Hats Off to Zoom! How to dress to speak online. Sit or Stand. Shoes? Necklines - Naughty or Nice? With or Without a hat?
Sometimes you need to be sitting down. As in this restaurant photo showing me dining in at B & K salt beefr bar and deli in London. I am eating lokshen (noodle) pudding.
When You Must Sit
Many speakers need to stay seated.
Practical and Social Reasons
They may be eating dinner. Holding a baby. Cuddling a kitten. Reading their notes. Reaching for props on a desk.
Medical reasons
Have ankle, knee or back problems.
Solutions include:
Tell everybody in the audience your problem.
Ask the chairperson to explain you are sitting down (with, or without, giving a reason). That way you won't waste time during your speech in the explanation.
I saw a speech in London given by an older man who had difficulty standing for a long period. He told us he had considered sitting down but he thought that he would not be seen by audience members at the back. So he bought and brought to the meeting a bar stool. It was the sort with a height adjustment. So, he could mount at a lower height. Then raise it to be seen better.
Write speeches which feature sitting down, such as:
1 Exercises to do at your desk, or
6 How to centre your face on Zoom
7 How to adjust the height of your laptop
12 Table manners east and west
14 What my dentist did to/for me
15 What your teeth are telling you
16 How to pronounce Chinese tones
17 How to pronounce English words
18 The history of the baseball cap
20 Hair - Secret Solutions from Shampoos to baldness cures.
21 A humorous speech on how to hide drinking and eating while online
Physical Meetings
If you are seated and seen head to foot, you might want co-ordinating shoes to look neat. Nothing distracting. Unless part of your speech, such as the best shoes for ice skating.I was once in an area contest at the London School of Business. I had won at club level in a church hall where I was able to run up to a man who was seated in the front row and ask to borrow his large shoes.
(The story was on my trip on a ferry to a Toastmasters meeting at an industrial site where open shoes were banned. I ended up borrowing the shoes of the man on security. The huge shoes were hard to run in, after my group. Large shoes made it hard for me to climb stairs.
When I came to give my demo speech to the new corporate club, having been introduced as 'our VIP, Angela, always so well dressed and elegant', I had to shuffle inelegantly onto the stage area wearing a pair of man's shoes. The story later seemed very funny on a large stage area at the club contest in a large church hall.
Unfortunately, at the area contest, the business school stage had a lower level podium, where the speaker stood behind a semi-circular desk. I had to deliver the speech standing in one place, holding the shoes above my head.
From then on, I always had shoes I could easily hold up. Or, instead of shoes, hats.
Speaking from behind a podium, you might want to add a hat to get attention and add height.
Online Hats
The problem with hats is that they take up more space. Your face is smaller if you need room on the screen for a huge feather. You may have to move back so that hat is not cut in half.
Here is another view, with the top of the hat showing.
A hat brim can be used to create a halo effect if you look up to conceal the top of the hat.
Lastly, Necklines
Necklines
If you have a low neckline, you need straps. Otherwise you might look as though you are completely naked. The audience members may be distracted, intead of listening, watching in the hope that you will move so they can see if you are really naked, completely naked, half naked - top half naked, or wearing a low cut dress.
Useful Websites
History of flat caps
https://hatstore.sg/flat-caps/
BIOGRAPHY
Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5
The Author of several books including Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.
Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com
dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com
Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President
Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time
Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;
Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;
Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.
More details from Toastmasters International find a club.
Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.
Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.
Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.
Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.
Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.
Language and speech workshops in Singapore.
Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.
Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.
Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.
Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.
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