January 10, 2008

How you dress = 55% of your presentation?



If you missed my article in August about the "7-38-55" rule of communication, please take a look.

Once again, I find this statistic being used in a way that completely distorts its original intent.

I came across an article the other day that stated, "Statistics show that influence on an audience is determined as follows: 7 percent by what we SAY; 38 percent by how we SPEAK; and 55 percent by how we LOOK AND BEHAVE."

The article then went on to apply this to what a speaker wears; that is, if 55 percent of communication is about how we "look and behave," then that must mean that how you dress is more important than your actual words, which make up only 7 percent of communication.

People, this statistic is being misinterpreted all over town. So read my article again and especially Judith Pearson's, that clearly explains Albert Mehrabian's research and debunks the mistaken application of the "rule."

And please get your facts straight.

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1 comments. Please add yours! :

Anonymous said...

More like 70% in my opinion. Speaker Jeremy Jacobs in the UK is a natty dresser

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