Seating Etiquette...Or What They Don't Teach in Business School

Seating Etiquette

(Or, What They Don't Teach in Business School)

You’ve been invited to present to senior management. You walk into the meeting room and see the big oval table. You set up your computer, and then take a seat at the front of the table.

BIG MISTAKE.

As we found out from a number of C-level executives in our recent filming of Speaking Up: Presenting to Executives (formerly, Speaking to the Big Dogs), seats at the table may be reserved in a kind of seating hierarchy, and as one CEO said,

“The end of the table is the power position. If you’re a ‘supplicant’ in a meeting, you should be standing as a presenter a step back from the table with eye contact to the decision makers. You should not take a presumptive role (by sitting at the table) that you are my peer.”

Wow. Strong talk. Who knew?  The CEOs went on to comment that by standing, you also have the freedom to move more, including standing at the screen, as you present your slides.

So, the next time you enter the C-suite, make no presumptions. Let them tell you what the acceptable behavior is.