The following is the first part of business dinner etiquette series we started a week ago on Swaave.com...It goes into the 3 golden rules of a business dinner...Please post some of tips when it comes to having a successful business dinner!:

Harvard, Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research Center all claim that 85% of your job success comes from your life experience and people skills, while only 15% comes from technical skills and knowledge you gain in the classroom.

With this in mind, it is easy to see why the all mighty business dinner is so important to professional success! To help conquer this beast we have come up with three rules to follow:

1. You have to remember that you are not there to eat!

If your saving your appetite all day because you know the boss is taking you out or your going to meet with a client, you have the wrong idea.

A business related dinner is a social occasion with an agenda, so act accordingly! Just relax and work towards the goals of the dinner while your at the table.

2. It is important to be discrete.

Don't be caught trying too hard to impress the other people at the table! Try to show that your interested and informed on issues, but don't call attention to yourself. The only thing that will come from trying to be the star is reminding people of your inexperience!

3. Follow your host.

The host is the person who decided to have the meal, sent you the invite, and is typically the one that you call boss. It is up to that person to dictate how obnoxious the bill is going to be over the course of the meal, because they are the ones picking up the tab.

If you follow the lead of your host well, you will not stand out from the crowed (which is good in this situation). If the host orders desert, you should order some desert...If the host wants to talk about music instead business, make sure your ready to chat with him/her about their favorite genre!

PLEASE CHECK OUT PART 2 OF OUR SERIES HERE!!!