The first American Business Women’s Association Banquet was held in Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center on April 21. ABWA members and Washburn students attended the banquet.

The American Business Women’s Association is a prestigious, national organization established for working women and women business owners. As women continue to gain more professional freedom, the Association’s aim is to bring together businesswomen from diverse industries and to help them grow as they face new challenges concurrent with the changes in their jobs or in the business world.

The theme for the banquet was The Etiquette Advantage in Business. The main speaker was Ann Mah who is the former national president of the American Business Women’s Association. At this year’s banquet she gave the speech about business etiquette for businesswomen and Washburn students.

“It’s important to know the business etiquettes for businesswomen and college students. It’s good for your study, career, internship, and scholarship. Many people don’t pay enough attention to business etiquettes and don’t know much about it,” said Mah, “and that’s why we give this etiquette banquet today, to just offer some knowledge about the etiquette for businesswomen and college students and support them for success in the future.”

Mah’s speech provided alot of knowledge about business etiquettes, for example when beginning the business dinner, the first thing we should do is to  put the napkin over our legs. Use the dinnerware on table from outside to inside. When it is necessary to pass dishes, one should pass the dishes from the right side to the left side. During the dinner, people should talk after eating.

While at a business banquet, if someone drops their fork drop on the floor, many women thought the right way would be to pick it up and ask for help. But the right way is just to leave it and point it out to servers to bring a new fork.

“We have this banquet because we want to support the student chapter,” said Nancy Griffin, the national vice president for 2013-2014.

Griffin is also a member of 4 chapter and Ad Astra Chapter.

Griffin said that she learned alot from American Business Women’s Association for her business.

“And I hope more students could be benefited too,” Griffine said. “And it’s also a good way to develop students’ skills”

At the end of the banquet, Mah told the attendees that the most important business etiquette is to pay full attention to your customer.