Moore Style - Do these 5 Things and You Will Sabotage Your Speaking Career

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

Are you unknowingly sabotaging your speaking career? In this episode, I reveal the five seemingly innocent habits that can ruin your reputation faster than you can say, “um.” Whether you’re delivering a keynote or hosting a Zoom meeting, these common mistakes could have your audience tuning out and scrolling on their phones, potentially damaging your reputation. But don’t worry—I’m not just here to point out the pitfalls—I’m sharing the secrets to avoiding these rookie mistakes and elevating your authority as a speaker.If you’re serious about building your credibility and leaving a lasting impression, this episode is for you. Tune in to learn how to master your presence, overcome these career-killing habits, and confidently own the stage or screen every time.“It's not what you say but how you present yourself to make that lasting impression.” ~ Celeste MooreIn this Episode:– The Coffee Cup Crutch: what message are you sending?- Dress Code Disasters: does what you wear really matter?- Grooming Gaffes: how to have a polished appearance- Fabric Faux Pas: why the right fabrics are so important- Statue Syndrome: why this makes people lose attentionConnect with me here:🌐Website - https://celestemoore.com/👤Facebook - https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078179075595📷 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/celestemooreimage/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@celestemooreimage▶️YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@celestemooreimage

Want to know the five ways to tank your reputation as a speaker? In this episode, I will reveal the habits that will have your audience reaching for their phones faster than you can say, um. Don't let these rookie mistakes cost you your credibility. So let's dive in. You're listening to MoreStyle, a podcast to help you transform your image and transform your influence. Hi, my name is Celeste Moore. I'm a certified image consultant, and I help speakers master and craft their own unique style so that they can command presence on any stage they're on.

Welcome to Stage Presence Secrets. Today, we're diving into the five seemingly innocent habits that can truly sabotage your reputation as a speaker. Number one, the coffee cup crutch. Holding any props as an example of a water bottle or a coffee cup can be a distraction. When you're delivering your message as a professional speaker, you want the audience to truly pay attention to your message. If you are holding on to a coffee cup the whole entire time, people are going to only see the coffee cup or the water bottle. This is just another way to distract and allow your audience to come up with their own conclusions.

One message that it's saying is that you're truly uncomfortable and not confident being there. We all get nervous before a speech. Some of us don't, but a lot of us do, even the really great speakers. And you need to be confident and show the audience that you're confident. So please do not do this. Do not hold on to a coffee cup or a water bottle the whole time. This also will affect your body language. your body language naturally will probably not have your shoulders back and your head held high.

That in itself sends confident messages to your audience. So keep that in mind next time you go on stage. There's also tips to staying hydrated if it's truly you're a thirsty individual. So before, make sure that you're hydrated. Even during a pause, you can go over and take a sip of water. At the end, of course, stay hydrated. You just want to minimize any kind of distractions that your audience can have. Number two is dress code disasters. Let's talk about the importance of attire when you're speaking on stage. Now, this can be literal stage in person. It can also mean a Zoom call, can mean a presentation or a webinar. Anytime that you're presenting anything to anybody, that as a stage. So showing up in a professional manner is always going to be your best bet. It's

really important to know who your audience is, what message you're sending so that you can dress appropriately. I always recommend dressing a level up from your audience. This will allow you both to mirror each other. Because when you mirror each other, then the other person is building that connection of trust within you. I'm going to give you an example of what I'm talking about. I don't know who knows who Alex Hermosi is. And I think he's truly like, one of the best business people that I've ever heard. But honestly, the way that he shows up on stage is very distracting. Now, if you don't know who he is, he's very big in the fitness industry, and is, I'm imagining worth billions of dollars and he speaks on stage and he comes on stage with cut off jean shorts

a cut off plaid shirt or just a t-shirt he normally has a hat on and he has a very long beard and he'll wear socks up to his right under his knee and sneakers in my opinion Alex Hermosi should not be on stage talking to business people dressed like that it's very distracting a lot of people are thinking about maybe the size of his muscles or his legs or the fact that he comes to an audience of business people dressed so casually. This message is sending a few things. It's saying that you do not respect the audience because if you respected the audience, you would wear and dress presentable. Also, showing up in a suit or a sport jacket, even with jeans and a pair of shoes is actually much better. So think about the next time you go on stage,

