other duties as assigned

Uniform Code Susan Friedmann, CSP The Tradeshow Coach (thetradeshowcoach.com) T

he head of a company that was exhibiting at a major trade show requested that his staff all wear

“dark suits,” so that they would look uni- form in the way they represented the company at its booth. On the day of the convention, when

he got to the booth on the trade-show floor, the boss was quite disappointed to find that his staff had broadly

102 PCMA CONVENE JUNE 2013

interpreted his dress-code request. While men usually have several dark suits in their closets — and the male staff were indeed wearing either solid- black or navy suits — women tend to wear what looks good on them. The women on staff were wearing pants, jackets, dresses, and skirts that ran the gamut in colors and design — every- thing from beige to maroon, and wild

prints, stripes, and solids. Uniform- looking they were not. I use this example a lot in my trade-

show booth-staff training programs to show how important it is to be really specific when you want your team to dress a certain way. If uniformity is your goal, buy them

uniforms! . — As told to Michelle Russell PCMA.ORG

ILLUSTRATION BY GRAHAM ROUMIEU