Deborah OConnor June 24, 2013

One of the most complicated and misunderstood aspects of business or homeentertaining is proper seating. Many business deals and friendships canbe at stake, therefore it is of the utmost importance to understand this fine art. Whether you are entertaining at home, at work, or in arestaurant, you need to know the proper protocol.

 

Place cards are used to identify where each person should sit and should beused when there are more than six people present. They eliminateconfusion and make it simple for everyone. Never move place cards around on someone’s dinner table. This is considered rude and a breach ofetiquette. If you do not like where you are seated, keep it to yourselfand do your best to be a good guest. It is perfectly appropriate tobring place cards to a restaurant or a business dining situation.

 

• When entertaining business associates at home, the head seats at either end of the table are reserved for the host and hostess.
• At a round or square table, the head seat is wherever the host wants to sit.
•  Male guests are ranked according to their importance and are seated to the right and left of the hostess.
• Female guests, according to their importance, are seated to the right and left of the host.
• The most important guests occupy the right-hand seats, with the second most important guests occupying the left-hand seats.
• Unless protocol is being observed, other guests should not be seated according to their importance.
• If protocol is being observed, then everyone present understands the seating arrangements.
• At a business lunch or dinner where spouses are not present, guests aremore likely to be seated in accordance with their importance.

At a formal dinner party

 

• When dinner is called, the host leads the lady guest of honor into thedining room, pulls out the seat to his right, and seats her.
• The male guest of honor offers his arm to the hostess, and he escorts herto her seat at the head of the table, where she remains standing. Hetakes his place to her right, also remaining standing. Both remainstanding until all ladies are seated.
• The second lady guest ofhonor is seated to the left of the host. She is escorted to her place by the second male guest of honor, who then takes his place to the left of the hostess.

 

 

In business, seating arrangements can be a subtle yet powerful way toeither encourage good relations or create negative unspokencommunication.  In America, we tend to be more relaxed or maybe justmore unaware when it comes to the proper protocol of seating inbusiness.  However, when you step into the international arena, if youare ignorant about proper seating, you can do irreversible damage.

 

Here are some American business etiquette guidelines to follow for seating yourself, your clients, and your guests.

 

 

You may wonder how to rank your guests. It is not as difficult as it seems. Here are guests who should be honored.

 

• A visiting foreign dignitary or customer
• A guest with military or government rank
• An elderly guest
• A guest with distinguished career or other important achievement
• A guest who is celebrating an occasion such as a promotion, transfer, or birthday

Important things to know

• Do not bring a cocktail glass to the dinner table. The table is alreadyarranged with the proper glasses and your glass not only confusesthings, but the taste of your drink may counteract the flavor of thewines being served.
• If a guest is late, dinner should not bedelayed more than 15 minutes. Please call to inform your host that youare going to be late and apologize.
• If you are seated at a dais, the host is seated to the right of the lectern, the guest of honor isseated to the right of him or her.

Take the time to learnthe rules of seating yourself and others correctly to show your business savvy, whether you are dealing with business or personal dining. Youwill be demonstrating that you are a consummate professional

Deborah O’Connor is a social strategist and founder and president of Successful Image LLC with offices in Columbia and Atlanta. She offerstraining and seminars on image management, workplace etiquette, andsocial skills necessary to succeed in life professionally andpersonally. Contact at:   [email protected]        www.successfulimage.biz