Wondering what to wear when you step in front of an group. Naturally, the type of presentation that you are doing, location, and the audience will have a lot to do with your choice. The are the colors to wear when making a presentation.

Presenting to the beauty or fashion industry? If so, then you will need more glamorous color choices and combinations. A company or group that is into the latest trends will have an expectation that you know what all of the "happening" colors are, so you will lose credibility if you come in wearing a sober Charcoal Gray, unless charcoal is on trend that season!

If you are a woman and are presenting numbers to a heavy-duty group of budget directors, you don't want to look like the frosting on a birthday cake. The resistance you might receive in a fluffy Sachet Pink or blazing Dandelion yellow suit will be diminished in a darker power color such as Deep Taupe.

While I deplore the idea that your intelligence would be in question if you wear a color you love and feel good in, it would take the type of audience described above a while to work through the first impression.

The same concept of power colors is equally important to men. However, if your destination is a seminar in Hawaii, you would look pretty silly in a serious dark business suit and a lei, no matter how powerful the color.

As a color consultant, everyone expects that I will deliver a talk in something colorful. My preference is to put an outfit together that consists of my personal signature colors.

This always presents an attractive, coordinated picture, appearance-wise – remember the eyes of the audience are trained on you for the length of the presentation.

Anything too busy or too blatantly bright can be visually disconcerting and won't do much for the content of your talk. It might help to keep the audience awake, but they will be slightly cross-eyed and visually tired by the time you have finished.

Now that you know what colors to wear when making a presentation, what colors will you be wearing when we see you confidently in front of the group?

From "The Color Answer Book" (Capital Publishing, 2003) by Leatrice Eiseman, with permission from the author.

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