Recently, I had the great pleasure of joining the Professional Development Center’s Dining Etiquette Seminar. Here they educated us about the history of dining, its social effects, and the different ways to dine. We had the set up of a Upper class restaurant. The woman that was the speaker at this seminar would break the courses down in phases giving her time to talk about it then we could try for ourselves. She was observing the floor to see how people ate and if she saw someone doing something incorrectly she would speak on it after showing us the correct way as we proceeded through the session. The students practicing as waiters did a great job and really made it feel like we were in an upscale restaurant. We learned how to use the utensils with a description of what they are used for. We also learned why items are placed on the table a certain way and how to sit and speak at the table. The seminar even touched on how to select a bottle of wine briefly.
I personally had a great experience, and tried something new with some of the dishes. It was a great seminar that I was able to learn from. I’m able to keep what I learned and apply it to my own situations where I might have to dine with a boss, client, or from meeting new people. Knowing and understanding dining etiquette is a great skill to have that people will notice. You are always being watched by someone in the professional world, so now I have a new acquired skill I can add to a great first impression.
