So you know not to tuck your napkin into your collar – but it’s amazing how many faux pas are still actually committed, whether you’re entertaining over dinner or at an informal networking event, writes Tina Lofthouse.

A business-woman sits at a table in a top restaurant waiting for her client. As she waits she applies lipstick, combs her hair – and then reaches into her suit jacket and pulls her breasts up in her bra. Her guest arrives. Phew, thank god he hadn’t turned up a split second earlier. She then notices with horror the mirrored wall facing her, which would have been fully visible as he made his way from the entrance to the table. And yes, he’d seen her in action, as had several other diners.

Mortifying, absolutely – and one of several cringe-worthy anecdotes told by Linda Allan, a management consultant and coach specialising in business behaviours, on what not to do when client entertaining. ‘I’ve seen people clean their specs or mop their head with a dinner napkin,’ she says.

While the ground rules for holding an effective meeting seem like common sense, they’re much harder to put into practice. Tina Lofthouse takes a look at how you can actually make them work…

Sales meetings may be virtually the only time when members of the field force come together to discuss customer reactions to products and promotions, feedback market information and trade war stories. Such get-togethers play a vital supportive role, helping individual members feel part of a team, sharing and solving problems and instilling a sense of common purpose. They also help to channel a two-way flow of information: market intelligence back from the field and product and company data to the customer.

But the rest of us – whether we’re in telesales, marketing or management (and particularly in larger organisations – Ed) – can spend a great deal of our working lives in meetings, many of which are unproductive, with egos jostling for air-time, speakers wandering off-topic and boredom quickly setting in among unengaged attendees.

As soaring fuel costs cut into travel budgets and the economic downturn begins to bite, companies are turning away from traditional face-to-face meetings in favour of the web.  

Back in September, online meeting company Netviewer reported a 40% year-on-year increase in the use of its online meeting tools: a total of 91.9 million minutes of meetings were held online between January and July 2008, compared with 65.5 million minutes for the same period in 2007. The Germany-based company says that customer feedback indicates the growth in online meetings is strongly linked to the rise in fuel and transport costs across Europe. 

‘High fuel prices, climbing airline fares and fears of a slowdown, are driving companies to look for ways to work more efficiently.’ Netviewer founder and chief executive officer, Dr Andreas Schweinbenz tells ModernSelling.com.