who is your audience? What's the message you're sending? And make sure to dress up one level from them. Make sure that you're also balancing professionalism with comfort. So not everybody is going to be wearing a suit on stage, but just know that there's nothing more powerful than a sport coat, whether it's a full suit or over a pair of jeans. Make sure that you are dressed appropriately. This will be one less distraction your audience needs from you. Let's talk about number three, our grooming gaffes or snafus. First impressions are truly memorable. The lasting impressions is what matters. So on stage, you have to understand that you're under a spotlight people are just staring at you so if there's anything that's unkept about you whether

it's the hair on your head or a beard or your nails or makeup that you might have on or anything in particular that someone can see that's out of place will be a distraction when you're unkept or ungroomed it also says that you don't care about yourself so why should the audience care about listening to anything that you say. Makeup is an accessory. So make sure that if you're a woman, you're keeping this very natural and very subtle, but it just highlights your features. Make sure your nails are trim and clean. And if you're a woman with nails, nothing too shiny because you don't want to distract. Just imagine like shiny little objects are distraction. So keep that in mind when you're next time you present on stage. When you have a polished appearance, you have more

of a professional appearance. It doesn't just come from the clothes that you're wearing, but again, you're grooming to make sure that you smell good, your teeth are brushed, your hair is kept well, and nothing's too out of place, and it just looks natural and beautiful. Keeping these distractions to a minimum is paramount to keeping your reputation in place. Number four is fabric faux pas. Now I spoke about this in one of my other episodes, but fabrics are so important because wearing the wrong ones can be a big distraction. So for example, on my shirt today, I have half a side that is shiny and half a side that is matte. Make sure that you're staying away from shiny fabrics. You don't want the light that's coming off from the stage to bounce off someone and

really either hurt their eyes or just become distraction. The other side of my shirt is a matte fabric like this. It's a satin finish and it's a muted soft tone. This will not be a distraction on stage. So keep to solid muted fabrics so that people are paying attention to the words in your message. Also, no plaids, no prints. That is also a distraction. So make sure that you are wearing beautiful fabrics, well cut, and that you're not having anything too shiny or nothing too bright, because also the color, the brightness can also be a distraction. I have an example. I went back to a conference that I was in May, and one of the speakers came on stage with a fluorescent green leather shiny short dress with a big bow on the side of it.

now in my opinion that was the most distracting piece of clothing that this person could possibly wear and when this person was delivering her keynote speech a lot of the audience left or was on their phone and they weren't paying attention because they couldn't truly connect to her as an individual all they could keep seeing is this distraction of color and material and the inappropriate dress that she wore. So keep that in mind next time that you're on stage. I'm also going to just drop in a side note here and talk about wearing glasses on stage.

So I wore these glasses specifically so that you could see what they look like under a light. Well, I have a reflective coating on them that hopefully takes very bright, shining lights and has them bounce off so that it's not a shiny look. but they're not 100%. So if you wear glasses, try not to wear them when you're giving a speech on stage, because again, it can be very distracting. But if you must, make sure that you have an anti-reflective coating like I have on these today, and that it's a very minimal pattern.

So I would stick with maybe a clear on the bottom and a very minimal pattern on top. Number five is the statue syndrome. Have you ever seen someone speak on stage and they stand like a statue? You know that they're speaking because words are coming out of their mouth, but they stay in the same place and they have no inflection in their voice or they're keeping their hands to the side of their body. So this tells me a few things. One, I'm distracted because I can't pay attention or really understand the meaning that they're

trying to convey, but they're very uncomfortable and it's making me uncomfortable. And so again, I'm not interested in what they're saying. And most of the time when someone is having this statue syndrome, they're very boring. And so yes, you could fall asleep or leave the room. So keep in mind that you want to at least make eye contact with somebody in the stage. Make sure that you go to the right side of the stage and talk for a little bit. Then you go to the left stage and talk for a little bit and you're engaging and keeping your hands with some movement when you're speaking about things, when you have inflection in your voice, because that's going to engage the audience. It's going to want them to listen to your story

and your message. So make sure that you're not standing there like a statue because that makes everybody uncomfortable. By avoiding these pitfalls, you'll make sure to keep your audience engaged and you will elevate your stage presence. Remember, it's not what you say, but it's how you present yourself to make that lasting impression. If you found these five tips helpful and useful and you want to learn more about fashion, style, image, stage presentation, then don't forget to hit that subscribe button below. We'll be right back.