Mastering the Business Meal
NFIB:
Susan Bixler, author of Professional Presence, advises that you wait until everyone at the table has placed their order before bringing up business. She also recommends saving the most important issues until after the main course. Letitia Baldridge, author of Letitia Baldridge’s New Complete Guide to Executive Manners, says that if significant others are present, only about half the conversation should focus on business.Baldridge also recommends that you don’t cover the table with papers, files, laptop computers and other items. Starr thinks this is permissible if you are isolated in a booth, but it’s best to keep work items off the table at the height of dining time, she says. It’s also advisable not to answer your cell phone during your meeting. If you have to make a call, place your free hand over your mouth and the mouthpiece, so you don’t disturb others, Starr says.
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