Personal Presentation and Appearance
Although not as effective as non-verbal communication methods, how you dress and appear to others can say your character.
It’s whether you like yourself or not a crucial factor that others will judge you and decide if they want to learn more about you or not.
The appearance of your persona is an often overlooked aspect of presentation and communication. You might represent your company or simply yourself if you’re speaking in public. However, you’re still on the frontline.
It is you who you are the only person, group, or even the audience observes. Before you have time to speak and provide an account of your own beliefs, assumptions about yourself are being formed either subconsciously or consciously.
First impressions are crucial and maybe about the manner of dress and attitude. People can quickly form an assumption by the expressions on your face, the clothes you are wearing, the way you dress, and even your body language.
The impact of your appearance is equal to verbal impact.
Personal appearance
The many elements of your personal appearance, such as facial expressions, the choice of clothes, and body language, matter when you are interacting with someone.
Facial Expression
It is not much that can be done to alter your face. However, a lot can be done to alter expressions on your face. Whatever the time of day and whatever minor hiccups have transpired, no one wants to be in contact with someone who looks unhappy.
It is your obligation to yourself as well as the organization you represent to present a calm, pleasant and professional appearance, no matter what you are feeling within. Smile and be positive.
Human nature is to compromise. Everyone alters their behaviour according to the people they encounter and what they believe is expected of them. Your ‘on-duty’ self, the one who is in public, differs from your off-duty self, that one who is focused on family, home, and friends.
Every person plays a variety of tasks in life. It is possible to be a father/daughter, parent or sister/brother, friend, advisor, patient, and customer all on the same day. The various roles require specific capabilities and abilities in interpersonal communication. They can require different types of appearance and attitude, i.e., of visual images.
The image you project to the world (appearance) is what you appear to the world.
Grooming and clothing for better personal presentation
What kind of image is suitable for the organization you represent or the image you would like to communicate?
Only you can answer this question for yourself. Certain companies are content for people to dress casually, while others might require more sophisticated clothes. It is essential to dress appropriately within acceptable limits. No one wants to be wrapped up in something you’re not. However, your personal appearance will reflect your self-esteem. You must strive to show yourself to your greatest advantage. Although you may dress casually in your workplace, a more formal appearance might be appropriate for representing your company at an outside event.
Cleanliness and good grooming appearance are important, whether you are casual or in formal attire.
Role of Body Language in Personal Presentation
The ability to recognize body language is one of the most crucial factors in personal presentations. The visual representation of the body should support and reinforce what’s being conveyed verbally. If the image of the physical self-differs significantly from the spoken word, it is typically the non-verbal version that is believed to be true.
How you sit and stand, the way you move, your behaviour, and your facial expressions say more about the way you feel at any given moment than the words you’re using. When people feel anxious or uneasy, their bad habits are more apparent.
The awareness of your body language, the way you act under stress, what signals you’re unconsciously sending and how stress and nerves affect your physical appearance will aid in understanding how you appear to other people. It will also help explain why an impression that is not correct can be conveyed and why confusion could result.
The practice of improving body language is a method to improve your personal appearance. For instance, if you are focusing on something or someone in particular, your face might appear strained, but actually, you’re not at all anxious and are simply focused. That doesn’t mean you must wear an unwavering smile on your face. However, be aware that your body may transmit one or more signals when your thoughts are focused on something else.
Body language is also used as a disguise to communicate different emotions. Have you ever smiled even when you didn’t understand the meaning of a sentence, smiled when your first instinct was to frown, or clapped with joy after an event that almost made you sleepy? In these instances, you weren’t acting insincere but rather using positive gestures as a method to show proper manners.
A crucial aspect of confidence in oneself
Personal presentation is all about marketing YOU, your brand, which is you. What people see and what they hear from you will affect their perception of your character. Your personal presentation should be all about portraying yourself in the most positive ways possible.
What people think of you is crucial in the process of communicating, and you should strive to be seen as positive and confidently as you can. Anyone who appears to be confident will be perceived as confident by other people.
A key aspect of a personal presentation is understanding yourself being who you really are, what you are good at and the negatives, as well as being at ease with yourself. An effective personal presentation involves not being self-conscious or worried about what other people consider your appearance. Self-esteem isn’t a fixed thing. It depends on many factors, various situations, and the involvement of other individuals, their stress levels, and changes.
Be aware of how much you value yourself and develop a strategy to handle the lows and highs of self-esteem. This can help you discover ways to appear more confident. Confidence can be measured by the degree to which we believe we can perform certain tasks or perform certain tasks.
Compared to self-esteem, confidence refers to the way we perceive our capabilities. Utilizing simple methods like controlled breathing and the positive language of your body, which are described in the two previous paragraphs mentioned articles, you can lessen anxiety and tension. This can lead to feelings of self-esteem boosting and a greater sense of confidence.
In unit-7 we will cover a very important aspect of communication – Listening Skills