Lim Rui Qi Jessica
Temasek Polytechnic
Leisure & Resort Management
0703222J
T13
Business Etiquette & Service Excellence BHT2008

Mr. Fernando Arroyo Fassio

The Art of Corporate Entertainment

This is the point when we have really close interaction with our clients/customers and it is
the crucial situation to which whether a business can be clinched or not. Action speaks
louder than words; it will tell others our behaviour, manners, as well as the respect and consideration we have for others. Therefore, it is important that we take extra notice to
our gestures and know about social etiquette.

In the second part of this workshop, we were given a task to have a hands-on practice in a restaurant setting where everyone was assigned to a particular role. It was really fun and interesting pin-pointing out the mistakes my group mates had made, we had also identified
a number of appropriate and correct dining etiquette. I realised that even though we have
been taught in class of the proper dining etiquette, we still bound to make error during the
assignment. Therefore, I strongly believe that one must take time to train to become a well-mannered person with the excellent social etiquette.

(This is my favourite workshop topic, click on the navigation to see the details!)

Practice makes perfect.
Relying on the notes is never enough.
Step out of your comfort zone and be daring to learn from mistakes!

“The Art of Corporate Entertainment”, the name of this topic itself has appeared to be so unique as compared to the others like “Customers’ Perception” and “Corporate Politics in Perspective”. It tells me that all in all, the process of meeting your corporate associate is an art. True enough, this is not something that you can learn from book easily.

I like the different mode of teaching that the lecturers have came up with. Example, the video specially produced for this topic, showing the ‘should do’ and ‘should not do’ in a dining setting had made a really deep impression in me. The comical actions of the lecturers were still clear in my mind, i.e. the napkin tucked in his belt. During the class workshop, Mr. Fernando had brought a set of dining utensils to let us observe their position and the different uses.

The self-directed learning assignment given to us was a great learning experience. In the process of enjoying the meal, we learnt a lot and took down notes of the dining etiquette that my group mates have made. Their mistake was a valuable lesson to us (e.g. MUST stand when our guest stands up) and we have also learnt from their correct dining etiquette (e.g. do not talk when mouth is full).

Ask yourself, how many times do you actually practice the correct social etiquette? Many times when the atmosphere becomes informal (especially with your friends around) we tend to forget about our etiquette. One may not even realise that they have neglected the importance of presenting themselves well. There may be only you and your close friends, thus you think that there is no need to have extra attention on your behaviour. But never forget that you are still in a public setting. Who knows, the person sitting next to your table when you comb your hair at the table may be your superior or business associate!

After this workshop, I learnt to be more sensitive of my dining etiquette. E.g. Placing my fork and spoon parallel to each other at 4 o’clock position. I share knowledge with my outside friends and we had fun reading through my notes and studying the table settings. We even tried to exercise those practices and learnt while we enjoy each other companion; it was really a very interesting learning process. Since then, I have become more particular of my dining etiquette!