Dining Etiquette Experience (Community)

Speaker Debbie Darling presenting Dining Etiquette

On Monday, December 5th, I had another volunteer opportunity for a local leadership club. This time I helped put the "Dining Etiquette" workshop together by properly setting up the fancy table. I carefully ensembled the china plates and soupbowls on top of the other; knives, big spoon, and small soup spoon on the right of the plate; big fork and little salad fork on the left of the plate; and champagne and water glass on the right diagonally from the china. With the display set up I was ready to call up the workshop audience to have a seat and settle down on the table. The presenter, Debbie Darling, immediately arrived to make her informative dining etiquette speech. First, she allowed me to make my announcements, which were about upcoming events such as the Spring Banquet committee meetings and Leadership Club T-shirt fundraiser. My announcement speeches enable me to develop my public speaking skills, so I am more comfortable talking in front of an audience. As I finished my speech, I sat down on my seat and participated in the workshop. I learned valuable lessons about dining etiquette. For example if given the opportunity to be interviewed in a dinner setting, it is recommended to eat a little before the interview This action prevents you from ravenously eating the meal instead of focusing on the interview. We learned about the presentation of the dinner set (be it wedding or interview settings). In addition, we learned what the utensils are used for such as little fork for eating salads and big fork to eat the main entree; little spoon to eat soup and big spoon to eat pasta; and tall glass is for champagne and short glass is for water. Overall, the workshop is a fun and wonderful class because you can learn about the unknown intricacies and mannerisms of dining etiquette(and test those out!).