#WORN ED VERSION PROFESSIONAL#
In fact, clothing that is deemed professional attire in one part of the country may be viewed differently in another part of the country. There is not a single, agreed-upon understanding of professional attire.
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What do you mean by “professional attire”? Thus, dressing professionally has a positive impact on your own confidence and feelings of self-worth, which will directly impact your presentation or networking endeavors. In particular, when dressing in professional attire, we attribute positive adjectives such as “cultivated” and “strategic” to ourselves (Hanover & Kuhnen, 2004) in addition to having higher self-confidence (Sebastian & Bristow, 2008). Research shows we tend to perceive ourselves more positively when dressed professionally. Therefore, the way you dress at a conference, even when not presenting, can have an impact on your networking opportunities.įinally, it is equally important for you to have a positive self-view and be confident when attending a conference. Conversely, dressing casually can lead to negative perceptions such as being disorganized or unfriendly (Butler & Roesel, 1991 Lukavsky, Butler & Harden, 1995 Roach, 1997). Dressing professionally, for instance, can enhance perceptions of intelligence, competency, responsibility, reliability (Gurung & Chrouser, 2007) and expertise (Sebastian & Bristow, 2008). Research tells us that what we wear during these networking interactions is important. You might even meet faculty members from institutions where you plan to apply for graduate school or a job in the future. You may have the opportunity to collaborate with individuals on shared research interests. Meeting professionals can open doors for you. For example, conference attendance provides you with the opportunity to network with professionals in the field. What if I am attending?Īlthough the main purpose of conferencing is disseminating information through talks, symposia and poster presentations, there are other benefits as well. It is likely your conference audience will give the same attributions to you that students do to professors. Professionally dressed instructors are perceived as being more knowledgeable, competent and overall better teachers (Gurung & Vespia, 2011) compared to instructors not professionally dressed. We know from research that students perceive instructors differently based on the clothes they wear. You also want to receive feedback from the audience to improve your future work. Like a professor, you want the audience to be engaged with your content, take you seriously and learn new information. What if I am presenting?īeing a conference presenter is similar to being a professor. Therefore, we want to discuss appropriate style of dress as it relates to presenting at and attending a professional conference. Telling someone to dress professionally is not enough information. Although the answer might seem self-explanatory, this can actually be a difficult situation for students to navigate.
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Inevitably, students ask us about what is or is not acceptable to wear to a conference. However, there is a time each year during which our students ask us for our opinion - conference time.
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Should I really think about the clothes I wear on a daily basis?Īs faculty members, we usually do not comment on students’ clothing choices. Research consistently finds that first impressions are influenced by the type of clothing you wear (e.g., Gurung & Chrouser, 2007 Satrapa et al., 1992 Sebastian & Bristow, 2008). Did you know that first impressions are impacted by what you are wearing? It’s true.