Business Etiquette, Dining Etiquette, Networking, First Impressions

What’s wrong with this picture?

Caution: this is a professional actor. Do NOT attempt this at a business meal! There are at least eight things in this picture that demonstrate bad business etiquette. Scroll down for the answers.
Caution: this is a professional actor. Do NOT attempt this at a business meal!

There are at least eight things in this picture that demonstrate bad business etiquette. Scroll down for the answers.

 
 


 
 


Dining Etiquette – European vs. American Dining Style, with Kimberly Law

 
 

More Tips

 
 


Dining With Decorum (DVD)

Dining With Decorum (DVD)


Dining For Profit: Is that your bread and butter plate or mine? (DVD)

Dining For Profit: Is that your bread and butter plate or mine? (DVD)


A Butler's Guide to Table Manners

A Butler’s Guide to Table Manners


Broadwell's Elegant Etiquette for Today's Child & Adult  (DVD)

Broadwell’s Elegant Etiquette for Today’s Child & Adult (DVD)


Business Class: Etiquette Essentials for Success at Work

Business Class: Etiquette Essentials for Success at Work


Tiffany's Table Manners for Teenagers

Tiffany’s Table Manners for Teenagers


Emily Post's The Etiquette Advantage in Business: Personal Skills for Professional Success

Emily Post’s The Etiquette Advantage in Business: Personal Skills for Professional Success


Modern Manners: Tools to Take You to the Top

Modern Manners: Tools to Take You to the Top


The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Greet, Eat, and Tweet Your Way to Success

The Essentials of Business Etiquette: How to Greet, Eat, and Tweet Your Way to Success


Business Etiquette For Dummies

Business Etiquette For Dummies


The Etiquette Edge: The Unspoken Rules for Business Success

The Etiquette Edge: The Unspoken Rules for Business Success


When the Little Things Count . . . and They Always Count: 601 Essential Things That Everyone In Business Needs to Know

When the Little Things Count . . . and They Always Count: 601 Essential Things That Everyone In Business Needs to Know

 
 


Table Manners 101: Basic Dining Etiquette

 
 


5 Steps To Professional Presence: How to Project Confidence, Competence, and Credibility at Work

5 Steps To Professional Presence: How to Project Confidence, Competence, and Credibility at Work


You've Got Only Three Seconds: How to Make the Right Impression in Your Business and Social Life

You’ve Got Only Three Seconds: How to Make the Right Impression in Your Business and Social Life


First Impressions: What You Don't Know About How Others See You

First Impressions: What You Don’t Know About How Others See You


Benjamin Franklin's The Art of Virtue: His Formula for Successful Living

Benjamin Franklin’s The Art of Virtue: His Formula for Successful Living


Do It Right! The New Book of Business Etiquette

Do It Right! The New Book of Business Etiquette


Don't Take the Last Donut: New Rules of Business Etiquette

Don’t Take the Last Donut: New Rules of Business Etiquette


New Rules @ Work: 79 Etiquette Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead

New Rules @ Work: 79 Etiquette Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead


Multicultural Manners: Essential Rules of Etiquette for the 21st Century

Multicultural Manners: Essential Rules of Etiquette for the 21st Century


The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice

The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice


Essential Etiquette Fundamentals, Vol. 1: Dining Etiquette (Audio CD)

Essential Etiquette Fundamentals, Vol. 1: Dining Etiquette (Audio CD)


The Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting

The Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting


Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, By Geo. Washington

Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, By Geo. Washington


Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct

Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct


George Washington's Rules of Civility: Traced to their Sources and Restored

George Washington’s Rules of Civility: Traced to their Sources and Restored


The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude

The Civility Solution: What to Do When People Are Rude


Saving Civility: 52 Ways to Tame Rude, Crude & Attitude for a Polite Planet

Saving Civility: 52 Ways to Tame Rude, Crude & Attitude for a Polite Planet

 
 


8 Practical First Impression Techniques

 
 

Good table manners should be second nature so that you can concentrate on your meeting, not on which fork to use. So, what was wrong in the picture above?

  • Place your napkin on your lap within 10 seconds of sitting down at the table.
  • Buttering the whole piece of bread; butter one bite-size piece of bread at a time.
  • Gesturing with food
  • Holding spoon wrong
  • Ladling soup towards himself (OK, it’s difficult to see, but you ladle soup away from yourself)
  • Placing silverware on both table & plate (butter knife)
  • Resting elbow on the table
  • Eating with both hands
  • And remember to pass the salt and pepper together.

Did you get at least six of these? If not, get the audio course “Business Etiquette: Keys to Professional Success,” with Jill Kamp Melton.

 
 


Easy Ways to Improve Your Table Manners – Stop Eating it Wrong

 
 






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