Accessorize With a Pair of Understated But Elegant Cuff Links

One of the biggest trends right now for the savvy businessman - and you can decide for yourself whether it's just a trend or the New Order - is personal branding. You know the spiel...You the Brand! You the Brand! You're Nike, Microsoft, New Coke!

The whole point of self-branding is letting the whole world know that you are the Master of Your Domain, the Top Dog, Da Man. In other words, in your business, you are the One Worth Watching.

While there are certainly more venues to brand oneself these days - the Internet is rife with self-appointed Gurus of Everything, many of whom (I'll bet) have never left their dorm rooms for anything more than a Party Burrito and a Bud Light - the plain fact is that anyone who's ever made it big in business has known about self-branding for a long, long, long time. In the 1990s, we called it Being the Man, and in the 1980s, we called it Mastering Our Universe. In the 1970s, we called it Putting Our Best Foot Forward.

One of the easiest ways to determine whether someone is an actual Industry Hotshot is to check out the agendas of Industry Events such as conferences, conventions, and company meetings. Those guys who are speaking to the large crowds of Industry-Interested? Those guys are the really well-branded ones, because people recognize their names well enough to want to sit in a big room with bad coffee and tepid water and listen to them for an hour or upwards.

The really cool thing about the world today is that it's a lot easier to break through as a keynote speaker than it was back in the day when word of mouth was the only way to spread the good new about your speaking style. If you can get to the top of a Google search, or at least up in the first few pages, you'll find that lazy secretaries, conference chairs, and similar types will be e-mailing you for an hour of your expertise in exchange for a coach seat, a king-size non-smoking room with mini-bar privileges, and maybe a company check ready for your autograph on the back.

Before you go adding "public speaker" to your MySpace page, you might want to be sure your act is ready to go on the road. Put together a series of speeches that you could use should someone call on you for a confrontational litany, and practice them. Make sure they actually say something, or your keynote career will come to a crashing halt before you've stepped off your first podium. Kiss of death? The kiss of death is taking someone else's work and paraphrasing it. First of all, that's plagiarism. Secondly, everyone will know it is. There's a reason so many of those Internet gurus are wearing goofy clothes in their photos or hiding behind avatars.

Yes. Clothes do make the man.

There are a lot of different kinds of conventions and dress codes for the same. In a lot of them these days, we're seeing a lot of golf pants/chinos combinations. The idea for this, of course, comes from one of two things: you're either in an industry in which many of the participants don't own a suit or jacket, or you're in an industry in which the participants always wear a suit or jacket, and are looking for an excuse to play golf.

The fact is that no matter what the tone of your keynote gig, you should always, always, always wear a suit. There's a reason they call it a power suit. It conveys power. And when you're standing in front of a lot of guys with hangovers and/or tee times, it's a very good idea to have a little power in your corner.

For those conferences populated by people who wear suits every day, you need to come off as a very natty dresser. I don't mean a fop, but there is a difference between a guy who looks well put-together and a guy who looks like he once worked for Arthur Anderson and as such, blends into the walls. Pick out a dark suit, because it conveys power and hides sweat stains, and a bright and vibrant tie that is not designed by anyone who once did a lot of drugs. Your shoes should be impeccable and comfortable, because they will be at eye-level for the people in the front rows and you won't be able to stand for very long if they aren't easy to stand in.

You should accessorize with a flawless watch and a pair of understated but elegant cufflinks. You can flash your fabulous cuff links when you write little notes to people in the margins of their agendas with an equally brilliant pen.

And don't worry if you are meeting with the golf shirt set. Pick a less understated pair of men's cufflinks - maybe a pair that shouts to the world your career choice or even your hobbies. Either way, you're going to be the best-dressed guy in the room, and that's going to make you sound like the best darned keynote speaker out there.