 Professional appearance, gravitas, communication and position in a key prerequisite for greater career acceleration as it takes less than 30 seconds for people to determine whether or not they want to do business with you or not. This was the consensus of speakers at the Made in Edition of Executive Presence Conference held at the Cedar House of Grace Church, Lakey Lagos. Plus the corresponding love Ikuko Yedokun tells us more in this report. The Made in Edition of the Executive Presence Conference drew participants from different fields of professional career. It is designed to empower career professionals, executives, graduates and undergraduates alike with soft skills required to give them an edge as they ascend the corporate ladder. Ayon Fulua Wole Oju is a convener of the conference. She holds strongly that improving one's appearance, poise, communication skills and gravitas are all that's needed by anyone hoping to move up the career trajectory. How you show up and what I say every time is that forever men look at the outward appearance. There's only God that looks inward. Men look outward. So every time you need to look the part and you need to always anticipate this compliment from people that you look good as always. Not you look good today. Not oh you look good. No. They have to add as always. Because without that as always it means that you're not consistent in the way you show up. Marvie Isibo harped on professional appearance. She encouraged participants to always dress up as if opportunity is going to meet them on the way. Appearance informs the first impression that people have about you, your brand. How do you want to be known? What do you want to be known for? How do you want people to address you and interface with you? Appearance determines whether or not you have the sad to your name or the mad to your name or it is removed when people greet you. And it is not about stature. It is not about position. It is not about how much money you have in your bank accounts. Alasukome Adenuga is another speaker. He spoke on communication as an integral part of building executive presence and how it can really make to the friends in career acceleration. When we're talking about this gravitas executive presence, communication and appearance that's what it should be with us. We arrive somewhere and we acquire that right to win. That's what I say. Everybody, everyone in this room, every professional can indeed attain that level of executive presence once they win that game in their minds and know that they can get to that level. That mindset shift is really important. Executive presence may not get you the next job but if you don't have it, getting the next job will be very, very difficult. So it is something that you need, it is something that will help you, it is something that needs to be developed. You just have to have a voice that you can project, that people can hear you very clearly and with a powerful blend of passion and confidence to sound convincing, speak with absolute certainty that what you are saying is right. The panel of discussants in their different remarks re-echoed the benefits of a good look, physical appearance, poise and encouraged all to invest in themselves. Highlights of the conference is a launch of a 200-page book which delves into gravitas, communication and public speaking. It looks at the interplay between emotional intelligence, workplace etiquette, style, substance, public speaking, social graces, character and how it fuses into executive presence called pillars, its articulation. The book demystified how anyone can become someone with executive presence. Love yadukou, plus TV news.