Why do we wear Black

Bernajean Porter, Gail Lovely, David Warlick, and Hall Davidson

Here’s a rather interesting picture taken at the end of the METC conference yesterday.  Most of the attendees had already left and Bernajean and Hall were waiting for the shuttle to the airport.  Gail and I were on our way for dinner, both flying out this morning.  My question is why do we keynoters always wear black.  Rem Jackson once called it the “out of town speaker look.”  I can only speak for me, and, as a keynote speaker, I tend to order lots of pizzas to be delivered to my room, because I’m just too tired to go out.  I find that black reflects less light from my constantly fluctuating bulk.

I’m on my way to Salt Lake City for the UCET conference.  It’s been one of those conferences I’ve been after for many years.  Utah is such a magnificent state and unique in its population.  I’ll also get to match ideas with Kelly Dumont again, which is always a treat for me. It’s certainly going to be an interesting conference for me. They have me presenting just about my entire menu of topics. Hey, just by the book 😉

9 thoughts on “Why do we wear Black”

  1. Oh I can relate to your reasons for wearing black. Lots of my clothing is black … and that is for daily life … for the same sort of reasons!
    Salt Lake City …. isn’t that where speed freak week is held … or near there? That would be great to go to!
    Anyway David, have a great time and black is better than white pants!
    Jody

  2. Hey, we do not ALL wear black– I have worn a doctor’s garb, a taxi driver’s outfit, a gardener/farmer’s overalls, ship captain’s attire, a cowboy outfit, a chef’s hat and apron, and many more outfits to “match” my presentations! We are not all “men” in black!

    You can see some of them in this little animated gif:
    http://kathyschrock.net/images/Animation92x69.gif

  3. Hi – wearing black is not just for academics! Last year I went to a conference that was a mixture of academics and business, and to a person all 299 others there were wearing black suits (I, of course, was wearing a light-coloured but non-matching skirt and jacket).
    Wearing black makes you fit in with the crowd.
    😉

  4. Yeah I just went out to Utah for the first time a few weeks ago, it is beautiful. I’ll be working at Utah State starting this fall. I was exploring their site today and ran across the UCET newsletter, and then a link back to you since you are the keynote speaker at their conference.

    So I justed wanted to say hello, introduce myself. I am an educational technology / learning sciences researcher out of Vanderbilt. I’ve been blogging off and on for almost 5 years, and so I’ve followed your work and others like Stephen Downes and Will Richardson.

    By the way, it looks like your link to edbloggernews (on the right side) no longer works. I tried contributing some things to that site last year but it seemed like hardly anyone else was using it, and people started spamming it. Now the site seems to have disappeared.

    I started a similar digg-like edtech site at http://ed-tech.newsvine.com/ last fall, but it also is slow to get off the ground.

  5. I wear black too because it is a flattering colour on me and also hides the kilos gained over the years BUT that is not what I wanted to say.
    I wanted to say that I listened to Gail Lovely speak at the NECC last summer in San Diego and I think she is wonderful, one of the best speakers I have ever been too. I have some of her work on my desk right now about word and her business card on the wall to my left. Let her know that to one educator (and many more I am sure) she has really made a difference. Signed an Aussie in Shanghai!

  6. I never wear black.

    I wear colorful (often vertically striped) British dress shirts and silk ties – sometimes even cufflinks….

    and Nikes.

    Too many friends of my wear clothes from the Mumenschantz collection!

    -=Gary

    PS: I found something that is NOT in Wikipedia. Mumenschantz needs an entry. I feel like Dennis Miller with such an obscure reference 🙂

    For those of you who would like to dress like me, go to http://www.tyrwhitt.com

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