The Ideal Dinner Table Setting

Posted on June 3rd, 2009 by Keith Ferrazzi
One of my favorite dinners in recent memory

One of my favorite dinners in recent memory: Washington DC WGYB stop

Throwing intimate professional dinners is part art, part science.

The size and spacing of tables is the single most important factor you can control to build intimacy. Unfortunately, restaurant owners don’t always know what makes for an ideal set-up to facilitate conversation, so you may need to take over. At our dinner in DC this week, the table was exactly to specification: Long and narrow, no more than thirty to thirty-two inches wide – a size that allows conversation to comfortably include multiple people on either side of the table. I’ve been known to bring in rentals when the proprietor can’t accommodate my needs. But whatever tables you go with, the trick is to pack ’em in. If the table seats four, set it for six. If it seats six, set it for eight. Don’t let the restaurant tell you otherwise.

I'm also a stickler for placecards - but this dinner in DC, the sneaky guests tricked me by rearranging the cards! That's OK; the lively self-possession of the group was what ultimately made the dinner. :-)

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One Response so far | Have Your Say!

  1. Tom Bates says:
    June 8, 2009 at 6:06 am
    Reply

    I understand the concept of packing them in and the narrow table. But do some people find it uncomfortable, bumping elbows?

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