Posted on Thu, Aug 26, 2010
by Lyudmila Bloch, Business Etiquette Expert
Business seminars of all kinds are a huge business. Whether it’s a time-management workshop, or business etiquette seminar for bankers – small and big companies alike are looking for experts in just about every field: team building, creative problem-solving, body language, business dining etiquette, customer service, corporate protocol, workplace etiquette, leadership skills, communication skills, email etiquette, etc.
Every year, thousands of corporate executives, bankers, pharmaceutical reps, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and sales executives reach out to business coaches, trainers, presenters, and speakers in order to be enlightened, motivated, and coached on how to become a superstar in their respective fields. Having gone through dramatic downsizing over the past two years, many companies are not looking to hire new employees – they are looking to energize and develop their current workforce.
Do you have what it takes to be a seminar pro in your field?
Obviously, this is not an appropriate field for shy or boring people. If you plan to present your own programs, you must be able to demonstrate not only in-depth subject-knowledge backed by meticulous planning, but also be something of a modern-day psychic who can determine what type of presentation would work best for your client.
One of the key components of the successful business seminar (Rule #1) is to keep your audience engaged and entertained with a great anecdote or humorous story. This doesn’t mean that you need to be a professional comic or Toastmaster but you do need to have a great deal of energy, enthusiasm, and passion for your subject.
Rule #2--You need to create a visually pleasing product. For example, if you are presenting your content in PP, use your slides as a guiding tool rather than a content-source. Tell a compelling story and use plenty of real-life examples so that your audience can relate to what you are telling them.
Rule #3--Plan ahead, check your “must do” list and have a Plan B on the ready if everything else fails. For example, if you have an unexpected technical malfunction and can’t see your slides, make sure that you have your 3x5 cards to help you deliver your ideas with confidence.
Rule #4--Prior to your big presentation--practice, practice, practice! Invite your colleague, friend, or your spouse to sit through your simulated business workshop and videotape, if possible. The video will point out your weaknesses and provide timely feedback.
Rule #5–Study and use your favorite celebrity presenters (for example, Anthony Robbins, Tonya Reiman, etc.), as models. Try to incorporate some of their techniques into your own routine--body language, gestures, and stories. After all said and done, have a great time!
Posted on Thu, Aug 05, 2010
French Business Etiquette Part 2
by Lyudmila Bloch, International Etiquette Expert
Copyright: Getty Images/ Richard Nowitz
Galeries Lafayette, Paris
Business dining requires finesse, basic knowledge of French, and good taste in wines. Observe your French friends prior to going out with your business group; you don’t want to come across as an “ugly American.” The French like to plan everything to the smallest detail -- so don’t bring your spouse to a business dinner unless the invitation was extended to significant others. During your meal, your good table manners are essential, and will be under scrutiny throughout. Be prepared for a dining experience that could last between two and one-half to three hours. Learn to use your dining utensils in the European dining style, and keep your wrists at the edge of the table (never under). The French devote business lunches to discussing business and finalizing contracts, usually accompanied by the drinking of wine. If you want to stay sharp and alert, allow the waiter to serve you some wine -- but you don’t have to drink it. And never loosen your necktie or take your jacket off in the restaurant, even if it’s very hot. Express your gratitude in French by saying “merci” when food or dishes are brought or removed from the table. Of course, everyone understands thank you, but saying it in French shows that you’re appreciative and making an effort to be a gracious guest.
Pay attention to the quality and volume of your voice, and monitor your body language. The French often communicate softly and subtly; they don’t like loud people. The general consensus is that Americans attract negative attention when interacting with others. So remember to use your “inside voice.” Stay on the formal side, and always start with an appropriate greeting in French, such as “Bonjour, Monsieur” or “Bonjour, Madame.” When departing, wish your associates or host a “bonne soirée” or “bonne journée,” depending on the time of day, and shake hands again.
Stay tuned for more information about French Etiquette.
Fantastic views of Paris via YouTube Video:
Posted on Wed, Jul 14, 2010
by Dan Rockwell,
Author of Leadership Freak and Our Guest Blogger
Let’s begin by acknowledging the positive value of making mistakes. Mistakes indicate you are trying new things. Einstein put it this way, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
Furthermore, realizing our mistakes enlightens us. James Joyce explained, “A man's errors are his portals of discovery.” Most importantly, our mistakes make us. While successes reiterate who we are, mistakes create and recreate us. My own life illustrates the formative power of a single crucial mistake. Before sharing my personal big blunder, here are the top mistakes I think leaders make.
Clinging to the command and control model of leadership is catastrophic when knowledge workers are involved. Knowledge workers frequently know more than the boss. Command and control leaders frustrate and de-motivate. However, setting knowledge workers free leverages their skills, enhances their effectiveness and allows companies to exceed the reach of management.
Losing the big picture in the details slows forward momentum, lowers productivity, creates unnecessary stress, and under-utilizes talented staff. Leaders reach higher and go further when they delegate rather than dive into details.
Neglecting the big Mo creates flat individuals and organizations. Untended organizations naturally cool down and become problem centric structures with negative attitudes. Leaders may forget the power of celebrating small wins to create and nurture momentum.
Being free with correction and stingy with affirmation creates negative work environments. Leaders naturally work toward higher effectiveness and efficiency. They easily become correctors. Ken Blanchard’s experience indicates that it takes four positive comments to balance one negative comment. Think of it. You need four affirmations to get back to a positive work environment after only one negative comment.
