Men’s tips for speaking attire

So much for the general stuff. But there are some things that have to be divided by gender. Big surprise — men and women have some different options regarding dress. The list of specifics is a lot shorter for men than women, but that’s deceptive: Men are judged by what they wear as much as women are. It comes down to the little things, so you might as well give them some attention.

• Ties – color is fine, but ditch the sports ties, the political message, the holiday ties, the ties made by your kids. You want to wear something nice, but not something so flashy or distracting that people are paying attention to your tie instead of your words.

• Shoes – you want to make sure they are polished and have no holes in the bottoms. Do I have to mention no sandals or sneakers? Hopefully, I don’t.

• Avoid large flashy watches or jewelry. It may be tempting to want to make a statement with a little power bling. The problem is that if you do, that might be the only statement of yours your audience will take note of.

The bottom line is, you guessed it: you want your audience to be paying attention to what you are saying, not what you are wearing.