Here is an excerpt from an article written by Carmine Gallo for Harvard Business Review and the HBR Blog Network. To read the complete article, check out the wealth of free resources, obtain subscription information, and receive HBR email alerts, please click here.

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Employees, investors, and partners don’t just follow anyone — they follow leaders who have command of the business and command of the stage. Whether you’re presenting on an analyst call or speaking to your entire organization in a town hall meeting, you’re being judged on your confidence and competence, not just your content, and the way you appear and how you sound matters.

A study on CEOs giving IPO road-show presentations found that even hardened financial advisors judge a leader’s “competence and trustworthiness” within as little as 30-seconds. These snap judgments are so powerful, CEOs who rated the highest for their executive presence in the study enjoyed higher IPO valuations.

Here are five keys to look and sound like a leader people will want to follow whenever you’re presenting.

Dress 25% better than anyone else in the room. The evidence shows we size people up as soon as they walk into a room. And the first thing we often do — like it or not — is notice a person’s clothes. You’ve probably heard the advice to “dress to impress” but what exactly does that mean?

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to meet retired U.S. Army Commander Matt Eversmann, who teaches leadership at Johns Hopkins University. The battle he led in Mogadishu, Somalia, was turned into the movie Black Hawk Down. “Great leaders have an air of confidence,” he told me. “In the military, it all starts with how you’re dressed the first time you meet a subordinate. Always dress a little better than everyone else and you’ll look confident.” You’ll note that he said a little better. Your clothes need to be appropriate for the situation, but aim to be slightly more polished.

James Citrin, a leading CEO recruiter, once advised job candidates to dress 25% “more formal” than the prevailing dress code at the company. Update your wardrobe once or twice a year, wear clothes that fit your body type, choose colors that compliment your skin or hair color, and avoid worn or scuffed shoes.

Pace your delivery. We can’t do much about our vocal quality without extensive singing lessons to control our breathing and pitch. We can, however, improve our vocal delivery, specifically, pace. I provide the narration for my own audiobooks and the first time I walked into a studio and began reading, an audio producer told me to slow down. The ideal pace for an audiobook is a little slower than casual face-to-face conversation because listeners don’t have the added sensory inputs of watching your mouth move and facial expressions. This is about 150 words a minute. While you may not be recording an audiobook, the same rule applies when you’re giving a webinar or online presentation where your audience only hears your voice. Speaking too fast will harm your credibility.

If you are talking live with your group, you can go at a slightly faster pace since that is more natural for face-to-face conversations, but still be careful not to rush.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.

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