Fashionable advice on how to make sure post-event reports are not boring
B2B writers can learn from a menswear writer's social media threads
It’s hard to imagine there is any inspiration left on the festering swamp that is X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Like many others, I have contemplated leaving X with the proliferation of misinformation, incitement to hate, conspiracy theories and general nastiness as its billionaire man-child owner Elon Musk lurches to the far right. The lack of moderation has been bad enough (if not intolerable), but Musk’s unbanning of extremist and rage-farming accounts and the platform’s role in stoking anti-immigrant violence in the United Kingdom have turned it into a space that feels disgusting and dangerous.
Yet it was to Twitter (as I still think of it) that my mind turned to in a mid-week meeting. What makes a post-event report great, colleague Piet van Niekerk and I were asked.
There are many elements to good post-event reports, most of them obvious. These include event highlights, key trends, and insights - enough to create FOMO for those who couldn’t attend and to refresh delegates’ experience, but not a blow-by-blow account of each presentation.
Yet I blurted out: “It has to be well-written, and it must not be boring.”
In my mind was “The Menswear Guy”, @dieworkwear, whose presence on Twitter has given me so much joy that I have been mulling over his secrets to success for months. Derek Guy, the real person behind the bespectacled avatar that has a million followers, writes threads about menswear and critiques outfits of famous men and public figures. He runs a men’s style site called Die, Workwear! and has written for the Washington Post, Financial Times, Esquire and, recently, Politico.
Yes, for the Menswear Guy, it’s all about the silhouette and tailoring – collar gaps and tight-fitting trousers on bulging biceps are a big no - but his fashion musings are also razor-sharp social and political commentary. He famously compared Piers Morgan’s style to Kermit the Frog’s. (Morgan did not come out well) and slammed the outfits of the rather repulsive Florida state representative Matt Gaetz, who was accused of sex trafficking.
On internet psychologist Jordan Peterson’s tweed coat, shiny satin tie and blue jeans, Guy wrote: “This outfit would make sense if you’re meeting investors at an evening party after duck hunting at 3 pm.” On misogynist Andrew Tate, he commented: “tate doesn't look at data. the tape measurer says he's a size 42 chest but he knows he wears a 36”. And on former Toronto mayor John Tory: “this photo is a good example of not only how dress sneakers ruin a tailored outfit, but also how so many men nowadays opt for a slim pants silhouette that doesn't work with their coat. they end up looking like popsicle sticks.”
Menswear fashion is hardly my thing, and I’m sure that is not why he has become ubiquitous on social media. It is how he writes that is a masterclass in communication applicable to any B2B content, whether it is post-event reports, whitepapers, blogs or LinkedIn posts.
Guy has taken a niche topic and made it accessible, relevant and riveting.
He is knowledgeable and serious about his subject matter but doesn’t take himself seriously. He never punches down – Guy refuses to critique outfits of “normal” men – but brutally takes down trolls. The Canadian-born writer comes across as honest and authentic.
And he is not boring.
Maybe people like the self-effacing fashion writer will outlast the combative, thin-skinned Musk– if not on Twitter/X, then hopefully on other platforms. For now, I agree with the columnist and campaigner George Monbiot on why he is staying put: “Never let the far right drive you out of any space.”