So, if you can, take your video or still pictures with you sitting or standing in front of a light-beige wall or a room with light beige and green patterned wallpaper.

Ladies, one other tip: You can’t assume that you’ll be seated behind a table if you’re on a panel. I’ve been on a couple of panels when there was no table. The panelists all sat on high stools - which can make short or tight skirts a bit of a distraction to you and the audience. I’ve seen other women feeling equally uncomfortable at seminars I’ve watched because the panelists were seated up on a stage in deep, low chairs or couches, causing similar difficulties with tight or short skirts. So, take some videos or stills of yourself sitting down in a couch or on a stool to be sure your wardrobe doesn’t hike the audience’s attention away from where it ought to be focused.

One last note: If you’re an Internet geek and you’re making a presentation to a group of Internet geeks, you need to do some pre-presentation video (and research) too. If you’re planning to wear jeans and a T-shirt so you’ll fit in with the audience, first be sure that’s what most of the audience will be wearing, too. (check videos and stills of past conferences). Then, be sure the sneakers you’re planning to wear don’t look too worn out, and the neckline on your T-shirt isn’t too stretched out.

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