The Culture of Exchanging Business Cards

As important as one’s attire and presentation is to any business interaction, the exchange of business cards is just as important and far from routine, particularly when interacting with clients and colleagues of other cultures. The business card after all represents you long after the physical meeting has taken place and is integral to the impression that you make. Regardless of culture, every business card should be clean and free of dog ears or creases. You are encouraged to carry your cards in a brass card case as leather cases may offend clients who practice the Hindu religion where the cow is sacred. The print should be large enough that the reader should not have to squint, and obviously must reflect your name, company, title and contact details.A business card often reflects one’s status and usually marks the beginning of a business relationship. In a few countries, the exchange of business cards is somewhat of a ritual. In Japan for example, the card is handed with both hands, the words facing the client who in turn should receive it with both hands and read over carefully, sometimes aloud. But again, regardless of culture, it is essential that you take a moment to look over a person’s business card once handed to you. This shows your interest in the person and transaction, helps to reinforce his or her name, and may provide an opportunity for you to take notice of something on their card, such as a design, location or name that you can use as a further ice-breaker.

Information at your finger tips

NBC’s Today Show recently featured five phone numbers that they state will change your life. Here’s one that should be programmed into your cell (if it does not have internet capabilities) for those instances where you need information and you’re not close enough to a computer: Auburn University’s Foy Information Line, 334-844-4244

Students at Auburn University in Alabama, armed with the Internet and, as a last resort, reference books, will answer any question you can conceive of.

The hot line operates 24 hours during the week and until 9 p.m. on weekends.

And remember, as you travel this holiday season just text your flight number to 466453 (GOOGLE), and the status on your flight will be sent back to you.

Growth of Luxury Hotel Brands at Record High

Travel Mole reports on a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers that found that 34 new hotel brands were launched from January to October of last year. Of these new brands, 18 are luxury hotels including Baccarat Hotels and Resorts by Starwood Capital Group whose first Baccarat hotel in Wailea, Hawaii, is expected to open in 2010, with others to follow in the Caribbean, Europe and the Far East.

The Croatian (ahem) Anthem

Kwintessential shares the story of how a linguistic and rather X-rated mistake may have proven to be a good omen for the Croatian team at the Euro 2008 finals. Read on …

How do you motivate the next generation of workers?

In case you missed it last night, CBS 60 Minutes had this segment about the new generation of “millennials”, born between 1980 and 1995, exploring their entry and impact in the workplace. Briefly featured was the Motivation Show and the incentives industry, tied to the fact that these employees expect to be praised, thanked, and rewarded. If you have 10 minutes, it is worth watching; a great plug for our incentives industry.

Presenting to an International Audience

MattMacL shares some great tips on his Working Abroad blog on how to present to audiences whose first language is not English. These include adapting your language to the audience and cutting out idioms. He also highlights the pitfalls that may exist:

The tendency is to think that one can go into a presentation without having to prepare for that extra English language element that our Japanese, German or Spanish counterparts have to. In addition, we may forget to prepare for different cultural perceptions; because if we use English, we often expect the cultural context to be ours as well.

Take for example the level of detail one might give in a presentation, the intensity of one’s eye contact, or the use of one’s hands throughout a presentation. Each may affect the impact that one’s presentation will have on the audience.

Tipping Around the World

It is a subject we have explored in the past: in which countries does one tip and how much. On a recent trip to Costa Rica, I asked how much a tour guide would earn in tips if leading a group on a full-day tour. When told the amount I naturally asked if that figure was per person, and was taken aback that what I might have handed the guide as an individual tip might be what was expected to cover the entire group. USA Today examines in this article how business travelers can become confused by tipping practices around the world and provides a chart of what to tip in restaurants, taxis and to porters in 77 countries.

How to Impress Your Guests

Michael Chaffin of *Star In The Margin shares an example of how a United Airlines pilot engages with his passengers and delivers something completely unexpected …