"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Michelangelo
My biggest mistake of all. The single most crucial mistake I ever made is focusing on mission to the exclusion of vision. Mission expresses your purpose in the present. For example, “To serve and protect,” explains the mission of law enforcement. Their mission does not create a new future -- it preserves the present.
“It’s a terrible thing to see and have no vision.” Helen Keller
Personnel issues, pressing problems, meetings, budgets, and other pressing urgencies capture a leader’s attention and limit focus to the present or, at best, near future. However, vision requires letting go of the present while pressing into a preferred, yet distant future. Vision is about not yet, not here, and not now. It’s about becoming.
I lived much of my life focusing on exceptional performance in the present while neglecting a forward-facing, future-making vision. I did this because I believed a lie. I believed that doing my best in the present would create the future I desired. Like all good lies, the lie I believed is partially true.
It’s true that excellence in the present (mission) is essential for success. However, excellence in the present isn’t the same as reaching toward an unrealized dream. For that you need vision.
It took years for me to see the mistake of living a mission driven rather than a vision-driven life. I’m glad to say that Joyce is right. My mistake became the portal of discovery.
Vision energizes leaders and enables endurance. Vision gives direction and infuses the present with meaning.
***
Dan Rockwell is the author of Leadership Freak a personal development blog designed to help leaders reach higher in 300 words or less.
To read our previous post by Jeremy Willinger on importance of leadership, please click on this link: http://www.etiquetteoutreach.com/blog_new-york-etiquette-guide/bid/44961/Leading-Not-Following-The-Importance-of-Effective-Leadership
Posted on Mon, Apr 12, 2010
by Jeremy Willinger
Part 2
When you're asked to assist a person with disabilities, make sure you do it graciously and without fuss.
Though you may have the best of intentions, try not to offer physical assistance without asking if you may do so. People with disabilities may depend on their arms and legs for balance, and even if your goal is to guide them up stairs or across the street, for example, your input may be inadvertently putting them at risk. If a person is in a wheelchair or using a scooter or cane, that equipment should be considered part of their personal space and should be treated accordingly.
Proper etiquette also calls for the person without a disability to be aware of their surroundings. If you are sharing space with a person in a wheelchair, let them set the pace as you move about, and, if possible, do some research beforehand so you can inform restaurants and other establishments ahead of time that a ramp or other accommodations will be needed -- and know where they are located.
Since not every disability is physical (such as a learning disability), it is important to read and understand subtle cues. Proper etiquette demands, for example, that if a person asks to have something written down or explained multiple times, you must graciously do so. Not everyone is comfortable sharing that they have a disability, and by acquiescing, you demonstrate that you have listened and that you care.
Posted on Mon, Dec 07, 2009
By Jeremy Willinger
Email is, for better or worse, a necessary tool for conducting business in today’s economy. Yet how many times have we received messages with misspelled words, terse replies, or no response at all to an important issue? Perhaps even more disastrous are the same flaws when they mar our email communications in business. Though email has supplanted all other modes of correspondence, we treat it as a second-rate form of communication.
This is a mistake that has long needed correction. Knowing that the rules of business culture extends to email in many different scenarios can ease your climb up the corporate ladder, or, in this economy, at least help to ensure continual employment.
While business etiquette conveys respect, a positive attitude, and a willingness to serve others, business email etiquette bypasses face-to-face interaction but still presents an opportunity to showcase the talent, eloquence, and skill that helped you land a job in the first place.
Using proper grammar and punctuation is a fundamental way to broadcast professionalism and intelligence. Email also calls for a proper form of address to all parties, with the right tone, concise clarity, and an appropriate sign-off at its conclusion. Thinking about the negative impressions sparked by a poorly written email should make us very deliberate in what we choose to send to our associates. This caveat applies equally to the many channels through which we access our email: from work, home, and on the road. Therefore, keeping emails as clear and courteous as possible is a responsibility each of us bears.
Mindful emailing also safeguards against potential problems. Companies frequently monitor email communication, and any email can automatically be retrieved long after it has been deleted or forgotten in your inbox. Emails are also admissible evidence in trials and terminations; they also serve as a digital footprint in all that we do. In other words, there is no such thing as a private or truly confidential email.
Proper email etiquette not only demands constant awareness of what we type, but how our words could be misconstrued. There is no extenuating circumstance or moment of madness that justifies expressing yourself sarcastically, or with quixotic “cuteness!” The best way to communicate digitally at work is to be direct and accommodating. The contemporary adage about not saying anything via email that you would not say in person certainly applies.
Email, while appropriate for scheduling meetings and marketing promotions and other nuts-and-bolts applications, should never replace a written note for personal expressions of thanks or condolence, or for formal announcements of births, weddings, and party invitations. It goes almost without saying that handwritten notes should be reciprocated in kind. And as with handwritten exchanges, there are rules of business email etiquette for turnaround times. With our ubiquitous access to email, we should respond to emails within 24-48 hours of receiving a message. Failure to respond promptly brands you as rude or disorganized.
Correct business etiquette demands that we acknowledge emails in a thoughtfully clear and concise manner by understanding the content and recognizing the tone of our writing - prior to sending. Only then will our business email be the productive and useful tool it was intended to be.