Dress to Kill (With Laughter)
Many speakers today make the mistake of believing dress is not important. Not dressing appropriately can send a subtle message to the audience that they don’t matter. While you don’t want to be extremely over or under dressed, the norm for any speech is to dress just a little bit better than your audience. If you show up in casual attire to a black tie event, it shows a lack of respect for the audience who in turn is not going to respect you as a speaker.
It is also important not to dress funnier than your speech. I know of a comedian who came out in a pink tuxedo with pink shorts. The audience laughed for five minutes but the rest of his presentation flopped because no matter what he said he could not top his appearance.
I have seen speakers make this same mistake. They feel they have to come out in a funny costume or crazy hat to be funny. This looks amateurish. It might get a chuckle or two but usually detracts from the overall message the presenter is trying to make. If a funny costume is appropriate for you presentation, make sure the speech can top it.