Every year the Kirkwood Community College business department hosts a luncheon to teach business etiquette. This year it landed on Oct. 14 at The Hotel.
The event aims to teach students how to introduce themselves and eat while talking to others. It also allows participants to meet other students, network with local businesses and learn proper etiquette at the dinner table.
Samuel Klaes, business administration, who attended the event said he learned hand placement at a dinner meeting like making your right hand a D with the drink and the left hand a B with the bread plate. “It’s a very formal way on where to put things. It’s interesting. It’s odd,” he said.
The event begins with students speaking with each other and various sponsors of the event before taking their seat.
Each table setting has an event sponsor seated so every student in attendance has an opportunity to network. Several members of faculty stood in front of the crowd to speak throughout the event both to welcome students and to help teach etiquette. There were also prize drawings throughout the event.
There were several speakers at the event this year including Kirkwood president Kristie Fisher, dean of business and information technology Tamara Alt, professor of business and information technology Lori Brown, professor of business and information technology Todd Saville and assistant professor of business and information technology Sharon Blanchard.
Blanchard said the event has grown a bit this year compared to previous years, allowing for a greater opportunity for students to network.
According to several students who attended the event, the opportunity to network with local businesses and meet other business majors was the primary motivations for students to attend the event.
“I talked with Jenny Long, who is the overseer of the transfer program at the Tippie Business College at the University of Iowa and it was really helpful to learn from her how to properly transfer, what classes I should take and also external things that maybe would help me along the way,” said Klaes.
Klaes said he had the opportunity to meet with representatives from Illuminate Digital. “They were talking about job offerings they have,” he said. “They didn’t apply to me. He talked to me about other people who he knows because I was looking for tech openings.”
Klaes met with three different sponsors at the event, describing the experience as interesting because they all offered names of other people they knew who may better fit a student’s interest.
Categories: Campus News, News
