/PHOTO Lydia Ramsey selects 16 place settings from the Goodwill store on Sallie Mood Drive in Savannah, GA. Ramsey will use the place settings when she teaches a workshop on business etiquette and dining skills to teenage girls in the Future Focus Program at the Juvenile Court.
International Manners Expert to Offer Etiquette and Dining Tips to Teenage Girls at the Juvenile Court on October 6
(SAVANNAH, GA) International Business Expert Lydia Ramsey will address teenage girls in the Future Focus Program at the Chatham County Juvenile Court on Thursday, October 6 at 4 p.m. During her presentation, Ramsey will demonstrate business etiquette and business dining skills.
Future Focus is a 10-week course designed to help teenage girls transition seamlessly into the adult world. The program helps the girls sharpen their social and life skills, develop business etiquette tools, and prepare them for the world of employment, college and adulthood. Topics covered in the program include business and social etiquette, dining skills, dressing for success, goal setting/personal qualities, wellness and nutrition, resume writing and interview skills.
Participants who successfully complete the Future Focus Program compete for a $500 scholarship to the educational institution of her choice. The educational scholarship is available and made possible through the kind generosity of the Savannah Area Republican Women and the Zonta Club of Savannah.
Ramsey is president and founder of Manners That Sell, a firm based in Savannah that offers seminars, keynote speeches and executive coaching to corporations, associations, colleges and universities. She began her career as an etiquette consultant three decades ago.
To prepare for her presentation to the Future Focus Program, Ramsey visited the Goodwill store on Sallie Mood Drive, where she selected 16 place settings.
“The Goodwill store was the perfect place to select the items I needed for the presentation,” Ramsey says. “Just like the Future Focus Program, Goodwill equips people with the skills they need join the workforce and have successful lives. By supporting our local Goodwill store, we are helping the organization fulfill its mission.”
For more information about the Chatham County Juvenile Court and the Future Focus program, please visit www.chathamcounty.org. For more information about Goodwill of the Coastal Empire, please visit www.goodwillsavannahga.org. For more information about Lydia Ramsey, please www.mannersthatsell.com.
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SIDEBAR
Lydia Ramsey’s Top Ten Table Manners Tips
1) Wait until everyone has been served and your host has started to eat before you begin.
2) Remove the napkin from the table after everyone has been seated, and make sure the large dinner napkin is folded and placed in your lap with the crease toward your waist. Elbows do not belong on the table.
3) Regardless of what is served, you always eat a little bit.
4) If you need to excuse yourself during a meal, do so between courses and place your napkin on the seat of your chair.
5) Forks belong on the left and knives and spoons belong on the right. Always use the utensil starting from the outside in, starting with the soup spoon on the right and the salad fork on the left.
6) The glasses are placed off the right, above the knife.
7) The bread and butter plate is on the left above the fork.
8) Soup is spooned away from you toward the back of the bowl.
9) When eating bread, break off only one or two bite size pieces at a time.
10) Used utensils are never placed back on the table.
Lydia Ramsey’s Top Ten Tips to Ace the Interview
1. Be on time. Arrive at least 10 minutes early.
2. Dress appropriately in conservative business attire that is neat, clean and pressed. The latest fashion is not for business.
3. The first words out of your mouth should be a “thank you” to the interviewer and calling the interviewer by name.
4. Be ready to give a good firm handshake that is accompanied by eye contact and a smile when meeting the interviewer. Shake hands when you leave as well.
5. Turn your cell phone off; better yet, don’t even carry it with you.
6. If you are concerned about your breath, use breath strips or mints. Don’t risk showing up with chewing gum.
7. Learn as much as you can about the business before the interview.
8. Prepare your own questions for the interview.
9. Take extra copies of your resume.
10. Follow up with a handwritten thank you note.