Wearing my standard silver, big belt buckle, spelling out “FUN” and my thin choker, hematite necklace was not a winning combination. What happened?
In Oak Brook just outside of Chicago, at the Oak Brook Marriott, I was presenting a session called Maximizing Retu
rn On Image to a select, top tier of the balloon entertainer group. By the way, this is an incredibly talented group. In my class, I spoke about increasing their professional image by creating a brand that speaks and connects to their target audience. We covered many aspects from the names, taglines, marketing collateral, to their online and physical presence.
I do try and practice what I preach. So I flew out my videographer and brought big lights to do it right. I flew i
n the night before to prepare the room appropriately to maximize the impact of my class.
The class went well, but was challenging for a front row participant, who flew all the way from the Japan. After the class, she told me my bling was blinding her, but she didn’t want to disrupt the class. Upon hearing this I asked the others to see if it had affected them. Apparently, the reflection from my fun belt and necklace reflected only to her.
Culture
Now, if this individual were American, I hope I would have built enough rapport for her to say something to me. From the nature of what I was talking about, if she was American and didn’t feel comfortable to tell me, then I need to do a better job making the audience feel comfortable. Because she is from Japan, I wouldn’t expect her to speak up. It isn’t their culture to interrupt.
Problem
- 1) The necklace reflected the light. And the pendant part of the necklaces moves around. If you look closely, the clasp is in the front. This will distract your audience too. I could have taped the clasp to itself in the back or worn a different necklace. However, with a lapel mic, this is not an appropriate necklace to wear, because it can bump into the microphone.
- 2) My southern bling belt I bought in Atlanta was too much bling with the spotlight. I was on a 2 foot tall stage, about seven feet away from the one participant. My belt was at her eye level.
This is something that was a first time experience for me. The bling, bling is now going to go on my Eliminate Distractions Checklist. Speakers need to be aware of this problem. I call this a “Mismanaged Messenger” distraction. To learn more about related distractions see these articles.
By the way, the Marriott Oak Brook gave me great service. At 11pm when I arrived the manager took my requests and assured me they would be taken care of at 6am in the morning and they followed through. Good job Marriott Oak Brook. To learn more about
Thanks for sharing what you learned the hard way, Jolene! Last month with Allbusiness.com, I recorded 14 videos on small business success in a studio.
Luckily, I brought jewelry choices. The necklace I prefer and that works well with audiences and normal lighting is chunky and has a bright, white circle in it. Sure enough, on camera with the bright lights it would have been the brightest spot the audience could see.
With the jewelry choices, we were able to choose something that looks much better on camera.
Your ‘note to speakers’ is a good one and applies to live and recorded presentations!