Youths participate in dining etiquette enhancement workshop

Fourteen young people have recently benefitted from a workshop designed to greatly enhance their dining etiquette skills.

The workshop titled ‘Savoir Faire – a practical guide to dining etiquette,’ was the brainchild of five participants in the Events and Conference Management enrichment course taught at the SVG Community College.{{more}}

The group, Prestige Events, comprises Kamille Huggins, Anique Francois, Yolande James, Jacqueline Samuel and Viktor Hunte.

Kamille Huggins, the group’s representative, spoke with SEARCHLIGHT last Saturday, December 3, at the culmination of the dining etiquette session, which took place at Young Island Resort.

“The reason why we chose this particular type of event is because we collectively thought that dining etiquette on a whole is something that is not necessarily focused on in schools,” she explained.

Huggins further elaborated that while the older generation may have been taught dining etiquette, a significant percentage of younger persons did not receive this knowledge.

She also pointed out that dining etiquette is not only important in social settings, but also in business settings, as more increasingly today, meetings and networking events are carried out in the restaurant/dining environment.

“Like it or not, we’re all being judged when we are out. This is a good opportunity for young people to make a good impression on their prospective employers, on their customers, [business] partners, or anybody in the business field.”

Huggins also disclosed that while this workshop started off as a one-off event, because the response to it has been “overwhelming”, the group is hoping to make it a regular event.

Last Saturday’s event included a theory session (the history of dining etiquette), a practical session of a five-course tasting meal, and in between there was a motivational speech by LaFerne Fraser and a brief welcome address from Bianca Porter, general manager at the Young Island Resort.

Huggins also noted: “We are already considering doing it again, and possibly introduce other [areas of] etiquette; not just the dining etiquette training… but also areas like comportment, speech, dress… the whole gamut.” (JSV)